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          <font face="Lucida Console" size="6">Obesity in Hedgehogs</font>
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          <font size="3" face="Lucida Console">Obesity, often due to lack of
          exercise, use of high fat foods, and too many treats, is a common and
          serious problem among domesticated African Pygmy hedgehogs. A healthy
          hedgehog looks a little rounded and plump, but hedgehogs with fat
          waddles at the &quot;arm pits&quot; or who can not roll completely
          into a ball are at increased risk for health problems like fatty liver
          disease and heart attacks. A healthy adult can weigh as little as six
          ounces, or even as much as two pounds, so it is important to consider
          how the hedgehog looks, rather than relying on a number on the scale
          to determine whether a hedgehog is obese. Some hedgehogs appear more
          prone to obesity than others, and they need a little help to maintain
          a healthy weight.</font>
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          The next question, of course, is how! According to research presented
          by Dr. Graffam of the Bronx Nature Conservatory at the Go Hog Wild
          Hedgehog seminar in 1998, an average hedgehog needs about 70 to 100
          calories a day. That really isn't a whole lot of food (about 1 to 3 Tbsp.)! Some hedgehogs will gorge if given the opportunity to eat a
          lot of a food they really like. There is a published study citing a
          hedgehog who was free fed mealworms and nearly doubled its weight in a
          very short period of time. A sad but classic example of this problem
          is a hedgehog who was known as Big Bob. Dawn Wrobel (<a href="http://www.aintnocreek.com">http://www.aintnocreek.com</a>)
          tells the story of how she went to pick up a rescue hedgehog whose
          owner said she would kill the hedgehog if someone didn't come get it
          right away. Dawn quickly rearranged her schedule and arrived to find
          the most obese hedgehog she had ever seen. When leaving with Big Bob,
          the previous owner said, &quot;Don't forget to give him his
          treats.&quot; Dawn asked, &quot;Treats, what treats?&quot; The lady
          said, &quot;Oh, I feed him a chocolate bar every day.&quot; Bob got no
          more chocolate after that day, and went on to lead a much healthier
          life. Some hedgehogs, like this one, manage to get their svelte
          figures back just through cutting back on their treats or switching to
          a lite brand of food.</font>
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          Some hedgehogs do not seem to lose weight easily, even when food is
          cut back and a wheel and/or large amounts of space are provided for
          exercise. Our Tater tends to have this problem. Tater looks healthy at
          about 20 ounces, but last summer when we thought she was pregnant, she
          ballooned to 27 ounces. And she was not pregnant, just eating for a
          whole zoo, it turned out. I cut her food back to 1 Tbsp. Per day, but
          she still did not lose weight. I cut her back to 1 Tbsp. of lite food
          per day, and she lost just a mere half ounce. I finally began to count
          out the number of pieces of food she was getting each day, and
          scattered them around the cage to force her to move. She finally
          started to lose weight! Once the weight started to come off, she began
          to move more, getting back to running on the wheel and exploring
          around her cage at night. After three months, she was down to a lovely
          19 ounces and we were able to begin to up her food intake. We have
          heard of other hedgehog owners who encouraged obese hedgehogs to
          exercise by providing supervised swim sessions, though out of shape
          hedgehogs can tire easily to caution should be exercised with this
          approach. When in doubt, consult your veterinarian, and keep in mind
          that a healthy hedgie is a happy hedgie.</font>
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        Means-Burleson</font></p>
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        <b>This page last updated by Tig on&nbsp; 02/19/02</b></font></p>
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