# Hedgehogs & fish



## Clare24 (Feb 28, 2014)

So, I have owned APH's for over a year and I have always wondered about this. 

I know you mustn't feed them on fish based cat foods, so that mean anything that has fish as the main ingredient, something about them not being able to digest it or something.

But my question is, a lot of cat foods have 'fish meal' as one of the ingredients really far down on the list, so it's not in any way a main ingredient, just a tiny amount being added. Is this still a no no? Because in my head it's such a tiny amount it can't really affect them? Or can it? I just don't know. 

Like this for example...

Fresh chicken (min. 24%), poultry meat meal, rice, maize gluten meal, maize, barley, sugar beet pulp, brewers yeast, poultry digest, fish meal, animal fat, sodium chloride, potassium chloride, yeast extract (source of MOS min. 0.1%), chicory extract (source of FOS min. 0.1%), yucca extract, cranberry extract (min. 50 mg/kg), marigold extract, citrus extract, rosemary extract.


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## CherryTree (Mar 1, 2014)

Hey this is really confusing a lot of care sheets don't point out that trace amounts of fish shouldn't have a big affect on them. Sort of like people that are lactose intolerant can have small amounts of dairy products or our ability to deal with alcohol before it makes us ill.

It is worth mentioning that APH are primarily insectivores so the main source of food should really be insects.


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## Clare24 (Feb 28, 2014)

I'm just really confused! Different people say different things about why they can't have fish, so no one really knows for certain. All I want to know is whether I should completely avoid foods with small amounts of fish or not, as most cat foods have them.


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## CherryTree (Mar 1, 2014)

I know what you mean when I got my first hog I near enough pulled my hair out looking for a cat food that had no fish. Before finding out in another diet sheet (by the same people) that they allowed small amounts i.e. less than 10%.

I've heard a few different reasons too until there's proper lab based research into APH needs I think you have to take it has an experience/opinion information.

Personally it's one of the things I'm willing to test on my hedgehogs to find out but they seem to be healthy on their diet now.


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## Clare24 (Feb 28, 2014)

Me too. A couple of the foods I feed have traces of fish meal, but i would rather use these, which are high quality cat foods, rather than supermarket foods that don't use real meat. They both seem happy and healthy on these foods anyway  just wanted to make sure I didn't HAVE to change them, thanks


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## alasdairgordon (Oct 25, 2013)

*Kiezebrink UK Ltd*

You might find some interesting foods on our website for your pets. We sell a wide selection of frozen meats which are 100% meat and no added supplements or fillers. 

We also supply frozen insects or insect pate for insect eating animals. The frozen insects have been pre-gut loaded to supply adequate nutrition, they are also easy to keep and store as they are frozen. The insect pate does have some fish content such as shrimp to boost the protein level. We have many hedgehog keepers around Europe using this insect pate for their pets. They do not seem to have any issues with the small fish content. 

For more information see our website: www.kiezebrink.co.uk


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## jelly (Feb 3, 2015)

I often wondered about the fish thang 
So I emailed a USA breeder and he said years ago it was thought to make their poop smell bad. So they never used fish based cat food etc.


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