# bendable quills



## PirateHedgie (Oct 28, 2012)

So I changed my hedgies diet after a vet visit to what she recommended and now I have noticed he looses about 2 quills a day and they are now very soft and bendy at the base. He runs and plays and eats normally and seems happy, with normal poops. Ideas? What's lacking in his diet?


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## moxieberry (Nov 30, 2011)

What are you feeding him now? A lot of vets unfortunately don't really know much about good foods for hedgehogs - they usually recommend a hedgehog food, some sort of insectivore diet, or one of the cat foods they're paid to promote (like Science Diet).


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## PirateHedgie (Oct 28, 2012)

Innova and I think blue buffalo I wrote it down on the bag somewhere


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

How recent was the diet change? What were you feeding him before?


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## PirateHedgie (Oct 28, 2012)

Was about 2 months ago... Before was just feeding him a mix from the breeder but was told it was low quality food ...


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## PirateHedgie (Oct 28, 2012)

OK also forgot to mention he has had very dry skin and got some humilac spray which helped soooo much his ears had huge build ups of dry skin and wax but its all cleared up now - its really dry in the house because the heaters are always on. I have a himidifier next to his cage on a medium setting just to help with the dry air. The soft quills I just noticed this week, before that they were are still very stiff.

**edit**

Food mix is blue buffalo freedom and indoor health and innova weight management


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## PirateHedgie (Oct 28, 2012)

Okay has no one ever had this happen or what? 
Is he sick, have some skin infection, mites, bacteria, dietary needs? 
Can anyone give me a better idea which area I should even look into? 


I'm sure its not normal for the 1-2 quills he looses a day to be squishy and easily bendable at the last half....  

Hedgehogs are frustrating! No one has answers for this health stuff , vets are apparently misinformed idiots that want to pump my hedgie full of bad medicine and commercial "kill your hedgehog" diets.
I don't get it - I feel like even taking him to a vet is a waste of money because all I hear on here is how we should all not let our stupid vets give them this or that or not feed him this... Its confusing and again frustrating when all u want to do is make a little adorable ball of spikes happy and healthy. 

OK rant done.... I just want to know how to help Winston


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

I'm not really sure, to be honest. I'm not sure if 2 months was recent enough that the low-quality diet would be showing in the effects on the quills now, or if it's not related to diet at all in the first place. His diet now sounds just fine, so I wouldn't worry about that. Losing 1-2 quills a day is fine, since it's like shedding hair - it's pretty normal for them to lose some, even when not quilling. I"m just not sure about the softness/easily bendable. If he's acting normal otherwise and everything else seems fine, I think personally I'd just wait and see if it goes away on its own. Perhaps those quills were damaged by the diet previously or something like that. Sounds like you've done everything else necessary for his skin! 

And vets really aren't that bad! We tend to make them sound bad on here, I know, but they're invaluable when you get a vet that will work with you. Yes, we tend to ignore their diet suggestions, especially if your hedgehog is doing fine on their current diet. And we caution people on Ivermectin, but many vets use that with other animals with no problems - we just tend to be wary with small animals and with Revolution being such a safe alternative, it's better to use that. But not all vets have done research on that. They're busy, so they don't often have a chance to specialize in hedgehog information. When hedgehogs are our babies, we tend to do as much research as we can so we can make informed decisions together with the vet. But vets are not the bad guys, and we do need them when our hedgies aren't feeling good!


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## Immortalia (Jan 24, 2009)

I'd be tempted to stop the humilac to make sure it's not a residual effect. Other than that, I'm not sure either.

The only time my boys quills are soft is after baths.


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## PirateHedgie (Oct 28, 2012)

Yeah now that you mention it that would make sense.... I'll bump up the humidifier a bit and stop with the spray for a bit  I'm giving him a bath to night to get a fresh start  hopefully he doesn't get too much haneous hedgie dandruff lol


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## PirateHedgie (Oct 28, 2012)

Good news! Quills are no longer bendy and very painful to step on again! I think ill keep the humidifier up a little more now and use te spray once a week  thanks for the support guys


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

:lol: Strange how hedgie owner priorities get changed! Quills don't hurt to step on? Something's wrong!! Oh, they hurt to step on again? Oh, good! Wheel's not covered in poop? Uh oh, better watch him.... Oh look, poop everywhere again, YAY! Glad things are back to normal for him!


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## shetland (Sep 2, 2008)

He He He Good News!!!


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