Vet Checkup

[susiandfilbert]

Hiya all!

I've been fairly absent as i've been quite ill. For the last 5 days i've been sleeping on the sofa as I was too weak to climb the stairs to my room.
My flatmate was kind enough to refil Filbert's water and food bowls but unfortunately is no pet inclined enough to give him atention and snuggles.

Last night I finaly started to see improvement and was able to sleep upstairs and am back at work today.

I tried snuggling with Filbert last night a bit but he was having none of it. I think i've lost the bond i was starting to make with him (he's still new to the household) which makes me very very sad but i know that i just have to be patient and start again.

I am going to take him to the vets tomorrow for a general check up and because last night I heard him scratching a fair bit. My question is this: is there anything I couls ask the vet to check on? I mean anything that wouldn't occur to someone such as myself who is a first time 'exotic' pet owner. I was going to ask just for a general checkup and to check him for mites but is there any other questions worth asking/things worth checking?
What should a hedgie checkup entail? Just so that I can be sure that they dont miss anything out and that i'm asking the right questions.

Thanks everyone!

 

[Kalandra]

It isn’t uncommon for a hedgehog to be less friendly when they have had their routine broken. I’ve had many who even if I missed 1 night of cuddle time, they were upset with me for a day or two later. They really are creatures of habit and dislike that routine being broken. I don’t think the bond is broken, just his routine was and he’s upset over it. Get back into your routine, and I offer some treats to say I’m sorry.

Typically a wellness check should be a vet giving the hedgehog a good looking over. Listening to their heart/breathing, feeling around on them, looking at their eyes, ears and mouths (if they will allow it) etc. A skin scraping if there is concern about mites should be done, and I typically take a fecal sample with me to have the vet examine with new hedgehogs.

Talk to your vet, ask any question that you can think of and see what he has to say. Use your time to get a feel for how much the veterinarian knows about hedgehogs. If something seems questionable, well you have a good resource here to get opinions of its accuracy.

 

[shetland]

First of all, I am glad you are feeling better yourself. I also hope little Filbert has a good check up at the vet!