Can Hedgehogs Eat Dog Food? (Dry, Wet & More)

Hedgehogs are popular pets all around the globe. Being exotic pets, Hedgehogs have quite specific dietary requirements. One question that is often asked is whether or not it is safe to feed your Hedgehogs with dog food. I did some thorough research to find the facts, and here is what I have learned.

Hedgehogs can eat dog food once in a while. Make sure that the dog feed is fresh and easy for your Hedgehog to consume. However, you must not substitute it for your pet’s regular feed. Also, you must consider providing healthier treats to your Hedgehog, rather than pet food designed for other animals.

While feeding dog food to your Hedgehogs is perfectlyy safe, you must not substitute it for their regular feed. The staple portion of your Hedgehog’s diet should be kibble, followed by insects/worms.

Also, not all types of dog feed can be served to our Hedgehogs. Therefore, you must first ensure if the particular dog food is safe for your Hedgehog or not before serving it to your Hedgehog.

So, I would recommend you to keep reading our article till the end to know more about it.

Is Dog Food Ok For Hedgehogs?

Dog food totally safe for our Hedgehogs till we serve them in moderation. Dog food is considered a treat for Hedgehogs, but it should never make the bulk of their diet. This is true no matter how high a quality the dog food is.

It is not recommended to use dog food as a substitute for your Hedgehog’s regular feed. Hedgehog food is specially formulated to provide the ingredients needed to keep your little one healthy.

If you choose to offer your Hedgehogs with dog food, you should offer the highest quality brand you can find or afford. This will ensure that it has a higher meat content and fewer preservatives. In fact, this is a good approach and a healthy way of supplementing their regular diet.

Is Dog Food Bad For Hedgehogs?

There are a few things that you should keep in mind before serving dog food to your Hedgehogs.

You must understand that each brand provides different types of nutrition. Therefore, you must choose the best for your pet. Also, make sure that the food does not contain many preservatives.

In addition, dog food tends to become moldy over time, especially if it is stored in damp places or during the rainy season. Never provide food that has mold growing out of it. These molds can be dangerous for our Hedgehogs.

Most dog food is based on corn, rice, and meat to supplement a dog’s diet. Although these proteins are good for our Hedgehogs, dog food contains an excess amount of protein Hedgehog.

Excessive consumption of protein can harm our Hedgehog’s health, leading to several health complications.

Although Hedgehogs can eat both wet and dry dog food, wet dog food contains more calories and fats. Therefore, you need to be careful while feeding wet dog food to your Hedgehog.

Furthermore, dry dog food comes in cube-type shapes. These foods pose a huge choking hazard to our Hedgehogs. Therefore, we need to crush the food into tiny pieces with we choose them to feed with dry food.

Also, you must make sure that you clean the cage once your Hedgehogs have finished eating the dog food. This will help to ensure that your Hedgehogs never have access to any moldy food.

Note: Not all types of dog food fit the nutritional requirement of Hedgehogs. Therefore, you need to be very careful while choosing the correct brand of dog food for your Hedgehog.

Can Hedgehogs Eat Dry Dog Food?

Hedgehogs can surely eat dry dog food. Dry dog food is a healthy combination of grains or vegetables and meat or eggs.

It would help if you kept in mind that dry food is huge chunks. Therefore, you need to crush them to ensure that your Hedgehog can eat them without any problem.

Never serve your Hedgehog with the entire chunk. These pieces can be a huge choking hazard for our little ones.

Another issue with dry dog food is that it can contain many preservatives, and the nutritional value may be lower than what that brand of dog food claims. Therefore, you need to be very careful with what you feed your Hedgehog.

Can Hedgehogs Eat Wet Dog Food?

Hedgehogs love to munch on wet dog food too. You can feed your Hedgehog with wet dog food once a day. 1-2 tablespoons work best for them.

Wet food is high in calories and fats. Therefore, you need to be very careful with the quantity you feed your Hedgehogs.

Furthermore, if your Hedgehog suffers from dental pain or mouth soreness, wet food works the best for them.

You need to thoroughly read the nutritional value of the wet food before serving it to your Hedgehogs. Not all brands of wet dog food are suitable for consumption by our Hedgehogs.

Also, as wet dog food gets moldy quickly, you need to take all the leftover food out of the cage once your Hedgehog has finished eating.

Can Hedgehogs Eat Ground-Up Dog Food?

As dog kibble comes in relatively big size, ground-up dog food is going to be easier for Hedgehogs to digest. If you get your Hedgehog a quality dog food with protein content in a similar range to what your Hedgehogs should be eating, there’s no harm in giving them a little bit.

Can Hedgehogs Eat Chicken Dog Food?

You can serve your Hedgehogs with chicken-based dog food once in a while. Hedgehogs love them. However, always keep in mind that portion control is the key.

Can Hedgehogs Eat Fish Dog Food?

Although you can feed your Hedgehogs with fish-based dog food, they do not find fish-flavored food particularly palatable. Therefore, most owners do not feed fish dog food to their Hedgehogs.

Can Hedgehogs Eat Lamb Dog Food?

Hedgehogs can surely eat lamb-based dog food once in a while. However, please do not feed them too much at a time. A small amount once in a while is outstanding.

Can Hedgehogs Eat Dog Food In Jelly?

Hedgehogs love to munch on jelly-based dog food. Therefore, jelly-based dog food is a safe option for Hedgehogs. However, it would help if you were very careful with what you feed your Hedgehog.

It is important to ensure that your Hedgehogs get all the essential vitamins and minerals required for healthy growth and development. You must also be careful with the amount of food you feed your Hedgehog. Please do not end up overfeeding them.

What Should You Not Feed Your Hedgehogs?

Small amount of dog food may be fine for your Hedgehogs. However, there are some food that are definitely not fit for consumption by Hedgehogs.

Although this is not a complete list, here are some of the common human food that you should not feed your Hedgehogs to be on the safe side(referenced Hedgehog care sources):

  • Milk And Other Dairy Products
  • Citrus Fruits
  • Any Moldy Or Spoiled Foods
  • Avocado
  • Mushroom
  • Chocolate And Other Cocoa Products
  • Bread
  • Nuts And Seeds
  • Potatoes
  • Tea Or Coffee
  • Grapes/ Raisins
  • Allium Vegetables (Onions, Garlic, Shallots)
  • Processed Snacks (Chips, Fries, Etc.)

In Summary

The bottom line is, certain dog food is not toxic or poisonous for our Hedgehogs. Having said that, there are plenty other food options that make a much better choice if we wish to treat our Hedgehogs.

You must always keep in mind that dog food can be served as treats only. The staple portion of your Hedgehog’s diet should be kibble, followed by insects/worms.

Being a Hedgehog owner myself, I know it is fun feeding different them types of food. Although Hedgehogs will eat anything on their reach, we must be careful with what we feed them.

It is our responsibility to make sure we’re providing all the right nutrition to keep them nice and healthy!

Mohini

Hello, I am Mohini, the founder of this blog. I am a qualified Animal Nutrition. I am here to help everyone understand their pets better.

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