EXTREME quill loss!!

[smhufflepuff]

I agree with your plan to find a new vet. How odd that she wasn't interested in doing any other cultures for fungi or bacteria. Poor little quillkids!!

I'd suggest keeping up all the things you're doing (eg, keeping things clean, good nutrition, etc....) and looking for fungal and/or bacterial issues.

Thinking about April's idea of changing over to a grain-free diet prompted two thoughts:
1. is it possible that you may have received a "bad" batch of food that you've been using -- like maybe it wasn't stored correctly before you bought it/them and there's a problem with the kibbles you've been feeding??
2. Normally, I wouldn't change to a new kibble in the midst of a problem (ie, why add another stressor?), but if they're already off their food... maybe this would be a good opportunity to change.

I wouldn't try the oregano oil DoGooder suggests. I haven't heard of using it before with hedgies and I do know that some oils are toxic (eg, tea tree), so I wouldn't start experimenting until you've exhausted the other options that we know are "safe" -- like looking at fungal and bacterial possibilities.

I'd find a vet who's willing to take skin scrapings and run cultures. It might be worth getting a urine or blood sample in order to rule in or rule out an infection. Make sure you've found a vet who's experienced if you go the blood draw route - hedgie veins are teeny-tiny!

 

[lillybug29]

Smhufflepuff, since they are on BB now, what should I use instead? I tried to mix before, but Khaki just ate the BB, so I gave up. I'm MORE than willing to try to do that! They are getting all sorts of wet food, but then back to the bb, so I'm sure trying a different food won't shock them now. They have been eating the a/d when I hand feed them (I'm starting the 6th can in a month with them now). I am going to call around tomorrow to see if there are any other vets in my area that will take care of me.

DoGooder, I tend to usually do homeopathic for me first, but I'm very wary about things like that for them since they are so sensitive.

 

[smhufflepuff]

Halo (http://www.halopets.com/natural-cat-food.html) has a nice grain-free kibble. I think Kalandra might use that one. I've been using the turkey "sensitive" one which isn't grain free, but has some plusses to it. Both are a nice size for hedgies to eat.

I don't know how much you want to experiment, but it might be interesting to see what happens if you let Khaki continue on the BB (particularly if he refuses to eat the new food) and keep Mace on the grain-free. If you see a difference after a few weeks, then seems like Mr. Khaki might need to change for his own good.

How's the vet search going?

 

[lillybug29]

Well, I have good an bad news. I found a vet and she is awesome. We now have another possibility off the list: parasites. She took a fecal float and It came back negative. She put both Mace and Khaki on baytril in the meantime just to be safe. To make a long story short, little Khaki and Mace found each other while I was bleaching ther cages. The vet told me to take out all fleece, soak it in vinegar for a week and meanwhile keep them on paper towels that I replace every day and bleach every surface. While I was doing this Mace escaped his bed, his playpen and found Khaki in the other room. Now Khaki is on pregnancy watch. I've talked to the vet an shed my worried about te babies since we are just looking at a skin issue, but she's now off antibiotics to e safe. I'm starting to thing this whole thig was hormones, because Mace last night was up before the lights were off running and eating pooing like a madman. He hasn't done that in a LONG time. I am more than willing to change him to a gluten free diet, but now little khaki has to go on kitten food and all. I'm doin all my homework, as this was the last thing I wanted or expected. Couldn't have even worse timing. .

 

[smhufflepuff]

Oh Mace... you naughty boy! That sure complicates things