Poorly One

Had to bring one of the babes in last night as she wasn't herself, last night she was eating and drinking still, but today she went a bit weird (the only way to describe it). She's lifting her head and kind of chomping her teeth up and down, started dribbling really bad. The dribblings slowed down but shes still lifting her head up and down and to be honest doesn't look good at all. I have been on the phone for ages and nobody has a clue what it is! She is on rehydration fluid and will try her with sloppy food later.

Oh dear, I hope she pulls through.

Poor little Hog, hope she makes it.

Bethany.

Is she still going, Jo?

Bethany.

hiya!
found out last night shes completely blind, she really went for her syringe feed and after putting her back in, she decided to have a wonder round, so i placed her on top of some sloppy food and she started lapping it up, but then lost the bowl so i placed her back over the top of it and she carried on. a little later i realised she wasn't reacting to me standing over her, she used to be really huffy-puffy, so got the torch and there was no reaction what-so-ever! its a relief in a way because i know now that she hasn't got what the others had and being one of my hand reared babes i would've been gutted to lose her.
so now i have to teach her where her bowls/bedding are etc, going to be one spoilt hog as i will have to take to my mums tomorow so i can keep an eye on her.

Oh bless her!
As long as she has a sense of smell and hearing, she should be OK to be released. It was found that a blind Hedgehog that was tracked led a near normal life.

Bethany.

Aaaw, poor little girl, but I'm sure she'll do just fine with you Jo.

took her round my mums today and she has been spoilt rotten!
she woke up for a feed and smelt the turkey straight away, dived straight on it, then went on to eat half a small bowl of liquid sloppy food and plenty of water from a syringe, then fell fast asleep on my lap, i put her back in her carrier and had the fright of my life when she appeared lifeless, but when i picked her up, she was stretched out and gave a big yawn and went back to sleep. she has just had another feed and i've never seen her so content, hopefully we will both get through this together, i think she recognises my scent now and associates me with food time as she sniffs in my direction and come running
hopefully things will be okay now

Glad your hog is doing well, mine had some turkey boxing day and it made him very ill, and lost a lot of weight.

Well, sounds like the Hogs have had their fair share of Turkey, then.
Jo, you are right, all they see in us is food Mine used to snatch it out my hand before I even put it in the bowl, sometimes. Greedy little Hogs.

Bethany.

They like to keep us on our toes don't they!!

tell me about it!
i left an array of food, sloppy food, turkey and honey water down for her last night, she'd practically demolished the whole lot by this morning but was running around the cage, when i picked her up, she snuggled into me and fell asleep, she can't find her bedding and i'm out of ideas on how to show her where it is! i tried putting a heat mat under it thinking she might head towards the heat, nope, she just runs around until i've picked her up

weighed her last night...... 673grams
she didn't eat much last night as she is on a course of wormer and when i checked her this morning she had her head in the water bowl, so have put a shallow one in as she sticks her nose right in it! shes slowly working out where things are, have put fleece blankets as a liner so she doesn't get cold if she can't find her bed. shes such a sweet thing and still falls asleep in my arms after feeding time and if i pick her up to put her in her bed. i think the spine loss could be quilling as oppsed to mites as she already has new growth coming through and no bald patches.
that she keeps going the right way, but at least its reassuring that her weight is good.
update on shed gang, one decided to move out of the box and build their own nest in the corner of the shed, not sure which one it is yet, will check properly later!

She sounds like a sweet Hog, Jo. And 673 grams! That is a lot, well done for getting her there

Bethany.

Well done Jo and good luck with her!

It is good to hear she is putting on weight, is good to know. You doing a very nice job with her. Well done

What a good weight!

She sounds a really sweetheart.

How is she now Jo? And the rest, are they OK?

she,lucy!, had a couple of bad days where she wasn't eating and became very huffy, but yesterday she started picking up again, ven enjoyed being cleaned up with baby wipes! i was worried last night as all she seemed to do was widdle everywhere but wasn't upright, then she decided she was okay to walk about and this morning she was running around like a maniac, i'll see how see goes over the weekend and if she takes a dive again, i'll pop her to the vets. but shes becoming to used to being handled by me and sometimes will only fall asleep in my arms! i've stopped worming etc to see if that makes any difference and once shes upto weight again i'll continue
i don't want her to become too dependent but i don't want her to turn into the nasty huffer puffer that she was before, that would make my/her life extremely difficult

I have stopped worming mine at the moment to see if he will put on some weight. My problem was the milk the vet gave me made mine very ill, as soon as we took it away, his poos came back to near normal. He got so bad I couldn't open his box first thing in the morning I had to send the misses first. But its funny how these lovely little animals can get to you. At least now I have finished giving mine the jabs, if weight does go on I might worm him again, hes only 258g this morning.

Jo, you are doing a good job there with yours.

I mentioned before, you don't want the Hedgehog to be too tame, otherwise it might be in trouble when you release it, but at the same time you want to be able to feed it etc without it refusing, or rolling up.

It's difficult!

Bethany.

Just wanted to say good luck with her, and that you are doing a great job. I know how you feel about the tame thing.

in spring she'll be a permanent resident in the garden as shes blind and shes never been in the wild, so she'd have no chance out there being blind
its just getting her to go back into her bed thats causing the most probs and shes also taken a liking to being cleaned with baby wipes,as she wasn't well the other day,she wasn't up and about so everything stuck to her underneath,she was sticking her legs and paws out for me to clean.when shes better i'll have to give her a bath as she smells of wee!
it doesn't matter what i do,i'm still thinking what if?!
just realised my daughter decided to name this one lucy too! she must like that name

Yeah, Lucy is a nice name.

Lucy sounds very cute. Poor thing is blind though, that's not a good thing at all. A Hedgehogs eyes cannot see much detail, it is their sense of small and hearing which is the most important. She will recognise you by your smell most.
Good luck with her!!

Bethany.

Good luck with lucy. She sounds like a nice hedgehog. Shame she is blind, she could have been released in Spring. But you are doing the best you can for her.