# Hedgies and Felines



## Shalafiamar (Jan 3, 2009)

our family has 2 felines, but we aslo want a hedgie, i was wondering does anyone else have felines and a hedgie and if so what kind of realtionship do you see with the two, we are a little worried the cats may try and "play" with the hedgie and one of the two will get hurt


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## Nancy (Aug 22, 2008)

7 cats and 38 hedgehogs at the moment. :lol: The cats are not allowed in the hedgie room and rarely do they have any contact. I do not allow a cat near a hedgehog unless I have a firm hold on the cat. There is too much risk of injury. Yes, the quills protect the hedgehog to a certain point but most of our friendly social hedgehogs won't quill up until until after the first bite, scratch, pounce on and by then it is too late.

There are no problems with cats and hedgies. Just keep them separate. Neither will gain anything by interacting anyways.


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## K9_girl1994 (Nov 6, 2008)

We have three 8 month old kittens and what a pain they are!They are curious like heck and always come over to investigate. I usually take Bruno down stairs because the cats always hang out up stairs for some odd reason.... :? Yeah if they ever make close contact I am half holding the cat or gaurding my hedgehog.


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## Mika (Dec 4, 2008)

I have a cat and 6 hedgehogs and my cat ignore my hedghogs or she scratchs herslef on them.












My cousin's cat 


My cat with one of my babies


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## sagesmommy (Sep 25, 2008)

i know i might get bashed for this comment but hey i need to disagree once in a while! My cat is in love with my hedgehog! It is her best friend! I leave them alone together all the time. My cat is very different from other cats thought. she is no bigger than a 6 month old cat due to her kitten hood. She is tiny.and she is the nicest cat you could ever meet she wont even hurt a gerbil she will just sit and watch it even outside the cage and if she thinks someone is going to hurt it she will stand over it and protect it. But i was cautious at first and then learned that the hedgehog liked the cat more than she liked me. She will go nose to nose with her and play ball with her. My cat one time just sat on sage and sage just was like ok ... hi! She didn't mind at all and didn't huff or puff at all. My cat and my hedgehog are good friends and i have grown so faithful in them both that i will leave them alone. I think that they both get something out of the relationship.

Both cats and hedgies are different you need to know both of there personality's before letting them be friends.


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## Nancy (Aug 22, 2008)

Cats are predators and it isn't that the cat sets out to intentionally harm the hedgehog but sometimes instinct takes over.

Our oldest is a Maine ****. The first year we had hedgies it was a nightly ritual that I'd sit on the bed with the hedgie girls and Tish the cat would be in the middle. The hedgies would crawl all over her and chew her fur, crawl under her paws. Tish was their jungle gym. Tish loved the hedgies and went nose to nose with them often. One night Peaches went into her hedgie bag and was digging around as she had done for the previous 100+ nights but all of a sudden Tish leaped into the air and pounced on the hedgie bag Peaches was in. It happened so fast that neither my daughter nor I who were sitting an arms length away could stop it. Thankfully Peaches was unharmed but she very easily could have been seriously injured. 
There was nothing different about that night that hadn't happened every single night for months. I don't think Tish was even aware of what she was doing or had done. It was purely instinct. Tish is an indoor cat and had been around rabbits, pet rats, ferrets, gerbils and never showed the least interest in chasing any of them. 

I personally do not feel it is worth the risk. Sure, nothing may ever happen but all it takes is one time for instinct to take over and hedgie can be injured or killed and there is even more risk when the hedgehog is used to the cat as hedgie won't roll up. JMO


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## dawn71 (Aug 29, 2008)

Spike the hedgehog, and my cat Chaos, co-exist quite peacefully, as long as I'm nearby, and keeping a very watchful eye .. Chaos likes to watch as I'm playing with Spike, and on occasion will sniff Spike etc. It usually just ends up being a stare down between cat and hedgie  
I would not leave them alone together for any amount of time though, as I have seen what Chaos does to his toy mouse(poor thing lol) so, as long as mommy (me) keeps her eye on things, its all good 

Here is a pic of Spike giving Chaos the 'don't you even think about taking my last meal worm' look..


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## K9_girl1994 (Nov 6, 2008)

the problem with the kittens is that they are very curious and they try swiping at Bruno. They also try laying on him. The kittens think that Bruno is a toy. Bruno for some odd reason doesn't mind them too much though.


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## PixiesExoticHedgies (Sep 4, 2008)

My cat and my dogs, play with my hedgies.
[attachment=0:3mqet1g4]Skittles444.jpg[/attachment:3mqet1g4]


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## Zalea (Sep 12, 2008)

My cat thinks she's a human...that, or that we're big cats (which is probably more the case, because I think I bat at her as much as she bats at me). She's constantly popping out of nowhere to attack. I definitely wouldn't leave her alone with my hedgie. She attacks us, let alone something smaller than her. The only interaction time they get is if she comes over to investigate while I'm holding Quentin, and then it's only a sniff because she freaks out and backs away when he huffs at her. It is from her that I get full understanding of the saying "curiosity killed the cat" because two seconds after she just freaked out and ran away, she's right back over there trying to see again. :roll: 
Any interaction your cat has with your hedgie should be supervised, for sure. And if it seems to stress your hedgie out too much, keep it to a minimum. 
Put the cage in a room with a door you can shut to keep the cat out. One day I was cleaning Quentin's cage and left the door open. The cage is two Sterlite containers hooked together with PVC pipe, so I was cleaning the play area part of it and I set aside the part with the food. When I turned around to get that second part, the cat was squeezed in sideways (I don't know why, but she chose to situate herself in there the shortest way of the bin) eating the food that was left from the night before. As amusing as it was while the cage was apart and on the floor, if she'd done that while the cage was together she could've knocked the whole thing over. So you really have to be careful about your cage set up when you have cats.


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## spoogysprouts (Nov 26, 2008)

Mika said:


> I have a cat and 6 hedgehogs and my cat ignore my hedghogs or she scratchs herslef on them.
> 
> 
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> ...


your calico looks just like one of my cats!! but she's really little. how funny


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