The hedgehog hospital near me, always advise me to give mushed up wet dog food when I have rescued two autumn juveniles last Nov, and, recently, for Walter who was very poorly.
I’m not sure why, but I think mushed up dog food is easier for small hogs to eat, and therefore, might be easier to eat if a hog is poorly.
They also prefer dried kitten biscuits over adult cat biscuits for the same reason.
They have never advised me to use specialist hedgehog food, however, I give my hogs Spikes semi moist, which always get’s demolished each night, along with the cat biscuits and a bowl of wet dog food.
I have found, with my hogs, they prefer the wet dog food the most, and will clean the entire bowl, and they tend to go to that bowl first, then they eat the cat biscuits, and then Spikes seems to be last on the list.
I have also seen my hogs foraging too, as I think they probably enjoy doing that, even if they are full.
At the hospital, when hoglets have started to wean, she blends the dog food, which looks totally gross.
I’ve seen some websites that advise you to look at the ingredients for specialist hedgehog food, as some have dried mealworms in. But I am just sticking to Spikes, as my hogs like it, which doesn’t have mealworms in.
The good thing about dog food is that it has a lot of meat content in it, therefore a lot of protein.
