Natural Balance dog food :/

[dobo13]

Hi all, i'm a new mum of a hedgie and a new member of this forum

My vet recommended me to give Mochi (my 3 months old hedgie) dog food other than cat food because she said that cat food has too much protein in them and it is not very good in a long run. She said that many of her customers (hedgehog owners) who gave dog food; their hedgies live longer than the hedgies of the customers who gave cat food.

So i was thinking of buying Natural Balance Limited Ingredients Diets Potato and Duck :hmm:

Here is the ingredients:

Potatoes, Duck Meal, Duck, Canola Oil (preserved with natural mixed tocopherols), Potato Protein, Potato Fiber, Natural Flavor, Dicalcium Phosphate, Sodium Chloride, Calcium Carbonate, Salmon Oil, Flaxseed, Potassium Chloride, Choline Chloride, Taurine, Natural Mixed Tocopherols, L-Carnitine, Yucca Schidigera Extract, Vitamin E Supplement, Iron Proteinate, Zinc Proteinate, Copper Proteinate, Ferrous Sulfate, Zinc Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, Potassium Iodide, Thiamine Mononitrate (Vitamin B-1), Manganese Proteinate, Manganous Oxide, Ascorbic Acid, Vitamin A Supplement, Biotin, Niacin, Calcium Pantothenate, Manganese Sulfate, Sodium Selenite, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B-6), Vitamin B-12 Supplement, Riboflavin (Vitamin B-2), Vitamin D-3 Supplement, Folic Acid.


What do you think? Is it good enough? Because the first ingredient is potatoes so i'm a bit concerned. I only managed to find this kind of small breed dog food as it is really hard to find good hollistic small breed dog food in Malaysia

 

[Nancy]

Ingredient wise, dog food is fine for hedgehogs. The problem is, most dog food is too large and too hard for our hedgehogs and it causes premature wearing out of their teeth. Even the small breed food is often harder than cat food.

The thing to do is try it and see how easily the food breaks up and if your hedgie struggles to eat it. Also, shape can made a food more difficult to eat. Generally, X and Y shaped are easier to crunch than pellet or round.

Let us know how well your hedgie eats it.

 

[dobo13]

Thank you for replying Nancy

Currently i'm feeding him a mixture of dog and cat food.
The dog food (Royal Canin Mini Junior) is the one that the vet gave me.
My hedgie loves it both and he has no problem eating it.
But the dog food has too many fat (20%) so i figured i want to change the dog food.

I just came back from a pet shop and unfortunately the NB sold out

I noticed this brand: NutriEdge.
I have never heard of it before but they are made of high-quality ingredients and have no fillers,BHA/BHT,by-products,etc..but it is suspiciously quite cheap.

Have you heard of this brand?

 

[Kalandra]

I haven't seen NutriEdge, but looking at the ingredients it doesn't look that bad. If you get it, please let us know what your hedgehog thinks of it. I'd be interested to hear more about its shape, and how hard/easy it is to crunch.

 

[dobo13]

I haven't seen NutriEdge, but looking at the ingredients it doesn't look that bad. If you get it, please let us know what your hedgehog thinks of it. I'd be interested to hear more about its shape, and how hard/easy it is to crunch.

I bought the NutriEdge Small Bites Chicken and Rice Formula
The kibbles are small but it is quite hard for him to crunch so i have to soak it in a few drops of water first :/
But he seems to like it though. Phew!