A hedgehog which got so fat he was unable to roll into a ball has been put on a diet – after ballooning to more than twice his normal size. The mammoth mammal started piling on weight after he was rescued by a couple who found him, dangerously underweight, in a garage last October. Realising he was too skinny to survive hibernation, they decided to fatten him up – but overfed him throughout the winter on huge bowls of cat food.
- Roly Poly the overweight hedgehog tips the scales in favour of obesity, but is now on a controlled diet at Secret World in Somerset, whose founder Pauline Kidner said: 'We've had to house him in an otter box because a normal hedgehog one is far too small. His intake of cat food and cat biscuits has been reduced to 150g per day so he's gradually losing weight'
So the elderly couple – who have not been named – took him to the Secret World Wildlife Rescue Centre near Highbridge, Somerset, where he was placed on a calorie-controlled diet. Carers nicknamed him 'Roly Poly' and he is now slowly losing weight on 150g of cat food and biscuits per day.
Staff member Debbie O'Keefe said: "He's a monster. Overfeeding hedgehogs is easy to do, as they're very greedy and love to scoff."
(Published by Western Daily Press)
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