# Help with tongue injury



## Meatball (Feb 14, 2015)

Hello. My family and I recently adopted a 4 month old African Pygmie named Meatball. Meatball is the best pet we've ever had. Very friendly and lovable. We immediately took him to the NC State veterinary school clinic for a check up and he was deemed in excellent health. He eats hard high protein cat food, green peppers, and strawberries. He was doing great until one morning we awoke to find his habitat covered in blood (a LOT). He seemed to be okay and I couldn't find any injury on him. I gave him a bath and he was acting normally. We immediately took him to the vet and the said he had severed half his tongue! We later found the tongue half in his habitat. He had 3 hours of surgery to debride and stitch the remaining part of his tongue. The vet said he lost half his blood volume! They also placed a feeding tube in him. We have him home now and he is sustaining weight with tube feeds we give him 3-4 times/day. He is still playful and friendly. The vet says it's possible he was biting down on some hard food and chomped his own tongue. Has anyone ever come across this before? He is due to get his feeding tube out in 10 days and we are all worried he won't be able to eat and drink on his own with only half a tongue. Has anyone seen anything like this before? Any ideas? Thanks.


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## Buttons (Dec 21, 2014)

I'm so sorry to hear about your hedggie! Thats just awful! I've attached a link to a lovley blog I had followed about a heddgie with a necrotic tongue, so you may find this useful. This hedggie owner should be commended for her efforts on feeding him and caring for him. Seriously she's my new hero!!

http://www.got-blogger.com/mytutorlist/Poggles/?c=-/&p=11


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## Meatball (Feb 14, 2015)

Thank you for the link. I'm going to check it out and see if I can contact her. We're worried sick that Meatball won't be able to sustain himself once his feeding tube comes out.


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## DesireeM81 (Jun 14, 2014)

Does he have a water bottle in his cage? Or a bowl?


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## Meatball (Feb 14, 2015)

Bowl. He's never had a water bottle.


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## DesireeM81 (Jun 14, 2014)

Good! 

Does he have any toys in his cage with holes in them? Jingly cat toys etc? 

Other than those things, I can't think of what he could have hurt himself on. It's possible he bit his own tongue. 

I hope your little guy pull through just fine. While we see hedgehogs as fragile, they can surprise you and often pull themselves through. 

IMO, I would stick with wet food from now on as well.


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## Meatball (Feb 14, 2015)

Thanks. We'll see how he comes along once his tube is out.


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## Buttons (Dec 21, 2014)

I sent you a private message with info that may help you get in touch with her ☺


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## Meatball (Feb 14, 2015)

Hey. Really sorry to hear about you little friend's situation. It's crazy. We're still not sure what caused our guy's injury. While his feeding tube was in we could never really get him to eat anything substantial. Our worry was that his half tongue was too small to manipulate food into his throat. We had a difficult decision to make. Either replace his esophageal tube with a permanent gastric tube or just pull the tube and see what happens. So today 3.5 weeks after his injury the vet pulled his tube under anesthesia. As soon as he woke up he started eating!!. He's back home now and very active. Playing with the kids and running around normally. So far so good. 

While healing the only thing we could really get him to eat was fruit. Small bits of watermelon and strawberries were the best. I had to put them on a toothpick and my son would pry his mouth open and we'd pop it in. We tried syringe feeding with stage 2 baby food. It worked okay, but most of it just smeared all over his face. 

Let us know how your little guy does. Good luck!


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## Meatball (Feb 14, 2015)

*update*

Updated pictures.
1) Healed (but stumpy) tongue
2) Meatball EATING after waking up!!!


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## Buttons (Dec 21, 2014)

Little Pig:

Welcome to the site. You're on the right place, these ladies are very knowledgeable. I would like to suggest you start your own thread to get more people to see your post. 

A food option for you is to wet his existing kibble till its soggy. Soak it 1- 2 hrs before your bedtime and pour off the excess water. The other thing you can offer is stage 2 baby food. There's no meat in stage 1 and stage three has spices and onion and sometimes garlic.

You asked about favorite treats, my guy loves shrimp. If you pick up tiny shrimp frozen for making shrimp salad and let it cool to room temperature and leave it in over night. Don't forget to break it up into smaller pieces.

Shrimp also contains chitin which is found in bug exoskeleton. Very good for hedggies. His droppings may smell a bit after, and don't be surprised if you notice a ''sour baby milk'' smell coming off of him. It's just the shrimp. It also contains the lowest level of mucury on any edible sea dwelling creature.


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## Buttons (Dec 21, 2014)

Soooo glad to hear Meatball is doing so well!


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## MomLady (Aug 14, 2010)

Another idea would be to feed something like the Honest Kitchen food. It is dehydrated food--you add water and mix up as needed. It is human-grade food and comes in several different varieties. They have beef, turkey and chicken--since it's a soft food, you can feed the dog kind too. There's vegetables and fruits in it too.
It's about the consistency of pate, so your guy can probably handle it. You could add more or less water as needed. 
There website is thehonestkitchen.com and has samples you can order to see if your hedgie will eat it. My Nara liked the Prowl--chicken for cats.


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## Meatball (Feb 14, 2015)

Any update from Little Pig?


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## Meatball (Feb 14, 2015)

*Meatball Update*

I'm happy to report that Meatball is doing great 2 weeks after his feeding tube removal. He is able to eat soft foods and drink from a water bowl as long as it is filled to the very top. He is gaining weight back and is back to full steam running on his wheel every night (my kids believe he is training for a secret mission to save the world...) The Vet school is actually going to publish a case report about his injury, surgery, and recovery to help other exotic pet veterinarians be able to better care for this type injury in the future. Apparently he is the first case of an esophageal feeding tube being placed in a hedgehog. So we're all happy he's doing great. Thanks to everyone who supported us!


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## Meatball (Feb 14, 2015)

https://www.youtube.com/edit?o=U&video_id=bmnUdQ3OETw

This is the link to meatball's youtube channel! please subscribe now! : )


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