Possible Stroke

[jessran_88]

I brought my baby to the vet today. I went away for a week and when I came back she wasn't doing well. My dad had been taking care of her and said one evening while feeding her she came out and kept stumbling. He said she hadn't really used her wheel since the day after I left. (You can hear it through his vents)

The vet is running a whole line up of tests on her and I'll have the results early next week. He said she may have possibly had a stroke because her left side is a little more stiff and wobbly.

I'm just glad she is eating and she actually just got in her wheel--she only walks though. The vet said to take the wheel out if she gets going too fast so she doesn't fall and hurt herself. Otherwise, I just have to watch her.

Jessica

[HedgePigLove]

I'm sorry to hear about your little one, Jessica. May I ask how old she is? Also, do you have a log of her weight? And does she have a water bottle or a water bowl to drink from?

My Miss Pepper hasn't had a stroke, but she has limited mobility due to age, arthritis, and severe malnutrition for most of her life (which caused some permanent neuro-muscular damage).

Some things you can do to help your little one through this time (what's her name, anyway?):

You can layer rolled fleece blankets around the base of her wheel, so that if she falls off, she's falling on to something soft - just be sure to leave a path so she can get on/off the wheel. You can also place a fairly flat box (like the kind that a pound of chocolate candies would come in), covered with a blanket, under the wheel so she has a "step" that might helpher get in/out. If you're feeling handy and clever you could also devise a ramp to help her get in and out.

You can provide massage therapy for your little lady - hopefully someone here can chime in with specific ideas, but for Miss Pepper I just concentrate on working her limbs and keeping her blood flowing smoothly.

If she's having trouble staying upright, you can make "trails" in her habitat - again, rolled blankets that provide support for the body as she moves forward and back (to help her view the new arrangement as something good, you can sprinkle the "paths" with treats).

Make sure that she stays warm, as the stroke may be affecting her body's ability to regulate internal temperature. But if you do add a heat-providing device, first make sure that it cannot get too hot and that she can move toward and away from it at will.

A stroke's not the end of the world for these little ones - I am hoping that your baby stabilizes and goes on to lead a fulfilling life. You can help her - and we're all here to help you.

Laura

[stacys_mommy]

Jessica,
Were so sorry to hear about your little one. Please keep us updated.

[PrettyHate]

Laura gave some great advice.

Hope your baby makes a speedy recovery. Sending healing thoughts out to both of you.

-The other Laura :)

[Pringlesmom]

Also, do you have a log of her weight?

Where can you get a scale for this?

[Pringlesmom]

I am so sorry. Keep us posted. (I had this on the other post, but it didn't show up)

[Kalandra]

You can find kitchen scales now that are reasonably priced. Look for a scale that weighs in grams and preferably down to 1 gram increments, although 2 gram works ok. Mine has a bowl which fits on top of the scale, it makes it easier to keep the hedgehog on the scale.

[HedgePigLove]

The larger discount stores usually have the kitchen scales available for under $20.00. If you can't find one with bowl you can improvise - I use a small ice cream bucket for weigh-ins and just deduct the (empty) weight of the bowl from the total weight.

Also, some scales, if you put the empty bowl on the scale before turning it on, will set to "0" with the bowl, then you just pop in the hedgehog and you'll get the accurate weight and not have to deduct the weight of the container.

You can find an excellent weight chart for downloading here: http://zoey.ginaanderson.com/weightchart/ . I used that design as a basis for the chart I use - mine just has a little more room for the "Notes" section.

Keeping regular track of weight and making note of gain/loss can help you recognize when there's something going on with your hedgehog, healthwise, before it's visually noticable. (I recently read where someone's hedgehog had lost over 100 grams, but still "looked" the same, so the owner wasn't aware that something was wrong.)

I try to weight mine every other night - at the very least they're all weighed once a week (on the Yahoo group "hedgehogwelfare" there's the "Wednesday Weigh-In" where lots of folks post the weekly weights). Daily weighing is probably best; just remember to weigh the hedgehog about the same time every day, and make note if the weight is pre/post bathroom trip (a larger hedgie can have bathroom trips that result in output of over 30 grams!) and whether or not they've recently eaten.

[jessran_88]

Her name is Bear--Didn't realize I forgot it.
(My niece named her)

She is going to be a year old in December--
I have a low watt ceramic heat bulb in one spot that hold about 78 degrees. The average temp. in the room is about 73.
I added a water bowl in addition to her bottle thinking it would be easier but she doesn't like it. I also put her food on a tupperware lid because her dish is kind of tall.

I tried the rolled blanket idea but she just added them to her two nests. She has the one so full I don't think she can get in it anymore. (Bear has a habit of stashing anything in her cage she can move so I'm not surprised)

I don't have a regular log of her weight but every 6-8 weeks she has had a checkup and been weighed. The vet said there was nothing amiss with that.

Thanks for the massaging idea and the other ideas.
Jessica

[jessran_88]

The vet finally got all her results back. He couldn't find anything wrong with her so I brought her back. He then sent more samples to two more labs. They couldn't find anything either.
if they can't diagnose anything does that me she could possibly have WHS?
I don't know what to do for her--I hate feeling so helpless.

Jessica