Update on Hotaru

[wyvernrider18]

I got to see Hotaru for the first time today after her c-section. Her incision and sutures look really good. She doesn't look like she's been bothering them at all. There has been slight vaginal bleeding, but not much. We have been trying to get her to eat, but she's been afully picky. We thought maybe the meat from the bird of prey diet would suit her fancy, but no. We tried canned cat food. No such luck. Baby sweet potatoes-no. She WILL eat baby peaches, she goes nuts for those and crickets. I put some of the baby peaches on the canned cat food to see if she might be interested later, so we'll see how that goes. My kennel leader for this week and I have been put in charge of caring for her over the weekend, which makes me happy. Now I can keep an eye on her progress. She doesn't seem to be lethargic at all- in fact, she's a lot more spunky than normal. She jumps and tries to quill me if I touch her now. Not that I blame her at all. She deserves to be crabby after what happened to her. Other than that, she's been doing really well. I am confident that she will make a full recovery and be fine. Fingers nad quills crossed everyone! :)

[hularious]

phew! glad things are looking promising!

[PrettyHate]

Try Hills Science Diet A/D. It is a canned food- but is fairly "runny" so its easy to eat, and easy to force feed if you need it. Its easy on upset tummies, helps increase appitite- and apparently is good eat'in! Never heard of a hedgie that wouldnt take it- Murdoc loved it (and that says alot right there)

[mommy2ryan]

I remeber how excited you were. So sorry to hear this but glad she is gonna pull through

[wyvernrider18]

Yeah. I don't really care so much about the babies right now. What's important to me is that Hotaru made it through this ordeal. She's my baby. I was the first one at school to get to handle her at two weeks old, and I've been here ever since. If I ever do get a male hedgheog, then I will either have her spayed or him neutered. No question about it. I couldn't ever put her through this ordeal again. No litter of babies is worth her life.

[Nancy]

I'm so sorry you are going through this and I hope she will be ok. I have to wonder though, why didn't they just spay her instead of doing the c-section? The surgery would have been no more stressful on her and probably a quicker surgery. If she wasn't going to be bred again and that certainly would not be advisable after what she has been through, so why not just get rid of the parts and then there is no worry about an oops pregnancy or reproductive cancers. Now to have her spayed will mean she has to go through another almost identical surgery. :)

[HedgieMate]

I'm so sorry to learn Hotaru's ordeal. Very sad to hear her babies didn't make it. However, I'm glad that Hotaru was in you and your instructor's capable hands. I shiver to think if the same thing happens to any other pregnant hedgehog who is not so fortunate to have access to medical experts or facilities to save her....

I'm so glad that Hotaru is still with you today and, what's more, she is well on her way to recovery. Hope she will start eating and regain her strength back. My thoughts and prayers are with you & Hotaru. :flowers:

[wyvernrider18]

I'm so sorry you are going through this and I hope she will be ok. I have to wonder though, why didn't they just spay her instead of doing the c-section? The surgery would have been no more stressful on her and probably a quicker surgery. If she wasn't going to be bred again and that certainly would not be advisable after what she has been through, so why not just get rid of the parts and then there is no worry about an oops pregnancy or reproductive cancers. Now to have her spayed will mean she has to go through another almost identical surgery. :)

The surgery team who worked on her was going to spay her after the c-section because I asked them to if it were possible. We thought there might have been more babies in her, that's why we did the c-section first, which is good because we found bits and pieces of undeveloped baby in there that needed to be removed. They has started doing the spay, but she was losing too much blood and they couldn't afford to prolong the surgery anymore and had to sew her back up. So the option was on the table, but her life was kinda on the line at the moment, so we saved it for a later date if needed. Don't worry. If the need arises, I will have the job done. But I probably won't get a male hedgehog, anyway. If I do get another one, it will probably be a female. She seems to enjoy the company of other hedgehogs, so the option may be open later. She's usually alone, but she really liked Boss Hog in the time they were together. So... I won't worry about it until I have to. :)

[kaiteedyd]

I was under the impression that doing a spay made a C-section quicker. They just remove the uterus and part of the surgery team removes the babies from the uterus and the other part sews the mommy back up.

[wyvernrider18]

I suppose they may have been able to spay her, but it really wasn't my choice in the first place as I do not legally own her yet. I won't worry about it right now since the chances of me needing to spay her are pretty slim. I probably won't get a male hedgehog while I have her anyway. If I need to later, then i will spay her, but for now, we're just letting her get over the initial trauma of the c-section.