Changing Diets
Providing an appropriate, nutritionally sound diet is the single most important thing you can do to assure a healthy, happy pet. With that in mind, don't allow your furry friend to dictate his diet. Instead, establish a feeding program that meets the nutritional needs of your pet and then avoid unnecessarily altering it.
We occasionally talk with pet owners who have attempted a dietary change and given up after a few days of resistance from their pet. The easy solution may be feeding what your pet readily eats. But, if that doesn't provide an appropriate diet, you're doing your pet no favors! If you need to improve your pet's diet or alter your feeding program for other reasons, remember that with any significant dietary change -- even one for the better -- it can take time for your pet to accept the new food.
When changing any critter's diet, we recommend the following:
1. The new food should be introduced gradually. To do this, provide your pet a transitional period by mixing the new food with whatever you're currently feeding.
2. At first, this mixture should be mostly the current food.
3. Over the course of one or two weeks, increase the amount of the new food daily.
4. By the end of the transitional period, the current food should be completely eliminated from your pet's diet.
Some pets are resistant to any change in their diet. This seems to be especially true with some hedgehogs and sugar gliders. To help with this, we offer the following specific recommendations:
Hedgehogs
Hedgehogs fed cat food frequently get into a "food rut" and may be resist all efforts to feed anything else. After a one week transition period, discontinue the cat food entirely. Hedgehogs are opportunistic feeders. If other food is available, your pet will eat it.
Many people overfeed their hedgehogs. This is unhealthy in general and can make changing foods more difficult. If during a dietary transition your pet eats only the old food, you may be overfeeding. Reduce the total amount of food offered.
Some people provide free-choice food for their hedgehog. Since hedgehogs are opportunistic feeders, this usually leads to overweight pets and the same problems as overfeeding. Provide an appropriate amount of food and no more.
Sugar Gliders
Sugar gliders are often hesitant to try any new food, particularily when being fed cat food or a diet low in protein. Also, gliders which are being overfed or not receiving a wide variety of fruit are often resistant to new food choices.
Offer a small amount of the new food several days in a row. Even if not eaten at first, repeatedly offering it may be necessary for your glider to "trust" a new food. If this doesn't work, reduce the amount of other foods offered, especially treats and favorites. Gliders will usually accept any appropriate food once this step has been taken.
If your glider still won't eat a new food, you might be overfeeding. In talking with many glider owners, we've found this to be extremely common. Gliders always eat favorite and familiar items first. Then, when full, they stop eating. If food is left in the morning, reduce the total quantity being offered.
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