P
Philogirl
Guest
Okay, Spike is my first hedgehog and I love him dearly... despite that though, he causes me such grief. I've taken him to the vet 5 times in the past year. Which sounds like I'm either a horrible pet owner or he's just a defunct hedgehog. Neither is apparently the case. I just want to vent about the numerous vet visits of Spike that are/were completely UNNECESSARY... because I worry waaaaay too much about him.
#1. January, 2008. Spike was still a baby and he had a smear of green poop one morning. I freaked out, rushed to the vet, and got antibiotics for him. Green poop didn't go away. Changed antibiotics. Green poop still there. I took a stab in the dark and took him off the antibiotics. Green poop gone. Could have saved myself $150 in meds and fecal smears if I had just given him a day to regular-ate himself.
#2. March, 2008. Green poop again. Didn't learn from the first time. Paid money again for a fecal smear. Turns out as I was weaning him onto a new food, he would only eat that one food and not the old food causing green poop.
#3. Summer, 2008. Mysterious blood smear. I don't know if anyone remembers this post on CnQ, but Spike had this totally random blood spot the size of a quarter in his tank. I thoroughly investigated him and couldn't find an injury or anything. There was no feces or urine in/around it, and he pooped and peed normal the rest of the night. Ran to the vet, paid for him to be put under anaesthesia for a full-on investigation. Nothing. Absolutely nothing wrong with him. $250 for the same answer I had at home. Still have no clue what the heck that was.
#4. September, 2008. I noticed that when Spike would pull his head back, it seemed like there was a small white growth protruding from his eye. I read that hedgies could get eye tumours, so I went to the vet again. AGAIN, needed to put him under, and vet said there was nothing there. Probably just the eye tissue getting squished when he squished his face. Another $250 for a lesson I learned on the playground when I was 5- squishing your face can squish your eyes. Great.
#5. February, 2009. As many of you have read: Spike's ridiculous freak-out after a bath. Another $200 at the vet for meds and skin-scrapings. There's nothing wrong with him. He's fine.. relaxing, sleeping. Didn't even need the meds for him.
Does anyone else do this? Am I the only one that just completely freaks out when something isn't right? I swear he's gonna give me a heart-attack one day...
#1. January, 2008. Spike was still a baby and he had a smear of green poop one morning. I freaked out, rushed to the vet, and got antibiotics for him. Green poop didn't go away. Changed antibiotics. Green poop still there. I took a stab in the dark and took him off the antibiotics. Green poop gone. Could have saved myself $150 in meds and fecal smears if I had just given him a day to regular-ate himself.
#2. March, 2008. Green poop again. Didn't learn from the first time. Paid money again for a fecal smear. Turns out as I was weaning him onto a new food, he would only eat that one food and not the old food causing green poop.
#3. Summer, 2008. Mysterious blood smear. I don't know if anyone remembers this post on CnQ, but Spike had this totally random blood spot the size of a quarter in his tank. I thoroughly investigated him and couldn't find an injury or anything. There was no feces or urine in/around it, and he pooped and peed normal the rest of the night. Ran to the vet, paid for him to be put under anaesthesia for a full-on investigation. Nothing. Absolutely nothing wrong with him. $250 for the same answer I had at home. Still have no clue what the heck that was.
#4. September, 2008. I noticed that when Spike would pull his head back, it seemed like there was a small white growth protruding from his eye. I read that hedgies could get eye tumours, so I went to the vet again. AGAIN, needed to put him under, and vet said there was nothing there. Probably just the eye tissue getting squished when he squished his face. Another $250 for a lesson I learned on the playground when I was 5- squishing your face can squish your eyes. Great.
#5. February, 2009. As many of you have read: Spike's ridiculous freak-out after a bath. Another $200 at the vet for meds and skin-scrapings. There's nothing wrong with him. He's fine.. relaxing, sleeping. Didn't even need the meds for him.
Does anyone else do this? Am I the only one that just completely freaks out when something isn't right? I swear he's gonna give me a heart-attack one day...
