Help With Rescue Please

[DaisyDoodles]

Hi,

We've recently taken on a hedgie who was severely underweight, she weighed 221g when we got her and her sides were very sunken and the poor girl was struggling to stand let alone walk!

The previous owner stated that there had been a constant supply of biscuits available but that she had simply stopped eating - he had no idea of how long she'd not been eating however,so we took her straight to the vets who gave her a good check including her teeth and gums and apart from the fact that she was obviously underweight and dehydrated, could find nothing wrong with her.

Since then we've offered every type of biscuit we can think of and she's refused to touch any... we've even resorted to leaving 5 or 6 little pots with different brands counted into each but nothing! - She has though started to eat fresh meat... at first just pureed chicken breast, but now she's taking minced beef (again I have to puree it) with veggies as well and is slowly gaining weight, she's currently at 264g, I've tried being sneaky and adding ground biscuits to the meat, but she will then refuse to touch it!

My main problem now is that for the past 2 weeks, she's been losing quills and fur quite heavily, she's not scratching and doesn't have dry skin, she's been checked and treated for mites as a precaution and has had a scraping for ringworm that has come back clear - the quills still have their follicles intact and the vet has said that he believes that it's simply down to the fact that she was so malnourished previously and is reluctant to prescribe anything... but I'm unconvinced, has anyone else seen this before please or have any ideas?

And if I can't get her to eat biscuits once she's up to a decent weight, will she be ok on fresh food or should I try and add in a wet cat food as well?

Thanks in advance for any advice you might have!!

 

[Nancy]

I had to laugh at your screen name. I have a little old gal who came to me as a rescue about 3 years ago. Her name is Daisy and I call her Daisydoodle. :hilarious:

Being malnourished certainly could be the cause of her quill loss and fur issues or it could be stress related. You should be able to see new quills growing in. Having the follicle on the end of the quill really means nothing. It can be there for normal quill loss or if there's mites.

With her not wanting to eat kibble my initial thought was that her teeth are causing problems or her jaws are not strong enough to crunch them. The fact that you have ground kibble into her other food and she then wouldn't touch it indicates she just doesn't like the kibble for whatever reason. Have you tried Royal Canin Baby cat? Most hedgies love it because it is high in fat and therefore yummy, but it is also little tiny hedgie sized pieces. You can also try dampening her kibble with a bit of warm water to soften it although if she won't eat it mixed with her other food, it's doubtful she will try it dampened.

She will be fine on fresh food. Just remember grapes and avacado are toxic and to make sure hard foods such as carrots are cooked so they don't get stuck in the roof of her mouth. Canned food is fine also.

Perhaps once she has gained weight and is well settled in, you could try to introduce kibble again.

Good luck

 

[DaisyDoodles]

Thankyou Nancy.. I haven't tried babycat, we tried RC Sensible as thats's what our cats are on anyway, but I'll definately try it.

If she decides that she's going to be a madam and stick with fresh, should I add a vitamin suppliment as well? At the moment she's having carrot, brocolli and peas mashed into her meat, but with them being steamed I know they're going to have lost a lot of their vitamins. I've been making her food slightly firmer as the days go past, to begin with it was quite literally a watery sludge, but we're now up to a consistency where she does have to chew it and last night she ate the most since we've had her.. the equivalant of a jar of babyfood so she's definately getting an appetite back and I've got frozen crickets and mealworms ready to go into the next batch I make up!

Oh and she has a good strong jaw on her... the very first thing she did when I picked her up was bite and boy did she hang on!!

I can't see any signs of new quills yet, but to be honest, I'm pulling her about as little as possible, a quick cuddle if she comes out when I change the food or bedding is about it at the moment, but she does seem to be a friendly little thing, just a shame she's been left to get into this state, we know she's only about 2 years old so she's still got a lot of life in her yet!

And Daisy Doodles is our dog.. she's a proper little old lady so the name really suits!

 

[Kalandra]

How well did doc check her teeth? I ask because I have one now that was an aggressive biter and I couldn't imagine a hedgehog that could bite so hard having teeth problems. Yet he did. His teeth looked great, until they were touched. Doc told us that they were actually loose. He felt it was due to dietary problems. Those teeth did eventually fall out.

If you haven't you may also want to try adding just a little water to her kibble to soften it (not enough to make it wet though). Just a few drops of water will help make it easier to crunch. I've used this before to get picky eaters to try new foods. Once they are eating it consistently I stop adding water.

 

[Nancy]

Our Nemo needed his food softened from around 1.5 years old so it is not always age related. His teeth were fine and he could crunch the hard kibble, it was just difficult for him and he didn't eat very much of the hard. His food intake increase dramatically when we started to dampen it.

 

[DaisyDoodles]

I'll get the babycat this weekend and try dampening it... as for how well the vet checked, when he first saw her she was pretty much collapsed and we didn't think she'd make it, so he got a pretty good look at her teeth and gums as well as her throat before she took offense and showed him just how sharp those little teeth are - I'm not sure whether he actually checked to see if they were loose, but I'll have him check again when we go back!

It does seem strange though, I added a couple of defrosted crickets to her meat last night (I removed the legs and any sharp bits and mushed them a bit first!), she came dashing out to the bowl, had a mouthful of meat, picked up a cricket, did a little wriggle, lost her balance almost as if she were choking, spat it out and then ate all of the food around the others... I don't think it's a case of just being fussy but without having the vet knock her out to investigate further I don't know how we're going to find out what it is!

On the brighter side, the weight is piling on her now she's eating more, she's up to 301g this morning, 37g in 2 days is almost as much as she's gained in the past 2 weeks!

 

[addictedtochins]

Welcome to CnH. I'm so glad you have rescued her! Good luck

 

[Nancy]

It could be teeth or a jaw issue. Very often when they have difficulty eating kibble, they also have difficulty eating bugs. They chew but end up spitting them out. If the vet has managed to get a good look at her mouth, I wouldn't gas her at this point in time. Soft food is fine for now and worry about kibble at a later date when she has regained weight and strength.

 

[charlie]

I agree with Nancy. Her weight is the most important thing and since she is eating the fresh food, keep it up. In terms of quill loss and fur loss, this is definitely something that can happen following malnutrition. We had a rescue who came to us pratically naked (RIP Mirabelle). They kept mite-treating her but she continued to loose everything. She was in fact starving (many of her teeth were in fact missing or loose - unfortunately the non-exotic vet didn't check that). It took more than six months for new quillls to show up again once she was settled in her forever home. We focused on keeping her skin healthy (with a very tiny drop of flax seed oil every few weeks) and her tummy full.

How is the poop? That will also help you identify whether she is back on track with eating.

 

[DaisyDoodles]

Thanks everyone, I didn't have a chance to get online yesterday but we tried the babycat last night with her - both dry and dampened and she hasn't touched it, but we'll leave it in anyway just in case! - She has taken some wet kitten food and she's also eaten a couple of live mealworms and waxworms, so she can chew when she wants to!

Poop wise, at first they were teeny little shrivelled bits, but now she's making up for it big time... they're firm and a decent size.. and they stink!! - Last nights were a little softer, but she'd had the catfood and worms as well as her meat so I'm not too worried about that.

Weight wise, although she's gaining, she still looks too thin and I'm not sure whether it it's just because that, but she runs differently to my others, almost as if she has stiff legs and is trying to run on her toes, it's something I didn't notice at first, but she definately looks different!

 

[charlie]

Another vet check will help identify any leg issues (as it sounds like she has come a long way now and could actually be properly checked now that she is standing up with her own energy). Check her nails too, sometimes if they are curled under (from not being clipped) they can affect the way the hedgehog walks.

 

[Nancy]

Is she running long legged? Some run with barely any leg showing, and others stand right up showing long legs.

 

[DaisyDoodles]

She has another vets appointment on Friday Charlie, so will definately mention it then!

Nancy, she is running long legged, that's exactly what it looks like, she reminds me of a little old lady hitching her skirt up to tiptoe through a puddle! :rofl: My others carry their bodies barely off the ground, but you can see right under her when she walks/runs, maybe it is normal then, but I'll have it checked anyway.

She's up to 321g this morning, still hasn't touched any biscuits, but she is eating the wet food by choice, I'm putting a bowl of it in next to her meat and she's eating some from each - the quill dropping seems to have slowed as well, only 2 or 3 overnight and no fur that I can see either so fingers crossed it was purely down to nutrition and she's over it!

She's also taking mealworms from my hand and really seems to be a friendly little thing, unlike my others that huff as soon as they sense me poking about in their cage, she pops her head straight out to see whats going on even during the day and she rarely balls up when I pick her up either, she's turning out to be a proper little sweetie!