Cancers

[Sweety]

I don't have a hedgehog quite yet. I'm just learning everything I can about them before bringing the little one home. :)

I have heard from my vet (I have a vet for him already) that hedgehogs have an extremely high rate of cancers. How many of you have dealt with a hedgehog that had cancer and was it easily treatable??

Jen

[paris26]

Jen~
I have had two hedgehogs diagnosed with lymphoma. Wally's cancer started in his abdomen and spread to his heart and lungs. Tico pased of intestinal lymphoma.
I chose not to treat Wally because he was advanced and he hung almost 2 months from diagnosis. I didn't do anything other than love him and spend as much time with him as I could.
Tico, I decided to treat because we thought we caught it early enough. He was put on prednisolone, sulcrafate, metronidazole, subcutaneous fluids. I also had to force feed him several times a day because he had no appetite. Tico died one week after his diagnosis
For me, the cancers were not easily treated. I have spayed my 3 youngest hogs as a preventative for all the female problems they tend to have. I also have 2 adult females who are not spayed and are doing okay.

[javiepr]

Okay, I found a large lump almost soft thing on my hedgehog near her arm. I am taking her to the vet but any advice or maybe suggestions would be great to what it could be. thanx, Jav

[HedgePigLove]

Hi Jen,

Let's see here:

Miss Penelope Anne had Leiomyoloma in her uterus; thankfully, it's not a cancer that tends to spread and she's been fine since (except for eating way too much since the hysterectomy).

Noah James (a rescued hedgie) had a carcinoma removed from his back, but his prognosis was "guarded." He then had three cysts removed (about four months following the first surgery) and those have come back as being adenocarcinomas. These have metastacized and he's currently being treated with pain meds. and we're looking at piroxicam and/or prednisolone to deal with pain and slow tumor growth.

I also have two females that have had emergency spays due to bloody urine and those reults have not been cancerous. One (very young - six to nine months, we believe) female had severe endometritis (when you touched her stomach she'd "leak" blood and pus - poor thing!). She's now fine.

The other female is another rescue and is estimated to be three to four years' old - her pathology reports for the hysterectomy came back as chronic necrosuppurative endometritis. Right now she has a UTI, but has almost fully recovered from the spay.

I've another female that I'm caring for for a friend, and she just had an emergency hysterectomy (last week) for bloody urine. We're waiting on those pathology reports.

Hedgies do have cancers at a higher rate than other animals and some are easier treated than others. But they also develop other health problems, too. However, I tend to deal with rescues, so mine reflect a limited segment of the larger hedgie population.

[Nancy]

Okay, I found a large lump almost soft thing on my hedgehog near her arm. I am taking her to the vet but any advice or maybe suggestions would be great to what it could be. thanx, Jav

Get it removed ASAP. In all probability it is a mammary tumour. In July I had one removed from Peaches. It came up almost overnight and was so obvious as it hung down from her chest. We took her to the vet 7pm one night and she was in surgery at 8am the next morning. It was a malignant mammary tumour with incomplete edges, meaning it has in all probability spread. Now it is a waiting game.

Peaches is the only one with cancer so far. She just turned 2. We suspected it with Kei. At 14 months she started showing blood in her urine, all tests and antibiotic treatments showed nothing so we had her spayed assuming it was uterine. Her reproductive organs came back normal and she is still showing sporadic blood in her urine but no idea why. :)

[tacotac]

Blizzy has been diagnosed with lymphoma about a couple months ago. It was on her neck, like on her trachea, so it was not recommended to be removed. She was put on prednisolone and carafate. About a week or so ago I noticed her chin/jaw growing bigger. Today her whole left side of her lower lip looked swollen and big. We took her to our local vet this afternoon and he said it is likely to be cancer on her jaw, on the bone, or it could still be part of that fungus she has had trouble with for a long time. We are supposed to get a biopsy next week where they will get a sample of her jaw and send it in :( .

[javiepr]

okay, an update she went to the vet and yes it was a mammory tumor and it happened overnight. the sad part...it is invasive. i am so sad and shocked. the vet told me we can remove it and make her comfortable. what is comfortable urggghhhh!!!! My poor Autumn.

[Sweety]

Thank you all for replying. The replies are muchly appreciated. :)

Ok, I have a few other questions, if you don't mind. For females that are not being bred, is it beneficial to get them spayed or have a hysterectomy done on them in order to prevent cancer to the uterus, ovaries, cervix, and fallopian tubes?? I know the surgery would cause them stress and short term pain but the cancer would cause them probably a great deal of pain, possibly long term.

Are females more prone to cancers than males?? So far with the replies that I got, it seems quite even. The amount of females and males are almost equal.

Now that I've asked about the cancer situation, is there anyone out there that has an "older" hedgehog that is normal without any major health problems??

Thank you muchly again. :)

Jen

[Nancy]

okay, an update she went to the vet and yes it was a mammory tumor and it happened overnight. the sad part...it is invasive. i am so sad and shocked. the vet told me we can remove it and make her comfortable. what is comfortable urggghhhh!!!! My poor Autumn.

Oh no. I am so sorry. I guess it is up to you whether to have it removed or not. From what I have been researching and hearing the average time for the lumps to recur is 8 months but of course each case is different. We opted to have Peaches removed and hopefully it won't come back for a long time. Her surgery was done with laser and was very non invasive. I feel it was a very minor blip in her life. She recovered quickly and is doing great. I wish all the best for you and Autumn.

Jen - It seems that both sexes are equally prone to all cancers with the exception of reproductive where the females are at far more risk. Removing the parts, removes that risk. I think spaying at an early age is certainly beneficial if you have a vet experienced in spaying small animals.

There are many people that have hedgehogs that live to 6 and 7 years old with no health problems. My oldest is almost 4 and (touch wood) he is perfectly healthy.

[Sweety]

Thanks Teasel's mom. I think I am going to try to convince my boyfriend to get a male, if we can. That way if we ever did want to breed we could always get a female down the road. If I were to get a female now, I would want to get her spayed in order to avoid cancer of the reproductive organs.

I haven't asked my vet yet but I am pretty sure she does spaying of small animals. She is an Assistant Professor at the University and has done surgeries on small reptiles before. :winkgrin:

Jen