Fat Hog

Mr Toffee my 3 year old male African pygmy hedgehog developed a fatty lump on his shoulder/behind his ear just before christmas, he had some swelling and has also been behaving a bit strangely and not eating as much as usual. My local vet removed pus and gave him some antibiotics as it was slightly infected. Over the next week the bruising did go down but some swelling on the back of his neck increased and the lump returned. I was referred to an exotic specialist in Warwick who I saw this morning he told me Mr Toffee is overweight. Adult male hogs should weigh 500-600 grams and Mr T is 682 >_< What a fat hog! :ew: I thought he was OK as I tend to check every so often and he can still easily roll into a tight ball.

The specialist vet suggested a lot of expensive treatments for my middle aged hog, checking his teeth and removing plaque if necessary, taking bloods to have tested and removing the lump and sending that to be tested to check for malignant or benign cells. I'm going to ask for advice from my local vet on these treatments, she did offer to remove the lump first but suggested a specialist opinion to confirm. Also worrisomely I think that maybe the blood work and teeth check might not be immediately necessary? At least put of intill we can get some pet insurance as the bill will nearly reach £400 which we don't have atm.

So my post is this: I feed Mr Toffee usually 18grams of 1/3 iams chicken flavoured dry kitten food and 2/3 hills chicken flavoured dry kitten food. He usually eats half/10 grams or so. The vet has said this diet is too high in fat, and kitten food alone is not good enough for him. I also give him 3/4 live meal worms a day as a treat when we get him out. The vet suggested more bugs to replace some of the kitten food. He doesn't eat enough to make buying live ones worth while (I have never bothered with crickets, there are just not small enough portions) so i'm not sure of other options as he seems to be a fussy eater . I have also tried pretty much every other food you can give hedgehogs, carrot, peas, banana, broccoli, and other fruit and veg, boiled and scrambled egg, tuna, minced beef and chicken, he did not have any interest what so ever (even when I left some carrot in the worm bag to trick his nose). What do you guys feed your aph? I'd also be grateful of any other suggestions on how to reduce his fat intake.

yeah the diet is to high in fat, id recommend changing to the light versions of the food you are using, or look at some alternative brands

the guidelines are 30%+ protein and 10%- fat contents

id probably also reduce the amount of worms you feed or miss them out for a few weeks,

do you feed him any meat? (chicken etc...)

also apparently a 3 years old hog is the equivalent of a 53 year old human!