Mollyshark
03-27-2005, 09:37 PM
About three weeks ago, noticed Jojik had not eaten any food for a couple days. No new poop on his wheel, no water missing, sleeping a lot, even at night. Took him out for closer observation and he seemed real wobbly. I read up here on wobbly hedgehog syndrome and looked at the vet listings for one nearby. Fortunately I found a SAINT of a vet who specializes in little animals. She poked and prodded and pronounced that he had a heart murmur and was in heart failure with his lungs filled with fluid. He was about as limp as an old celery at this point. She said the prognosis was NOT good, but I was determined to give it our best shot. She gave him an injection and we put him on diuretics twice a day (injected into his mouth). She gave us very high protein/vitamin cat/dog food which would suck up into a syringe and every few hours we tried to get a little food down him. It took a while, but with the diuretics, a hot water bottle in his cage constantly, and a LOT of TLC, he started getting up and around. He went back for a check up last week and the vet was astounded that he has pulled through this well. No more fluid in his lungs, but he is still pretty weak. He'll be on diuretics at least twice a day for the rest of his life (customed mixed with chicken flavor at a local pharmacy) and you can tell he doesn't get quite enough oxygen because he breathes very fast. His wheel running days may be over, but we'll see. The best news is he is eating on his own. He will eat the soft high protein stuff and I bought some ProPlan kitten food and he seems to like that. Doesn't seem too interested in the regular hard cat food he used to love. Will eat little bits of turkey or chicken again also and is back to drinking from his water bottle instead of needing a few drops of water syringed into his mouth every couple hours. He had lost a LOT of weight...almost 1/3rd of his body weight (thankfully he was a little pudgy), but now is up to about 270 grams again which isn't too bad, although he looks a little thin. The vet said that heart disease generally gets worse, not better, but she didn't expect him to be doing THIS well.
Want to express my appreciation for your vet list and give a great recommendation to the Arlington Animal Clinic in Arlington, Texas. The vet there is the best. We just love this little guy and we'll do the best to give him a happy life.
Want to express my appreciation for your vet list and give a great recommendation to the Arlington Animal Clinic in Arlington, Texas. The vet there is the best. We just love this little guy and we'll do the best to give him a happy life.