I called upon the counsel of a long-time hedgie rescuer who had a few thoughts. In general, symptoms seem to point to Luna's mouth. She noted:
My initial thoughts are her mouth hurts since her activity levels are currently still high. In fact, if they are higher than usual, it may even suggest she is irritated by something. My little toothless gal ran hard and didn't eat much when her teeth were in bad shape. Once we got the problematic tooth pulled, she settled back down.
Also many of Luna’s symptoms remind me of those that I saw with my new boy, which is an example of another spot in the mouth to look. He initially decreased the amount of kibble he ate, and then increased slightly. I thought it was just he was finally settling in and things were improving. Then he finally just stopped eating kibble, but ate canned food & mealworms readily, then stopped eating canned food, then stopped eating mealworms. Then the swelling in the soft part under his tongue finally showed up. He also exhibited frothy saliva the last few days and started “working” his mouth a lot. When syringe fed he ate willingly once he figured out what was happening.
Vet visit showed that his teeth and gums are great and his throat looks clear. No problems there, it is just the soft part under his tongue that was swollen. Two fine needle aspirates were taken, one from inside the mouth of that area, and one from outside. A cytology of those samples showed infection and possible cancer in that location. He is currently being treated with antibiotics for the infection and metacam for the pain. After 6 days of treatment is he now fully eating on his own (though I have not offered hard kibble yet, but I haven’t syringe fed him for 3 nights) and the swelling is greatly decreased. Whether or not this is cancer, we will find out later. For now the infection is going down and he is improving.
Some questions I have are: What did the vet do to determine that she is fine? Did the vet knock her out and examine her gums, teeth, area under her tongue, and down her throat? If nothing was found there, I would ask about X-Rays to look for any problems in her jaw/mouth.
Is there any frothy saliva in her mouth when she wakes her up? Does she lick her lips/smacks her mouth a lot when just awakened? Does she seem to be uncomfortable when lying in a snuggle bag with her? Is her behavior more frantic/panicked than when she first came home? Does she see her working her mouth at all? Any noticeable debris in the water bowl (kibble pieces)?
All of those are symptoms I’ve seen in hedgehogs that had mouth problems.
I’d get some Hills A/D or another canned food that is a pate and start syringe feeding her to ensure she is getting enough.
I wouldn’t cut her interaction time down, use it to try to get her to eat and watch for subtle symptoms like the working of the mouth, saliva, uncomfortable/trouble laying still, etc., and talk to the vet again and keep him updated.
