quizboy
05-01-2006, 11:44 PM
I need some advice.
My girlfriend and I got a hedgehog just after last christmas. It was my nephew's, but he wanted to find a good home for it. She's had hoglets, and my sister and uncle have a couple of her kids.
We'd taken her to the vet for an initial visit, and she had mites and was treated for them. Then her eye started looking infected. We went back to the vet, and he removed a small growth on her third eyelid. It was negative for cancer, but seemed to have some plant matter causing it.
A couple of weeks later her eye got to looking infected again. We called the vet again, and he said to keep a watch on it. A week ago her eye took a turn for the worse; I think she scratched it. We rushed to the vet, and he thought she wouldn't lose the eye. He called back later and said that they'd need to remove the eye to get to the infection underneath it. The eye came back positive for cancer, so I guess it's good that they removed it. We were just very upset. We know that her starting to get cancer means she is closer to the end than we thought.
After the surgery, we changed the litter in her cage from aspen to yesterday's news (thought that might have been the "plant matter" and yesterday's news is supposed to be better after surgery). She was slow to get back to eating, but we thought her mouth must be sore. She'd eat a couple of live crickets and spit the third or fourth one out. The same with mealworms. The next day, we fed her several times seperated by a couple of hours, and she ate several insects each time but wouldn't touch her normal kibble (which she normally goes right for).
Then things got worse on Friday. She wouldn't eat anything. We've seen her drink several times (more than usual). We've been having to syringe feed her. The vet said saturday to bring her in monday if she hadn't started eating on her own. The vet today said things look ok with her, but it might be the cancer keeping her from eating. They think they got all the cancer, and told us to watch out for bad breathing because it should spread there first. I'm not sure why the cancer would keep her from eating now, but not before the surgery. The vet was pleased with the way her eye looked and said it wasn't infected.
Anyway, she's still not eating on her own. We've tried almost everything we can think of. The first thing that she would start to eat was some of her kibble ground up to powder and we put some omega 3 fatty acid oil on it. She really liked that, and ate that one day.
We tried her normal kibble wet to make it soft. We tried baby foods (turkey, ham, applesauce, banana, fruit medley). We tried to feed her mealworms, gut-loaded freeze dried crickets, live crickets, and canned grasshoppers.
Today, the vet gave us some AD canned food, and I picked up some Science Diet Kitten (wet and dry). I read about the latter on these forums. I know that she can't eat that all the time, but we're just trying to get her to eat on her own. She'd lost about 15% of her body weight in the past week, so we're trying to get her some food that will keep her energy up.
We had syringed her some water yesterday because we hadn't seen her drink yesterday, and today we started giving her pedialyte.
Can any of you suggest anything else to try? The vet suggested feeding her about 10% of her body weight. She's 320grams, so we were trying 32 grams, or he said 10cc's. We gave her 4-5 cc's of water yesterday, and we're trying 8-10cc's of pedialyte tonight.
We're trying so hard to get her better, and we're not sure what else to try. Can any of you suggest anything else?
We are also looking at when we should let her go. Right now, I don't think it's time. She's a little active, but unsteady on her feet (from lack of food I'm sure). She'll run in her wheel, but slowly.
BTW, she's a runner; she runs all the time, and squirms when we hold her. She's normally so active. She's getting up and moving around, but she's just unsteady. She'll sniff her food, she'll even nibble at it, but not eat it. I can't figure out why she won't just swallow it.
She poops. It's dark green and tarry, but she's under a lot of stress. She must not be completely blocked up.
I really hope she pulls out of this. I can hear her running in her wheel now.
--Steven
My girlfriend and I got a hedgehog just after last christmas. It was my nephew's, but he wanted to find a good home for it. She's had hoglets, and my sister and uncle have a couple of her kids.
We'd taken her to the vet for an initial visit, and she had mites and was treated for them. Then her eye started looking infected. We went back to the vet, and he removed a small growth on her third eyelid. It was negative for cancer, but seemed to have some plant matter causing it.
A couple of weeks later her eye got to looking infected again. We called the vet again, and he said to keep a watch on it. A week ago her eye took a turn for the worse; I think she scratched it. We rushed to the vet, and he thought she wouldn't lose the eye. He called back later and said that they'd need to remove the eye to get to the infection underneath it. The eye came back positive for cancer, so I guess it's good that they removed it. We were just very upset. We know that her starting to get cancer means she is closer to the end than we thought.
After the surgery, we changed the litter in her cage from aspen to yesterday's news (thought that might have been the "plant matter" and yesterday's news is supposed to be better after surgery). She was slow to get back to eating, but we thought her mouth must be sore. She'd eat a couple of live crickets and spit the third or fourth one out. The same with mealworms. The next day, we fed her several times seperated by a couple of hours, and she ate several insects each time but wouldn't touch her normal kibble (which she normally goes right for).
Then things got worse on Friday. She wouldn't eat anything. We've seen her drink several times (more than usual). We've been having to syringe feed her. The vet said saturday to bring her in monday if she hadn't started eating on her own. The vet today said things look ok with her, but it might be the cancer keeping her from eating. They think they got all the cancer, and told us to watch out for bad breathing because it should spread there first. I'm not sure why the cancer would keep her from eating now, but not before the surgery. The vet was pleased with the way her eye looked and said it wasn't infected.
Anyway, she's still not eating on her own. We've tried almost everything we can think of. The first thing that she would start to eat was some of her kibble ground up to powder and we put some omega 3 fatty acid oil on it. She really liked that, and ate that one day.
We tried her normal kibble wet to make it soft. We tried baby foods (turkey, ham, applesauce, banana, fruit medley). We tried to feed her mealworms, gut-loaded freeze dried crickets, live crickets, and canned grasshoppers.
Today, the vet gave us some AD canned food, and I picked up some Science Diet Kitten (wet and dry). I read about the latter on these forums. I know that she can't eat that all the time, but we're just trying to get her to eat on her own. She'd lost about 15% of her body weight in the past week, so we're trying to get her some food that will keep her energy up.
We had syringed her some water yesterday because we hadn't seen her drink yesterday, and today we started giving her pedialyte.
Can any of you suggest anything else to try? The vet suggested feeding her about 10% of her body weight. She's 320grams, so we were trying 32 grams, or he said 10cc's. We gave her 4-5 cc's of water yesterday, and we're trying 8-10cc's of pedialyte tonight.
We're trying so hard to get her better, and we're not sure what else to try. Can any of you suggest anything else?
We are also looking at when we should let her go. Right now, I don't think it's time. She's a little active, but unsteady on her feet (from lack of food I'm sure). She'll run in her wheel, but slowly.
BTW, she's a runner; she runs all the time, and squirms when we hold her. She's normally so active. She's getting up and moving around, but she's just unsteady. She'll sniff her food, she'll even nibble at it, but not eat it. I can't figure out why she won't just swallow it.
She poops. It's dark green and tarry, but she's under a lot of stress. She must not be completely blocked up.
I really hope she pulls out of this. I can hear her running in her wheel now.
--Steven