prone to tumors

[hedgewood]

I was wondering if anyone could tell me why Hedgehogs are so prone to getting tumors. I know that within the last years, Hedgewood has had 2 and upon reading on this forum, it seems as though there are always threads about hedgehogs having tumors or having them removed. I have never heard of this being such a problem with other types of pets, does anyone know why it would be such a problem with hedgehogs. I mean we seem to do everything we possibly can for them, for their best interst. What is the problem???? Are they like this in the wild? If anyone has any theories, please advise.

[CaptainWhitaker]

That's a really good question. I've always thought that it was because they had a particular diet to stick to. I read somewhere that one of the reasons that some of these low quality cat foods and these foods specifically designed for Hedgies are mostly fillers instead of the proper nutrients. Many of the fillers you see in low quality foods have been linked to cancer, similar to Phenylketonurics/Phenylalanine (It's COMMONLY found in diet soda.), which has been linked to cancer in humans. Granted, for a human to get cancer off of one ingredient, they'd have to drink two cases a day every day for fifty years. I'm guessing that due to a Hedgehog's small body weight, the fillers can cause tumors more quickly.

I could be offbase with that guess, but I've read MANY times that by giving Hedgies better quality foods, you're severly cutting back the risk of cancer.

[hedgewood]

I also was thinking it may be the diet, as there really is no food that is formulated to specifically meet the dietary needs of a hedgehog. We use high quality holistic cat food but whose to say that there isnt something that we are missing. My hedgehogs are on Eagle Pack cat food, senior formula. It is the best I can buy for them, where I live.

[paris26]

You also have to keep in mind genetics and environment. Relatively speaking, there were limited numbers of breeding hedgies available after it became illegal to import anymore into this country. So finding new bloodlines had to be a challenge. That's why it is important to have hedgies with lineage before you breed, so you can minimize the chances of inheritable disease, etc.
I would also imagine environmental factors has to play a part. People who live in polluted areas, or with contaminated water tend to be sick more often, so why wouldn't animals be affected too?
We can't always control the genetics or environment of our hedgies, but we can control diet and regular veterinary care!

[HedgeMom]

I wouldn't say hedgehogs are "prone" to tumors. You can't base a finding on a pet help website, after all, the people who post here need help. The one's who don't have tumors aren't posting. So it skews the data.

I've had hedgehogs for 11 years now. I've lost three to cancer, two had sarcoma of the jaw and one had bladder cancer. I've lost one to WHS. The others have mostly died of system failure due to advanced age. During this time I've probably had twenty personal hedgehogs and uncountable rescues come through. I doubt if my cancer rate is 10%.

I also compare them to rats, who are prone to tumors due to a genetic predisposition. I've had far fewer rats and many more with growths/tumors. Much higher tumor rate than hedgehogs.

I think if you have a hedgehog who is prone to tumors you need to notify the breeder if at all possible. Any bloodline that has those issues needs to be discontinued. This is why it's important to register your hedgehog and important to post any medical issues and have your vet post any medical issues to the hedgehog veterinary board.

[Nancy]

I think everything is prone to cancers these days. Hedgehogs seem to be more prone to oral and reproductive cancers.

[Kalandra]

I don't think we can even start to speculate as to the cause of cancer in hedgehogs yet. It could be diet (which we know fairly little about their needs), it could be genetic (from the massive breeding in the 90s), and it could be environmental.

The cancer rate in my experience has been much higher than HedgeMom's. Why? I wish I knew... I've had 5 hedgehogs that had cancer; 6 different types of cancer & 1 benign tumor. Each cancer was for a different area (Lymphosarcoma (in the throat), stomach, colon, 1 that had spread to all major organs, mammary, oral, and basal cell)

There are so many things that they claim cause cancer. Some are additives to our foods which they added for a long time and discovered later caused problems (example that blue food coloring. I just saw a news article saying that Teflon is being sued for cancer causing claims (DuPont denies this to be true). Radon is claimed to cause lung cancer.... So who knows what common household items we have that may cause cancer.

[HedgeMom]

Is it possible that it's a geographical issue? As in the animals you get are from different bloodlines than what I'm getting?

Granted a goodly number of my hedgehogs have been retired breeding moms from Hedgehog Valley, which may very well skew my numbers, but I've had hedgehogs from California, Canada, NJ, VA, LA and CO.

My known bloodlines were mostly Massena and Hedgehog Valley.

[Kalandra]

Of those hedgehogs, only 2 are of known bloodlines (actually the only 2 I've ever had with known bloodlines). It could be that some of the hedgehogs were inbred, had less than desirable beginnings, and it could very well be a geographical issue or most likely just an environmental issue with the location. Truthfully I know very little about some of the hedgehogs as they came from 'rescue-like' situations. I suspect its a combination of them all.

All I do know is that I know more about a variety of cancers than I ever thought I would know. You can see why the topic of cancer in hedgehogs catches my attention.

[hedgewood]

Unfortunately, I do not know the blood lines of any of the 3 hedgehogs I have or have had. They have all been bought from pet stores, as there are no breeders around here. Dont get me wrong, I love my pet store hedgies and would not trade them in for the world. I just wish I knew more about their back grounds. It is just so heart breaking to see them go through all of this. I was just curious if anyone knew any reasons behind the tumors, or had any theories. Thank you all for your input.