Hedgehogs....

RE: Hedgehogs....

jojofruits — Fri, 29 Jul 2016 15:45:59 GMT

There is a syndrome in young hedgehogs which the guys at Vale Wildlife in Beckford will tell you all about, he may be suffering from this.. they often only reach about 250g. are hyperactive with long spindly limbs .. might be worth giving Caroline Gould a call there to have a chat about it all? she's brilliant and there's not much she doesn't know about hedgehogs.. they call these effected hogs " clangers" because that's a bit what they look like.. ( The Clangers are childrens tv characters from the 70s!)

I know they were planning on doing some proper research into "Clangers" when I worked for them but that was a number of years ago. my knowledge is a little out of date about it so they may well have found out more about it by now!

RE: Hedgehogs....

Keely Young — Fri, 29 Jul 2016 11:44:10 GMT

I do agree. Wild animals are meant to be out and about, living as much of a natural life as possible. If he isn't going to have a fair chance, it would be most unfair to release him, so I know I will have a decision to make for him. Vet wants to listen to him again in a few days and go from there. I know bird rescues have their "residents" that they can't release, just wondered if hog rescues had the same setup.

I have no pictures of his teeth (although they are small and bright white, they much remind me of puppy teeth) and I've no previous experience of young hogs so no real experience of ageing them, only the vets word :)

RE: Hedgehogs....

jojofruits — Fri, 29 Jul 2016 09:05:04 GMT

If hes not thriving and showing these symptoms it may be kinder to call it a day. They do suffer with CHF when they get older, still not convinced you have a young hog here. Have you got any pics / pics of his teeth?

Personally ( and its just my personal opinion) I don't think wild animals should be kept/ restricted. Its also not lawful x

RE: Hedgehogs....

Keely Young — Fri, 29 Jul 2016 08:46:28 GMT

Thank you - worth knowing that the Panacur won't work! It's a go-to for us usually. I'll see if we can get some in. We're seeing an awful lot of hedgehogs this year strangely, so definitely worth having some in!

The vet saw him yesterday - he has developed ascites (quickly) and the vet could hear an arrythmia so he suspects he has a heart condition :( The symptoms fit with CHF and I don't think the prognosis for a wild hedgehog is good - at least, he'll never be a candidate for release - are there such things as lifetime hedgehog fosterers? I don't even think he'd be a candidate for enclosed garden if he needed medication.

He's definitely just a baby, but he is still bright and active and eating mealworms like they're going out of fashion.

RE: Hedgehogs....

Wildlife Nurse — Thu, 28 Jul 2016 15:55:47 GMT

I used to nurse at Tiggys for years. Panacur will not touch the lungworm unfortunately. They get two types, capillaria aerophila and crenosoma. Levamisole is what you need to get rid of those sods. One injection once a week for three weeks.

RE: Hedgehogs....

Keely Young — Wed, 27 Jul 2016 10:49:45 GMT

aww that's brilliant :)

We've had a bit of a setback - he is syringe feeding now (bit of weight loss again), with A/D - LOVES it - putting weight on very slowly but has a bit of a swollen tummy today and a bit of gunk round his eyes - he's coming to work with me today to be checked. He's a bit of a strange one! He is happy and active, he is eating mealworms and pate by himself and drinking well, so we'll see what the vet says!! Going to take some faeces and see if I can have a quick looksee under the microscope.

Our big lad (Robbie Quilliams!) is doing very well indeed, his infection is reducing dramatically so we're almost at the point we can splint and see if his leg will heal without amputation

RE: Hedgehogs....

sarahkat — Mon, 25 Jul 2016 05:37:22 GMT

That is great news. We currently have four little hoglets that are just starting to lap feed.

We also had one the other week with a severely infected fractured fore leg. We waited for antibiotic's to kick in then the VS amputated it. He did really well, he's now been fostered to a home with a safe walled garden and is happily doing great.

RE: Hedgehogs....

Keely Young — Sun, 24 Jul 2016 19:55:00 GMT

Thank you he has put some weight on! (Morrisons cat pate!) So, slowly increasing but will be monitored closely to check it carries on the same way

Have taken in another one too, badly broken leg and infection but he is a big hog (680g) and is having no problems eating, despite him being strapped up!

RE: Hedgehogs....

jojofruits — Thu, 21 Jul 2016 14:26:18 GMT

Make sure he is weighed daily at the same time every day. a baby hedgehog should put on weight daily and this will show you any trends :)

Yes some hogs have brands they don't like! but most babies are voracious feeders.

If he is not holding his weight then he will likely need some more treatment/ antibiotics/ faecal sample etc? wildlife hospital or Les Stocker's wildlife book is a good place to start for doses etc

RE: Hedgehogs....

Keely Young — Sat, 16 Jul 2016 12:21:02 GMT

Thanks all. Vets have had a look at him and said he was a baby he has a bald patch where his spikes are just starting to grow back through now, so not sure what happened there.

I've changed his food onto a catfood pate and I've got some Hills A/D which I'll try warming up later on. He's eaten a good 1/2 a tin of pate over night and a tub of mealworms (could it be that he just really didn't like Felix? Funnily enough our last one wouldn't eat Felix or Whiskas, only Tescos own cat food!) - just found another sneaky tick that's fell off into his food bowl!! (Don't know how I missed that one!)

It could be there's something more going on that we can't help but I'll see how he goes. If he doesn't start to pick up soon, I'll give a hedgehog rescue a ring and see what they say. He is drinking and he is fairly active

RE: Hedgehogs....

Tania Ford — Fri, 15 Jul 2016 14:12:32 GMT

I hand reared a 2 week old hoglet and weaned him on a mixture of Royal canin baby milk and Hills a/d. He did really well and put on weight very quickly, so may be worth a try? He also ate lots of live mealworms during this weaning process.

Good luck, as it can be very rewarding hand rearing these little bundles of prickliness :)

RE: Hedgehogs....

jojofruits — Thu, 14 Jul 2016 16:25:42 GMT

If you give Vale wildlife rescue or tiggywinkles a ring they have a brilliant admission protocol for hedgehogs which covers parastites etc. he should be putting on truckloads of weight so may have a high burden.

Also are you 100% sure he is a young hog and not a geriatric? The older ones can get really skinny and underweight and are sometimes mistaken for youngsters. The teeth are a good indicator. and the muscle loss you describe here is also a sign of an elderly hog.

I wouldn't syringe feed I don't think as its really stressful for them.. where are you based? a wildlife hospital which is quiet and set up for them might be a good option for you. I don't know where you have him but in the daytime when they are supposed to be resting a veterinary practice is usually too noisy/ too full of perceived dangers to allow them to behave normally

EDITED TO ADD: sorry just seen the bit about the conservatory!

Have reread and this does sound like an elderly hog to me....

RE: Hedgehogs....

Keely Young — Thu, 14 Jul 2016 15:29:33 GMT

Thanks! We haven't done faecal smears on him....might be worth doing.

He's eating mealworms like they're going out of fashion but just won't touch cat food (we don't feed fish flavours or meat in gravy, only in jelly) and he has eaten a few cat biscuits. Maybe he just doesn't like that flavour?!

The very first day I got him he drank and I saw him doing so, but haven't actually seen him drinking since (but his water bowl is reducing).

Panacur should be okay - it's recommended by the local hedgehog rescue and I used it when we had our last spiky foster. I'm wondering whether I should syringe feed some A/D for a couple of days to get him going - he is slightly "tapered" at his back end which I believe is a sign that a hedgehog is underweight (even though he is young)? Ticks are definitely gone - I'm a bit of a tick fiend, I got right down to the larvae with a pair of tiny forceps because they were too small for the tick hooks!!!

RE: Hedgehogs....

Joanne Jackson — Wed, 13 Jul 2016 21:22:08 GMT

Hi!

Well done for looking after the little guy? It's so rewarding caring for hedgehogs.

Have you done a fecal smear to check for worms. At the practice I work at we run a hedgehog rescue. One of our procedures is to do a fecal test for three consecutive days to see what/if there are worms.

Meal worms are good to encourage fussy eaters to start eating wet food if you sprinkle them on wet food. We try to avoid fish based food but wet dog or cat food is fine. We have had hedgehogs in who don't eat or gain weight then will suddenly just start doing really well so dont panic too much. Does he drink okay?

Try to make sure there are no ticks left on him. I don't think we use panacur at the rescue so double check maybe that is okay.