Help!

[miss_lissa_2002]

Well, to make a long story short, This morning I drove in town with my boyfriend to get an iguana, and I came home with a sick iguana and hedgehog. YES I know they're illegal in PA, YES I know the PGC will come and take it. The poor thing was in a very small tupperware box standing in about 3 inches of its own excretion and no bedding. I took her to a WV vet and she has a pretty nasty infection from the feces that was caked on her feet. It actually looked like the vet was picking the hooves of a horse when she was cleaning her feet. It was aweful. But anyways, after I dropped her off at the vets, I went to petstores in WV hoping to find some stuff for her. So basically what I need to know is if I have the right stuff to care for her and how I should care for her. I got all this stuff out of a book I bought at the petstore this morning, so please if its wrong don't jump allover me. afterall thats why I came here was to check if I'm doing this right. I have her in a 20gal fish tank, with a screen lid, and eating cat food?, and I bought her a mesh guinea pig wheel and one of those igloo house things. and then the normal stuff like pine bedding, water bottle, etc. are they really supposed to eat cat food? Her stool is similar to a cats... is that normal? It says that I am supposed to bath her twice a week... with what? water? is there some kind of soap for hedgies available? I'm sorry, I know this sounds dumb but I figure I'm willing to try here and she has a much better chance with me than she had where she was. I'm attempting to get her to charleston, WV with a friend who has a hedgehog already. I haven't been able to get a hold of him all morning but I'm going to keep trying. If he says he'll take her I'll be going this weekend to take her there, if not I'll post her for adoptiong here, but until then I need some help. Thanks in advance!

[Nancy]

A 20 gallon aquarium is not ideal but will do for now until you have a chance to see other options.

The mesh wheel is not a good idea. They need a solid surfaced wheel or little toes and legs can be severely injured. The easiest remedy is to buy some of that craft foam or plastic canvas and cover the running surface of the wheel.

The igloo is good, there are other options which you may want to try later but for now that is good.

Their stool is similar in size and texture of toothpaste and usually dark brown.

Cat food is fine as long as it is a good quality cat food. There are many threads on here with catfood recommendations.

There is ongoing debate on water bottles. Some like them others won't use them. Hedgehogs have chipped teeth on water bottles and their necks do not articulate to make drinking from a water bottle easy. My main concern would be is if she had a water bottle before and knows how to use it.

They don't need baths twice a week unless they are quilling and then it is to soothe sore skin. You can use Aveeno oatmeal bath in the water as it will clean as well as soothe her skin. After quilling she really only needs a bath if she is dirty. Too many baths can dry their skin out even more. If her feet get dirty.... and they will... from wheeling then a foot bath is all that is needed. 1/2" of warm water in a basin or else a soaking wet washclothe for her to walk over will help clean her feet.

Poor girl. I'm glad you rescued her. My suggestion would be to remove your location until you figure out what is going on with her. :)

[SherAlana]

IS there any way you can report the pet store for selling hedgehogs, since it is illegal in PA?? I don't understand how they can even have one . . .

[glamgal]

Poor girl :( she's so lucky she found a good person to rescue her! I hope you find her a permanent home quickly though so she doesn't have any further trouble...good luck to you and the young lady!

Just be sure you DO NOT use cedar bedding!

My hedgies are happier with water dishes than bottles, Juni consumes much more water since I switched, and we never even gave our new guy Pierce the bottle at all...although alot of people do use bottles and are fine...keep an eye on her water consumption though to make sure she is actually drinking and knows how to use the bottle...

I would also consider reporting the store where you found her, whether they're in PA or not...from the conditions you described it sounds as though they may not be keeping their animals in good conditions...

[HedgePigLove]

Thanks for rescuing the little girl - I am glad she found you. If your friend in WV isn't able to take her, let me know (hedgie@lauraslist.org) as I've several folks in your area who are ready to take in special needs hedgies, should that be required.

I am sorry to hear about the girl's feet. What treatment did the vet recommend and what antibiotics did she prescribe for the hedgie? You're going to need to keep an eye on those feet for some time - once they get infected the infection can rapidly spread if not caught.

(I don't know what it is about idiots leaving their hedgehogs living in their excrement - we just had a hedgehog pulled from PA, who'd been left in her own waste for so long that her feet and legs became infected and three of her feet have had to be amputated. It looks like she's going to pull through, thank goodnes, and she's getting around on her stumps already, but I am going to be ranting and raving about this for the rest of my life.)

Anyway.

I'm in agreement with Nancy about the aquarium not being ideal for long-term care but it being fine for the short-term. Please keep an eye on the temperature in the girl's habitat - she needs to be kept between 72 and 78 degrees, ideally. You can place a heating pad (set on low and covered with a towel) under part of the aquarium to provide a "warm place" for her, should she need it. Because she's battling the infection, she's going to need to be putting her energy into healing and not expending those calories trying to stay warm.

I'd go with the craft-foam for lining the wheel. But check with the vet, first, to make sure it's okay for the little girl to be wheeling; it may be better (albeit frustrating for her) to keep her off her feet, or at least away from the temptation presented by a wheel, while her feet heal.

The igloo is fine for now - if you have it available, or can get to a fabric store, you can cut some fleece into squares/rectangles and add that to the pigloo, inside, so she can nest, if she wants. Other fabric is also okay, but watch for loose strings (they can get wrapped around their legs) and anything that might catch on the toenails.

For food, high-quality dry cat food is the best bet at the present - look for high-protein, lower-fat foods, with meat being the first ingredient (not "meal") - Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover's Soul, Iams, Wellness are some of the brands that folks recommend.

If the vet has put her on antibiotics, it's possible that her gastrointestional processes may get messed-up, with the good bacteria being killed along with the bad. You can offer small amounts of whole milk, live culture yogurt to help. Also canned pumpkin and sweet potatoes (fresh or baby food - I'd strongly recommend going with something like the Gerber Second Stage line of baby food - ingredients are pretty basic and easy to digest) may help. You might also want to offer her small amounts of chicken baby food (warm it, first) if she's reticent about eating.

Don't worry about the baths for now. I'd assume that if she's battling infected feet it's best to keep them dry (unless the vet says otherwise, of course). If the vet says to go ahead and bathe her, I too like the Aveeno oatmeal baby bath/shampoo. Be sure to make certain that she's completely dry before returning her to the habitat.

No questions are dumb - please ask away!

Again, thanks for rescuing this little girl and please contact me if you need help finding a forever home for her. Let us all know what other help we can offer! Laura

[miss_lissa_2002]

She didn't come from a store she came from someones house. My boyfriend was looking for an iguana that was close to the same size as his and this one sounded like it was. we went over there and this guy had a nasty looking iguana with no lights and it was being fed rotten soggy salad mixes and the hedgehog was in really bad shape. She hasn't even got a chance to use that wheel anyways her feet are too bad. so I'll just take it back. she'll only be in the fish tank for a little while. I'm not keeping her... I don't want to risk her being destroyed. I have tons of fabric available so I'll put some in there for her. She didn't seem to be using that water bottle so I put a bowl in there for her but she keeps putting bedding in it. It's about 74 in the house constantly so I figure thats pretty good for her. If not I do have a heating pad available. She seems to like her little igloo thing. It might not be the best but she didn't have anything before this..... and clean bedding wow it probably feels like heaven to her and that is a shame because this is very basic. The vet put her on baytril or however you spell it which is the same stuff they give chins. I asked her about antibiotics doing more harm than good like with guinea pigs (since I'm really not sure what to compare them to?) and she said that its similar with the good bacteria in their intestines but it's not as intense as a guinea pigs and that the baytril should work fine. I still haven't been able to get a hold of my friend but I figure he's probably working. So I'm going to try again at 5.

[miss_lissa_2002]

O I forgot to ask about her color.... She's not like black/tan like all the hedghogs I've seen she's more like a tan with a sort of off white quills and a white belly. what color is that? I looked on the net and she kind of looked like the "cinnecot" or the "chocolate chip" maybe?

[jules_77]

i am not very good with colors soo i can't help you there but i just wanted to say that i am glad that you saved this little hedgie, it makes me soo mad when people don't take proper care of their animals.

[Pringlesmom]

I hope things work out for you and the hedgie. Definately take the advice and fix the wheel. Also, if you are letting her drink from a bowl, make sure it is a heavy one. Pringle used to knock things over all of the time, including his bowl, while he was burrowing and playing. You dont want her to fall into the bowl and drown. I know this is scary, but Pringle had WHS and I could not give him a bowl for fear of that. I never even thought of it until the vet mentioned it. He was used to a bottle, so I was lucky anyway. I dont think you mentioned it, but her feet might be sore from being at the vet, so she may not be too steady. I would watch the water bowl.

[Love4Hedgies]

Wow, how sad. :( I'm glad you were able to rescue her and provide her with a better temporary home. Please keep us updated and good luck with her! You did a good thing.