Dry skin?

[IbanezGuitarGirl]

Hey guys, this is my first post and here's the scoop:

I've been wanting a Hedgehog for some time now, done my research and prepared myself for this amazing new animal.. Well, I've been fortunate enough to adopt an adorable male Hedgehog(Whom I've yet to name lol). The family I got him from bought the little guy 2 years ago from a pet store for their kids for Christmas and the kids have been terrified of him since then. So, he's been mosying around his cage for 2 years with no proper handling and apparently health care. Don't get me wrong, they loved the little guy, bought him some nice things, fed him the right food and offered to take him back if he's not for me, but.. He had some fairly ingrown toenails(Which I had clipped by the vet) and some sort of skin/ear issue. Now, I asked the vet what she thought and she ruled out mites or fungus. I figured it wasn't mites since his quills look pretty healthy and holding/stroking him on a black shirt for a half hour only revealed dry flakes of skin(No little critters moving around). I, personally, wouldn't count out fungus just yet, but that is where I need your guys' help!

His ears have the tell-tale ragged/torn look to them that's related with fungus or dry skin, so I'm stuck here. I've taken some high quality pictures to give you an idea of what's going on. Please note: His ears seem more yellow then usual due to the treatment I am doing for Fungus just incase. I've lightly swabbed with apple cider vinegar and lightly coated the ear tips with Solid Gold ear care formula which is said to implode fungus bacteria upon contact. I didn't bath him yet at all, because I didn't want to stress him even more then what I may already of done(Visiting the vet where they had to knock him out to clip his little nails and then me swabbing his ears- which he HATES). Anyway, sorry this is so long winded.. just giving all the details I can! Also, I just started supplementing his food with Cod Liver Oil(Should I use Fish Oil instead? I have both, just incase). By the way.. notice the yellowish tinge to him? I'm nervous that it's related to a disease.. Thanks in advance for any help, guys. Here's the photos:

 

[Nancy]

I wouldn't use vinegar on his ears. That's going to dry them out and there is too much risk of it getting in his eyes.

I've had rescues come in with ears that bad or worse. A bit of vasaline, bag balm, human mother nipple cream, vitamin E oil, flax seed oil, or jojoba oil rubbed into the ears nightly and after a few days to a week the edges will pull off easily. Don't use anything that has a scent. I personally use human mother nipple cream. Most of the time it is just a dry skin and gunk build up and I try the nipple cream rather than treating for fungus unnecessarily. Some hedgehogs get tattered ears very quickly. My Peaches RIP had to have her ears creamed weekly or she had tatters building. Others I've never touched their ears and nothing.

His skin and ears look horribly dry and his paws and the skin flakes are yellow. Is that from the vinegar?

His skin colour on his body looks fine perhaps just tinted a bit from urine.

I'm not seeing a penis in the photo. She is adorable and great pictures.

 

[Jeanette]

I agree with Nancy...

HE is definitely a SHE!!!!

 

[shetland]

She is sooooooooo adorable. I just want to hug that little body!

 

[Chinniechantel]

Poor little thing looks like she has hepatitis! She is just adorable though, so innocent looking. I hope she gets better soon.

 

[Kalandra]

Yuck her skin has so much crude on it too, its even in the fur on her nose! Poor girl. She looks pretty friendly though.

 

[IbanezGuitarGirl]

Thanks so much for the advice, guys! A girl, alrighty, wow lol. I meant to ask about that.. I'll post a pic of her bottom so you can get a good look, but I don't doubt that it's a female. Okay, I'll switch to one of those creams then.. that was what I couldn't figure out-- Whether I should be treating for fungus or dry skin. And the yellow tinge on anything other then her tattered ear tips(I only used a touch of vinegar, then lightly coat with solid gold and I was EXTREMELY careful when applying), is from something that I don't know about. I *just* got her 2 days ago, so any appearance other then her tattered ear tips are something I'm not sure of. However, Nancy, you mentioned urine coloring and I believe that would probably be a huge contributor.. She has a slight urine odor to her so I'm picking up some bath supplies today. I read Soothing oatmeal bath by Aveeno works great or non-instant oats does too(I have that Quaker oats that are cooked in a minute, is that the same thing?). Any suggestions here? Do you think it's too soon to bath her? Thanks everyone again! P.S- Should the genitals look so yellow? Kind of concerns me, but I might be paranoid. :hmm: Sorry for so many questions!

EDIT: Hepatitis? Oh no.. And she actually isn't friendly, lol. But she's calmed down alot in just 2 days.. I think she knows I'm trying to help her!

 

[Kalandra]

No she shouldn't be so yellow. She looks like she is dirty and stained. Did she live in bedding that was dyed yellow? Or had a hidey box that was dyed yellow? With as friendly as she looks to be, you may want to try giving her a bath to see if it will come off. I bet you end up with yellow water! I had a "male" albino rescue I took in once. "He" had grey where your's has yellow, it was from the bedding "he" lived on. Yep mine turned out to be a girl too, I think they mistake the little poky tale as a penis. No "bellybutton" looking spot = girl.

 

[IbanezGuitarGirl]

Similar story then, heheh. Yeah, she came to me after living on some sort of yellow pine bedding. I just bought some soft blankets for her cage before I got her, because I read about respitory issues and mites, etc. I'm guessing between urine and the old bedding, we have the culprit of the yellowish coloring! I don't doubt the bath water will be quite yellow and filthy afterward, poor girl.

 

[Jeanette]

Good thing you found out what sex she was before you named her!!

My parents had a male cat named Allie for the same reason, lol.

 

[IbanezGuitarGirl]

Yeah, really, eh? lol, Allie.. That's cute.

 

[pinkdaisy]

The comment about hepatitis was just because often animals get an all-over yellow tint from hepatitis, your girl just has it on certain parts which i think is simply from urine so she doesnt have hepatitis. Give her a good bath, I personally use Aveeno baby oatmeal bath. Be sure to rinse, rinse and rinse some more, and then once she's all rinsed you can put a few drops of Vitamin E oil (can be found at any health food/drug store) on her skin. Then, if she'll cooperate, put the bag balm/nipple cream on her ears right after the bath when her skin is still a bit moist; it will absorb better that way. Then make sure she's very dry before putting her back in her house to avoid chills or fungal infections.

 

[Nancy]

The bright yellow like is on the tips of her ears and other places is defiantly not normal and I can't even imagine what it is from. I assumed the yellow on her ears was from the cider vinegar. Even urine stains would not be that bright a yellow. The yellow tinge on her skin is more what urine stains look like.

Do you know what food she was eating? Perhaps it has made her yellowish.

Yes you can bath her now and the unscented Aveeno oatmeal body wash will help get her cleaner than just plain oatmeal. Do Not use vitamin e or any type of oil on her until you get her cleaned up and make sure her ears are just a gunk build up and not fungus. Oils hold bacteria in the pores of the skin and will make any fungus or bacterial infections worse.

 

[Jeanette]

Poor thing!

Does she have a name yet?

 

[IbanezGuitarGirl]

Hey, everyone, just an update here:

I bathed her last night very briefly, just enough to give her a quick scrub and begin acclimating her to the general idea of bathing. She didn't know what to do with herself! Nancy, I think the yellow on the ears is more from the Solid Gold treatment I was doing. It has that same color and it really stuck onto that gunk on the raggedy ends. As for the rest of her, I don't know, but after her bath she came out a bit less yellow! I'll have to bathe her again soon.. When should I try again? She was pretty mad after her bath, lol. Also.. I finally named her: Luna. Here's a pic of her today! P.S- A piece of that raggedy gunk stuff came off one of her ears today!! She's starting to get sweeter and sweeter(After she wakes up, lol!).. I think she's beginning to realize that I just want to help! I have her on my lap all bundled up in a blankey right now and she's tunneling through it and poking her little nose out here and there. Anyway, sorry for going on, I'm just falling even more in love with her every moment. Thanks so much for helping out guys! :wink3:

 

[hedgepig]

Good luck with Luna!
Keep us updated!

 

[pricklesnquills]

She's so cute. And she def. looks a lot better =)

 

[IbanezGuitarGirl]

Thanks guys! I'll be sure to update on her status.

 

[Nancy]

She does look better. I'm glad the ear gunk is coming off. All of a sudden it will be soft enough that the whole works will pull off.

I'd try another bath about Sunday.

 

[LucksAngel28]

She's a cutie! Glad she's starting to come around! Sounds like you are a wonderful mommy for her and she will be perfect in no time! :cute: