Mik
12-30-2004, 05:09 PM
Hey everyone,
This afternoon, Herbie died; he was 1.5 years old. Up until now he was a normal hedgehog, energetic, angry (heh), and with a huge appetite. Two nights ago we had him out running around and all was fine. Last night we checked on him and he was being wobbly (uh oh), he had been so two or three times before but only when the house had cooled down without our noticing (nothing a warm blanket can't cure), an added note is that the house was certainly above 20'C for the last few weeks.
When we saw him last night he was kinda sleeping on his side with his legs more exposed than usual, and we woke him up but all he wanted to do was go in the corner and sleep. Very odd, he wouldn't eat or drink (we noticed his water level hadn't gone down). We eventually coaxed him to start moving around and he wandered (very weobbily) onto his wheel and sort of tried running/walking for a bit. That didn't last long as I scooped him out of his cage to hold him.
We set him down on the ground and instead of eating some of his pellets we laid out, he would just kinda flop down on his side and sleep.
This was at about 2am, and so we figured we'd let him sleep and check him in the morning.
This morning we checked him and he was sort of breathing oddly (a very small amount of mucus would sometimes come out of his nose), and wasn't active at all. We brought him out and tried to feed him his favorite (hard boiled egg), and he just didn't care about it. His lower end was contracting with his breaths in a more pronounced way. Eventually we ended up holding him in a towel in our arms on the couch, while he laid on his side. Periodically it would seem he would have a spasm or seizure, but it would only last 5-10 seconds. His little legs were also just not moving, nor did he care about rubbing his nose, or tummy. He seemed somewhat alert though, as loud noises beyond our control would cause his forehead quills to stand up somewhat (mind you it was a half-hearted effort on his part).
So we rushed him out to UPEI's Vet School/Clinic and they were only on emergency duty and wanted $75 for just a check up (with a non-specialist). Now I know you can't really put a price on their little lives, but we wanted to see if anyone else would be available for a smaller amount of money (college students here).
We ended up making an appointment for 230 at another vet clinic, and around 120pm, Herbie expired. We were holding him keeping him warm and comfortable when he "flexed" his body twice then stopped breathing.
We buried him under a nice apple tree out in the country overlooking a frozen river, which we thought to be the most suitable place for his cute little self.
So we're a little baffled as to why his degredation was so quick (under 15 hours), and what may have happend? WHS seems to be possible, but it happend so quickly.
His diet hadn't changed much, the usual kitten feed and smaller hedgehog pellets that he's been living healthily on for the past 1.5 years.
:(
This afternoon, Herbie died; he was 1.5 years old. Up until now he was a normal hedgehog, energetic, angry (heh), and with a huge appetite. Two nights ago we had him out running around and all was fine. Last night we checked on him and he was being wobbly (uh oh), he had been so two or three times before but only when the house had cooled down without our noticing (nothing a warm blanket can't cure), an added note is that the house was certainly above 20'C for the last few weeks.
When we saw him last night he was kinda sleeping on his side with his legs more exposed than usual, and we woke him up but all he wanted to do was go in the corner and sleep. Very odd, he wouldn't eat or drink (we noticed his water level hadn't gone down). We eventually coaxed him to start moving around and he wandered (very weobbily) onto his wheel and sort of tried running/walking for a bit. That didn't last long as I scooped him out of his cage to hold him.
We set him down on the ground and instead of eating some of his pellets we laid out, he would just kinda flop down on his side and sleep.
This was at about 2am, and so we figured we'd let him sleep and check him in the morning.
This morning we checked him and he was sort of breathing oddly (a very small amount of mucus would sometimes come out of his nose), and wasn't active at all. We brought him out and tried to feed him his favorite (hard boiled egg), and he just didn't care about it. His lower end was contracting with his breaths in a more pronounced way. Eventually we ended up holding him in a towel in our arms on the couch, while he laid on his side. Periodically it would seem he would have a spasm or seizure, but it would only last 5-10 seconds. His little legs were also just not moving, nor did he care about rubbing his nose, or tummy. He seemed somewhat alert though, as loud noises beyond our control would cause his forehead quills to stand up somewhat (mind you it was a half-hearted effort on his part).
So we rushed him out to UPEI's Vet School/Clinic and they were only on emergency duty and wanted $75 for just a check up (with a non-specialist). Now I know you can't really put a price on their little lives, but we wanted to see if anyone else would be available for a smaller amount of money (college students here).
We ended up making an appointment for 230 at another vet clinic, and around 120pm, Herbie expired. We were holding him keeping him warm and comfortable when he "flexed" his body twice then stopped breathing.
We buried him under a nice apple tree out in the country overlooking a frozen river, which we thought to be the most suitable place for his cute little self.
So we're a little baffled as to why his degredation was so quick (under 15 hours), and what may have happend? WHS seems to be possible, but it happend so quickly.
His diet hadn't changed much, the usual kitten feed and smaller hedgehog pellets that he's been living healthily on for the past 1.5 years.
:(