First time hedgie carer

Hi everyone,

I've recently acquired a hedgehog from our back garden that was wobbling about during the afternoon.

I've taken it to the vets and it turns out there was a flea infestation and bruising on his legs.

Well now i've got him/her (I forgot to ask) back home after the vet nurse gave him a thorough cleaning. I was wondering what is the best way to give him antibiotics that are in solution? And what possibly reasons would there be for the bruising?

Thanks,

Caroline

hiya.
well done for taking him/her in.
if the meds are liquid form, its best to give them orally with a syringe.
bruising could be a number of things, could've been stuck somewhere or hit by a car.
is it on solid food or liquid?

Its on solid food at the minute and wolfing it down.

I've been able to get him out on a rug eating food with me near him, but I haven't tried the syringe yet.

The vet said that his legs weren't broken, but he still walking really funny. Very unbalanced and he doesn't seem to be able to support himself fully.

I will try him with the syringe later and tell you how it goes.

Hi Caroline, well done for taken s/he in, great work.

So far you are doing a brilliant job, just keep a close eye on it and it should be ok.

Keep up the fab work, keep us updated.

Bethany.

sounds like you're in at the deep end!
are you adding vits to its food? i add sa37 to my hogs food and mix it in. i have one at the moment that can't use her legs fully and think thats due to brain damage, if your one has been hit by a car or something its likely its got brain damage too
give it its meds and see how it goes after a day or so, if its still unsteady on its feet i could suggest some other stuff to add to food or even another vets visit might be in order.
it sounds like you're doing a great job, keep it up

I managed to get antibiotics into him tonight woo!

He seems a lot brighter today. He had a walk about our utility room and hid behind some boxes. He put up a bit of a fight when I tried to put him back in his own box.

Still a bit wobbly but seems a bit better. It looks like he is lifting his back legs really high when walking.

Well, he is staying with my mum for a two days while I get back to uni (unfortunately my landlord is not big on pets or animals in the house), but I will be back with him on Wednesday. I might take another trip to the vet then if he is still funny.

Could you advise a better food to have him on? We only have him on cheap dog food at the minute but I am definitely willing to invest in something better now.

Thanks for all the encouragement so far!

excellent to hear hes a bit better and taking his meds
i feed mine on meat based cat food in jelly (usually chicken flavour) and some cat biscuits, same flavouring.
you can feed them unseasoned cooked chicken, mince meat (preferably boiled), scrambled egg, mealie worms. theres lots of dif foods that you can give them, just never fish or fish flavoured cat foods.
i'm sure more people will suggest other foods that i can't think of, i'm a bit brain dead at the mo

I feed mine on Wiskas Cat food and Wiskas Cat milk (not bread or milk, which is bad for them.) You can also feed cat biscuits too, I feed mine on Tesco's Go Cat Go. There are so many brands available for you to use. Stay away from food in gravy though, because it has been known to upset their stomach.

Good luck and well done.

Bethany.

As has been said it sounds like you are doing a great job!

The food advice is good, any cat or dog food - the gravy ones are best kept away from as Bethany said, it is quite a rich food and I discovered that after a while it causes runny poo, I have a hedgie who is less fussy now but when small would only eat asda's cat food in gravy!

Fish flavours are OK if thats all you have, but fish isn't in a hedgehogs natural diet and is further away from what they eat normally so best kept away from.

Hopefully once the bruising settles the walking will get better, but its hard to know if anything else is going on.

Good luck.