Why a hedgehog should NOT be housed with a Guinea Pig

[charlie]

Let me introduce our latest addition - Felicity. Turned into the SPCA and re-adopted by us. Upon seeing her, she was unlikely to get adopted and since we thought she'd likely have some special needs, we adopted her. She will live out the rest of her days with us.

Felicity is 5 months old (so she's just a tiny thing) but very friendly.

Long story short, as many of you may know guinea pigs have an entirely different diet, are not even remotely related to hedgehogs (given that hedgehogs are NOT rodents), and are not nocturnal. If that isn't enough to convince someone who is considering this as an option....Guinea pigs do not like quills but love to chew. This particular guinea pig removed Felicity's quills.

She really is adorable and I'm so glad we got her. She is left with hundreds of tiny nubs where quills have been chewed right and she was a tad dirty (covered in guinea pig poop), but as you can see she has just had her first bath. A little love and care (and her own cage sans guinea pig) will do her wonders I hope

 

[smhufflepuff]

Goodness gracious. I'm glad she's in your hands now. She's quite a looker -- even with the chewed quills.

 

[Kalandra]

Poor girl. She does look like she would be gorgeous if her quills were there.

 

[sayhedgehog]

Oh holy cow! So glad she's in good hands now. Poor baby.

 

[lillybug29]

Oh my gosh! How could someone do that?!? Poor little thing!

 

[kerri101]

so glad hedgie has got a good home now ouch that poor little thing gosh u think after they saw a small spot they would have removed them from being together to just keep letting hedgies get chewed up like that makes me so sad

 

[alli713]

oh wow, how can anyone even think that that looks remotely okay? I don't understand people!

 

[lauralynne]

Poor baby! I'm so glad she's in your more than capable hands now! Looking forward to hearing about her progress. Will the quills grow back?

 

[charlie]

I think so. It helps that she is 5 months, because she may still have a quilling to go through. She has some new growth which is excellent. I'm just hoping that all the little stumps will fall out as I worry they will get infected (I just could not get them clean).

 

[charlie]

An update on the little one - who was Felicity as named by the SPCA but she did nothing but pop and hiss at the name so it is now Willow (and she seems much happier with this name)....I don't usually change their names if they have had them a while but she had this name for two weeks and clearly hated it.

Vet check revealed infection. We now have her on Clavamox to fight the infection and - to reduce some of the inflammation that is occurring at the base of her quill stumps - metacam.

I am really uncertain about the next step after the meds are done. The vet has suggested that if after we treat the infection and inflammation the stumps do not start to fall out, we may have to remove them (ouch!). I'm going to post this on the Hedgehog Welfare Society site as well to see what previous experience is out there with this. I'm really hoping it is just a matter of time for the stumps to fall out if they are causing the infection. If anyone has had any experience with this, please feel free to jump in.

 

[smhufflepuff]

I've been thinking about the likelihood that the stumps may fall out and find myself rather unsure. Initially, I was thinking that they wouldn't fall out... that her little body would treat them like any other quill that was accidentally cut short (ie, they just stay like that)... she just has an extreme case of that. But, maybe, with all the stress in her life and, likely, a new healthier diet, perhaps she will go through a stress-quilling and then they will fall out. But, boy, what a process. It seems like it'll be pretty hard for her.

I'm sending plenty of positive vibes to Willow!!

 

[Kalandra]

I've had nothing like this, but have had some situations that maybe you can compare to... not sure though.

Cooper had some of his quills shaved off when he had a tumor removed from his shoulder. The tumor was in the fur area, but doc took some quills just in case he needed to widen the margins. His quills were shaved to the skin, and they did grow back without incident. No infections though.

I had another who had a skin infection. Pustules formed around the base of his quills and his quills started to fall out. Once the infection was cleared a few of the quills grew back, but the majority did not.

I have to wonder if the quill follicles are getting infected, that the quill/stumps will eventually fall out as they are damaged and her body will likely want to replace them with healthier quills. At least we can hope that this will happen.

How did your vet propose to remove the quills?

 

[smhufflepuff]

Seeing as how I'm in full-blown hedgehog withdrawal (current symptoms: Googling "hoglet" images), I just ran across a book that might be perfect to read to and show Willow. It's called "Hoglet, the Spineless Hedgehog," by Allyson Marnoch.

I'm pretty sure the book itself has no answers whatsoever to the questions you pose. However, the author, apparently, lives in Scotland and has rescued several hedgies. This prompted me to consider that hedgies in the wild who've been rescued must have been found with issues similar to Willow's. It might be worth checking in with the European rescues.

 

[Nancy]

The poor girl. She is so lucky to now be under your TLC. She is gorgeous, even without quills.

 

[Kalandra]

How is our sweet darling doing?

 

[Dragonflye]

Yes, I would love an update as well. She is beautiful!

 

[Dragonflye]

Seeing as how I'm in full-blown hedgehog withdrawal

I think I know the cure for that... but I can post that on another thread...

 

[charlie]

She is doing very well. Her antibiotics finished yesterday, and we've seen about 10 stumps fall out (though I may have missed some as they are tiny). I was really hoping for more though. There is defninitely new quill growth and I don't see any sign of obvious infection (though there wasn't any obvious signs last time either). The vet has suggested we wait longer to see if more fall out instead of plucking any out. Since she is quite young, there is hope that she still has a quilling to go through and the stumps will fall out because of that.

I am curious as to how they could be shaved off - wouldn't that still leave a bit of each quill behind?

In the meantime, I cannot get over how tame she is. Usually with the blind ones, I get at least a little pop when I first touch them. She doesn't budge and she absolutely adores nose kisses. However, she is such a diry little thing. I think she picked up some dirty habbits from her guinea pig cohabitor. I am bathing her every three days (to avoid infection) because she is so determined to be a salt and pepper instead of an albino.

I'll post some pics after tonight's bath

 

[Kalandra]

Yeh, but I don't know if the quill stumps left behind just fell out or what, but they grew back.

Oh and I'm positive that is just a trait of albinos. Its the "must camouflage self" trait. the one I had was determined to be a rare orange spotted hedgehog.

 

[charlie]

Lol Julie!

Here are the promised pictures... Pre-bath (from the cleaner side I might add but you can definitely see an increase in quills) and then of course post-bath "Look at me mom! I'm the wrong colour - none of the other hedgehogs are white!!"