# Malnutrition & can't stay upright



## ataraxia (Sep 1, 2014)

I made an account just so I could share this and get some thoughts and advice. Hopefully someone can help! This is quite long, but I'll put the summation here: My 4 year old hedgehog has ended up malnourished and cannot stay upright (falls over whenever she tries to walk). After a vet visit to address the most immediate issues, all that's left is syringe feeding her supplements and baby food until she regains enough health and strength to be able to eat on her own. My concerns are at the bottom the post!

I have a 4 year old (4 years, a month, and 2 days to be exact) female hedgehog named Lilo. Over the past 3 weeks she's been losing weight and the ability to walk. She had been getting a bit better and then I went away for a week, leaving her in my brother's care. I seriously regret doing this because when I got back she seemed to have gotten so much worse. I feel like a terrible mommy for leaving her in someone else's care other than my own. She completely stopped eating in my absence and can't stay upright. She constantly falls to one side and if I'm not there to pick her up and steady her, she's stuck there. This has resulted in what looks like a sore and various cuts on her legs on the side she always falls on. It's like she needs the equivalent training wheels to stay up.

I called the breeder I got her from a couple days ago and she said to try my best to get her to eat and then call back and give her an update. Well, nothing improved so when I called her again yesterday she suggested a vet visit. I took Lilo to the vet today and although I knew she was seriously skinny, I was not expecting her to weigh only 154g. I was looking at pictures from 2 weeks ago and she looks so much better than she does today. I'll be forever kicking myself for going away. We ended up giving her fluids to help with the dehydration (she drinks, but not enough) and a vitamin injection to make up for some of the nutrition she is so obviously lacking. I'm going to be feeding her a supplement suggested by the vet and baby food through a syringe until she (hopefully) gains enough strength to stand on her own and feed herself. As for the water, every two hours or so I hold her steady in front of her shallow water dish for her to drink. Previously she wouldn't even drink but over the past few days she eagerly laps it up until she's satisfied. Thank goodness!

So, my main questions are if any of you have had a similar experience and how did it turn out for your hedgie? I'm going to be giving her the supplement every day and I'll be feeding her the baby food multiple times a day but I'm unsure just how much. Any suggestions? She's such a sweet, good girl. She'll tolerate anything I do to her so however much I need to handle her, she will allow it.

And finally, given her age, I'm concerned that this could be her dying. The vet offered to euthanize her but I feel like she still has so much life in her. She tries so hard to walk and if I'm there to keep her upright and steady, she walks and explores for as long as she wants (usually at least an hour). 2 years ago there was another time where she became very thin (not as bad as this time) but that was because she was running around way too much and not eating enough. That was an easy fix but she's been naturally thinner and small her whole life. I know hedgehogs can live well past 4 years and I hope after this episode that will be the case for her.

Thank you for any advice and thoughts you guys can give. I appreciate it all and I'm sorry this was such a read!


----------



## nikki (Aug 28, 2008)

I took in a rescue a few years ago that was suffering from malnutrition. She had lost all her teeth and her family didn't notice and thought she was just being picky. She did well on syringe feeding (we used Hills A/D from the vet) and once she was strong enough to eat on her own she loved her softened kibble and lived for over a year with me. Her malnutrition was so bad that she lost the sight in both her eyes and most of her quills. It also caused a heart murmur. She never got her sight back and always had the heart murmur but about 75% of her quills did grow back. Don't give up on your girl, as long as she is willing to eat keep syringe feeding her and offer her some softened kibble or baby food in her cage in between feedings. Keep it close to her so she can eat without getting up.


----------



## ataraxia (Sep 1, 2014)

Fortunately, Lilo still has her sight, most of her teeth and all of her quills. I noticed that a total of 3 had fallen out throughout this whole thing. I was concerned about the cuts because they could so easily get infected but thankfully I was able to stay on top of cleaning up after her so nothing became infected. Her poop is green and total mush. I'm hoping as she eats more substantial foods it'll return to normal. If not of course I'll be taking her to the vet again. Thank you so much for sharing. It gives me hope for her recovery!


----------



## Kalandra (Aug 25, 2008)

I'll back up what Nikki said. So long as they are willingly trying to eat and are still trying to fight, we fight. I also highly recommend looking at getting some Hills A/D from your veterinarian. Its easy to syringe, and is a good recovery formula food.


----------



## ataraxia (Sep 1, 2014)

I'll go pick up some of the Hills a/d tomorrow and start feeding it to her. She already seems to be doing better. She is able to stay up longer and overall seems more stable. She even ate a tiny bit on her own! She's got this full body shaky/off balanced sort of wobble going on (breeder has never had any history of whs though. I just can't think of a better word). She will be standing still and all of a sudden start doing it. I can't tell if it's just her fighting to keep her balance or something more. Her cage is warm enough and she doesn't feel cold at all. But besides that everything about her seems to already be improving.


----------



## Draenog (Feb 27, 2012)

I took in a rescue hedgehog who was dumped outside a couple of weeks ago. She was malnourished and infested by mites, fleas and ticks and not able to stand or move at all. I've been syringe feeding her three times a day (in the beginning) with Hills a/d and she has made great progress. I documented it, you can watch the videos on my YT account https://www.youtube.com/user/RedAeron/videos it might be of some use to you.


----------



## CoffeeKat (Jan 15, 2014)

Bente, that is an amazing transformation! Thank you for documenting and sharing. Ataraxia, you came to the right place for advice and support. Best wishes for you and your girl.


----------



## Draenog (Feb 27, 2012)

She has been such a little fighter, she runs in her wheel now every night while she could barely lift her head a few weeks ago. 

Ataraxia how's it going? I hope she will recover


----------



## ataraxia (Sep 1, 2014)

Sorry for the lack of update, it's been busy dealing with her and school and work. Thank you for uploading those videos! That transformation really is amazing. If Lilo's walking doesn't improve I'm definitely going to try using a sling like you did. That was such a great idea. She can't get up on her own still but once she's up she's pretty much okay, falling occasionally but still far less than she used to be. She's gained 20g so far.. is that a good pace for her to be gaining weight? 20g in 2 days. I'm feeding her the Hills a/d 3 times a day. After 2ml she starts to slow down swallowing and turns away from the syringe so each feeding shes getting about 2.5ml. Her tummy must have shrunk but does that seem like a good amount? It seems so little to me. Thank you guys so so much for the well wishes and helping me through this!


----------



## gracefulchaos01 (Mar 19, 2014)

The videos are so inspiring and informative, even through just show and tell.


----------



## Draenog (Feb 27, 2012)

I've read somewhere that it's 1 ml for every hour (so if you give 4 ml, the next feeding should be 4 hours later, etc). I started out with a bit less but gave 10 ml in one feeding usually. But she really wanted to eat and didn't mind the syringe.

You can leave some kibble in her cage just in case she wants to eat some on her own. I crushed it (but Iðunn has some broken teeth) with a coffee grinder and when she still wasn't able to walk, I just left it on the bottom of the cage next to her. When she was more mobile I used a shallow bowl. 

20g in two days is quite a lot though, so that's good! I weighed Iðunn twice a day; once in the morning before feeding, and once in the evening after feeding. Because the difference after feeding (or pooping) can be pretty big.


----------



## ataraxia (Sep 1, 2014)

Oh okay! I'll feed her more often and see how that goes. I have some baby food and her kitten food in her cage nearby but so far she hasn't been interested at all. Last night I heard her moving so got her up and she peed and went right back under her blanky to sleep without touching her food or water. It's strange, she gets up to pee away from where she sleeps but she poops right where she is. I'm worried she may not have control over that anymore.

I'm glad the weight gain sounds good to you! I finally found the scale today so I'll be able to keep better track from now on.


----------



## AlexLovesOlive (Jul 7, 2014)

When Olive was very dehydrated and refused to eat ( I went on vacation too left her with my neighbor and came back to an unresponsive hedgie, worse moment of my life, so I know how you feel) I fed her this "super mix" It is VERY good for hedgie's and really helped Olive feel better, I mixed Colade, Hills A/D, Carnivore care, Turkey vegatable dinner from Earths Best Baby food (all organic has veggies and fruit in it too) and mixed all of those together to syringe feed her 2 times a day, I filled a big pick syringe full and fed her that, if she was more hungry I would give her it until she was full, I only had to do that a couple days because It made her regain her strength fast then she just ate it out of a small bowl for a week more, I also gave her 10-15 ML of Colade a day in the same style syringe. Colade is like Gatorade times 10 for animals and will really keep them hydrated as well as letting her drink water. It is chicken flavor and really good to get her healthy again, it also has vitamins and minerals in it, you can get it from the vet or get it with a prescription at the pet store. I hope this helps. It really really made a huge difference with my baby I dont know if she would of made it without this mix and the Colade


----------



## ataraxia (Sep 1, 2014)

Right now I'm just feeding her the hills a/d and giving her carnivore care. Well, it's like a carnivore care alternative until the real thing comes in the mail (vet didn't have any and neither did the place they told me to get it. they gave me fluker's repta-boost instead but I'm ordering the real thing). I think what I'll try is mixing the baby food in with the carnivore care and keep feeding her the hills a/d separately. I can't get much more than 2ml in her at a time so this way it's broken up a bit!

She's drinking regularly and lots at one time and whenever I do the pinch test her skin goes right back. After the fluids injection at the vet she is more interested in drinking. I'm definitely going to keep colade in mind though and call the vet (they are probably so tired of hearing from me) if it looks like she'll need it. Thank you so much for letting me know about all this!! And I'm so glad your girl recovered.


----------



## Draenog (Feb 27, 2012)

Just wondering, how is it going?


----------



## ataraxia (Sep 1, 2014)

I wish so badly I could say she was doing well but she did pass away September 10th. I knew it was going to be sometime overnight. The 9th she was refusing to eat (was even pushing the syringe away with her feet if you'd believe it) and wouldn't stand at all so I just had a feeling she was done fighting and would pass within the day. I made sure she was cozy and warm and left her at 11:30 pm on the 9th. She would raise her quills whenever I was near to check on her so I decided to leave her alone and let her go peacefully. I always worry that they feel they have to hold on because we are near and I didn't want her feeling vulnerable. So of course I barely slept but when I checked on her at 3:30 am she had passed. I moved her into a box in her favorite shirt and put flowers all around it and kept her in there until morning to properly bury her and now she's next to my cat. My two little angels.
Taking care of her and bonding with her brought so much happiness and love into my world. I'll always have memories of cuddling with her under my shirt in winter and waking up to her crawling all over me and watching her run around the backyard to her hearts content searching for hidden mealworms. She was such a friendly hedgehog, honestly one of the most friendly and curious hedgies I've seen. I miss her so much but I'm also relieved she's no longer struggling. Its so hard to watch and not be able to do anything. Me and my sister imagine she's running 10 miles a day and pooping wherever she wants now!
Thank you all so much for your help and encouragement. Your words helped me make sure she was given the best chance possible and also gave me comfort and hope but it was her time to pass. I never imagine it will hurt so much but it always does!


----------



## ellisrks01 (Mar 25, 2014)

I'm really sorry about your baby


----------



## CoffeeKat (Jan 15, 2014)

I'm so sorry for your loss. It sounds as if you did everything you could, and having her for four years was a blessing for you both.


----------



## Draenog (Feb 27, 2012)

I'm sorry to hear that  but it sounds like she had a lovely life with you and you did everything you could.


----------



## ataraxia (Sep 1, 2014)

Thank you guys. The 4 years with her were wonderful but I did hope for more! At least I know she had a nice and comfortable life filled with love from many


----------

