hedgie illnesses

weesiepoo · 07-19-2004, 03:46 AM

i have been studying hedgie illnesses and treatments. reading, speaking to others, getting veterinary studies from my vet, etc....

i would like for everyone here to tell of any illnesses their pogs have had and what the vet said caused them and what was done to treat them. cancer and WHS seem to be very common illness in our hedgies and there are always tings like mites and the dreaded green slimy poops...

anyone have any information to share?

fertmom · 07-19-2004, 10:05 AM

I have 2 vet experiences to share. Our first hedgie Prickles was not the friendliest little guy, but we noticed him balling up more and not even coming out in his cage to eat and drink so we took him to the vet. The vet said he thought he heard a heart murmur and felt a lump in his stomach, also some noises in his lungs so he figured it was either pneumonia or cancer of the stomach or congestive heart failure. The only one of those things that was treatable was pneumonia so we gave antibiotic injections everyday and tried to syringe feed him. He died 4 days later so we do not really know what was wrong, but if it was pneumonia it did not respond to the antibiotics.
Our second vet experience was with Nutmeg, she was about 4 months old when we got her and quilling like crazy. She also had a reddish, very itchy rash under her chin area and green foul smelling slimy, mucousy poops. The vet did stool studies and checked for mites- neither was the problem. He gave her oral antibiotics thinking she had folliculitis and the stress of the rash and itching gave her the GI distress. The rash cleared up, and so did the poops. We also changed from Aspen bedding to liners and eventually cellsorb plus and improved her diet. The crickets addition to her diet along with turkey/yam/chicken soup and decent cat food made a big difference.
The other experience we had was with Pepper he was about 5 years old when he started losing teeth and developed cancerous tumors on his face and neck. He did not last long after the appearance of the tumor even though he tried to eat and we gave him softend mashed kibble- there just wasn't any overcoming that one.

weesiepoo · 07-19-2004, 02:08 PM

thanks for responding!

unfortunately, many vets are still at a loss when it comes to our little guys. and cancer is such a huge killer of them as well.

right now, i have a little girl with cancer on her throat and all of her teeth ahve broken off or fallen out. she is eating baby food, mashed up kibble softened and heated, and baby gerber meat sticks and her mealies.

the greenslime poops are also a big thing. they get them from illness, stress, whatever. and they are very susceptable to giardia.

if possible, it is always best to have your hedgie autopsied. i know it sounds heartless, but it helps to know what their pathology was. and if you ahve multiple hedgies, it helps to insure that whatever it was might pass to your other quilly ones.

anyone else!

fertmom · 07-19-2004, 05:53 PM

At the time, Prickles was our first and only hedgie so we opted not to do the autopsy, I guess we figured it wouldn't have made any difference.
I am sorry to hear about your girl with cancer of the throat, sounds just like Pepper

weesiepoo · 07-20-2004, 07:06 AM

she is on her wheel, jogging like only a hog can, um, jog (ok, waddle, but, shhhhh, don't tell her i said that!) and she seems to be her normal self. earlier, she was asleep in her litterbox. the thing is-they USE their litterbox so, um, yuck!!! lol

i offered her a bite of tofu tonight, and she seemed to like it! what a funny girl!

michelle · 07-20-2004, 11:14 AM

The only health problems I have ever really had was mites. I treat my hedgehogs by giving them a bath with an oatmeal flea shampoo for cats. I also found some stuff in a pet store that is all natural and non-toxic. It's some kind of powder made from some kind of fossilized sea life or something that de-hydrates the mite.
The only other problem I had was with a hedgehog that lost the use of his back legs, but still had a will to live. I gave him a large exercise wheel with an axel, and I tied a little hankerchief hammock over the axel to put his back legs in, and he would run with his front paws.

weesiepoo · 07-20-2004, 04:59 PM

the back legs going, that breings me to WHS. has anyone here had a hoggie that showed those signs besides michelle-or have one now? WHS 's cause is still being researched and debated over and i can give some good info or some good links for it. i'll do a thread on it when i come home from the store and get dinner done.

michelle · 07-21-2004, 09:22 AM

My hedgehog didn't have WHS. He lost the use of his legs all at once one day when he was out running around. I think he got stuck under the dresser or something. He was four years old when it happened, and he lived another year after that with no further signs of degeneration. The only thing I can say about that is to warn people to watch their hedgehogs very closely when they are out playing, because the spines don't really make them invincible.