Living with Birds What makes Vale's Hedgehog Food great? Tweetapedia

Vale's hedgehog food is a good choice of hedgehog food for feeding your nighttime visitors, but why is this the case?

Here are the reasons why:

• Designed for the nutritional needs of hedgehogs, not cats.
• Meaty, crunchy biscuits are good for teeth health.
• Ideal calcium: phosphorus ratio.
• Trusted by experts.

Vale's Hedgehog Food is designed for the nutritional needs of hedgehogs 

It's often stated online that kitten biscuits (or cat biscuits) are perfect for hedgehogs, however, this might not be the case as they have been developed for cats.

Key facts:

• Kitten biscuits are designed for kittens, not hedgehogs.
• They are formulated to have lots of protein for a developing kitten or the dietary needs of a cat.
• They are lower in fibre than Vale's Hedgehog food.

The differences in diet between cats and hedgehogs:

Carnivores vs omnivores

• Hedgehogs are omnivores - they eat both meat and vegetables.
• Cats are carnivores - they only eat meat.

High Protein and Fat vs varied diets

• Cats are carnivores and require lots of protein and fat in their diet.
• Hedgehogs have a much more varied diet that's higher in fibre.

Hedgehogs are opportunists meaning that they'll eat fallen fruit, beetles and even the odd bird chick. This means that a hedgehog's diet is much higher in fibre than that of a cat. They also have a lower requirement for fat and protein.

Fibre per 100G

Protein per 100G:

Meaty, crunchy biscuits good for teeth and gums

The crunchy texture of Vales Hedgehog biscuits means that they can help eliminate the buildup of tartar on hedgehog gums.

 Much in the same way that pet dogs can have problems with tartar forming on their teeth, hedgehogs can too. This can cause tooth decay in hedgehogs.

This is minimised by giving a hedgehog dry food, as opposed to wet food.

Calcium: phosphorus ratio

Vale's hedgehog food has a calcium-to-phosphorus ratio of 2:1. This means that for every 2g of calcium, there is 1g of phosphorus.

This has been posited in some studies that this is good for bone health in hedgehogs and can help prevent metabolic bone disease.

Metabolic bone disease refers to a group of conditions that affect how bones grow and stay healthy.

These diseases alter the normal process of breaking down old bone and making new bone, leading to various bone problems. These can include causing bones to become more prone to breaking or being misshapen.

It's been proposed that having a calcium: phosphorus ratio of at least 2:1 is optimal for hedgehogs.

Trusted by experts

Vale Wildlife Hospital is one of the largest wildlife hospitals in the UK. They treat over 7,500 injured or sick animals each year - including 2000 hedgehogs.