Hedgie Death-Vet Arguement-URGENT

[Ash Liz]

Two and a half weeks ago, I found Oz dead in his cage. As this was only a week and a half into having him, I returned to the (sorry everyone!) pet store to see what I could do now. They sent the body to a local vet and said they would call within a week. They didn't. Several days after the week was up (and I mean several) I called the vet and he rudely told us that there was internal bleeding and he could not replace him. Also he said that the body was partially decomposed so he could not test the organs. I know we did not drop him from a fatal height, is there absolutely anything else that could have happened in the care of the petstore? They are trying to pin this on us but I don't belive we did anything terribly wrong. Like I said, it was barely over a week we had him, barely.

[Vincent]

I don't know how fast it takes to die from internal bleeding, but what kind of display was he on in the pet store?
I bought one of my boys from a pet store, and he was in an open-top display case. That meant that people who didn't know how to handle hedgehogs were free to pick him up whenever they wanted. If yours was in the same sort of setup, maybe there's a possibility that someone else dropped him before you bought him.
Also, did you have multiple levels on your cage? Perhaps you didn't drop him, but maybe he fell from a height and did it to himself.

I'm very sorry to hear about his passing. :(

[HedgeMom]

I know we did not drop him from a fatal height

In an earlier post (http://www.chins-n-quills.com/forums/showthread.php?t=101801) you said he fell from a height of 3 to 4 feet. And died less than a day later. If he fell the wrong way, the fall could have easily caused internal bleeding and death.

[Nancy]

A hedgehog falling from 3 or 4 feet is about the equivalent of us falling from a 12 storey building. It certainly could cause fatal injuries.

If he had recieved an injury in the store that caused internal bleeding he would have passed sooner than the week and a half that you owned him.

[keeja820]

im so sorry to hear about your lil guy.
and im sorry to hear they are trying to pin it on you.

IMO, any height of a drop/fall is dangerous and possibly fatal. i had Lily fall one time (i swear it was an accident, mostly on my behalf, but never again), and she was fine (this happened MONTHS ago...) but not all are so lucky :( possibly lucky for us, she balls up when scared of anything, thats probably what saved her...i was sooooooooooo scared when it happened :(

again, sorry for your loss :(

[wyvernrider18]

I'm sorry for what happened. You shouldn't beat yourself up, tho. Accidents happen, and it doesn't make you cruel or a bad pet owner when things like this happen. It's probably no one person's fault that it happened, but a vet should be professional enough to gather all of the facts about an animal's situation and they should NEVER treat a client like that. It's unacceptable. Again, so sorry.

[Pringlesmom]

I am so sorry for the passing of the little one. He is at peace now.