# Found a small hedgehog kind off sleeping on the road/



## alexandr00 (Oct 22, 2013)

Hello everyone! Yesterday I found a small hedgehog that was laying on the road where a lot of people where walking around. And he (or she) was breathing very hard and he was barely moving(shaking while walking and all that stuff). I went to the vet and he said that externally he is fine but his breathing is really bad, probably some one kicked him(And that the hedgehog is about 1 year old). The vet told me to take him home and make a warm and quiet place for him to hibernate. So i did: took a box put it in a really quiet place in my house, made it warm, and cut an cave-like exit for him. The first day I gave him some milk, he drank it up. And today it was water and cottage cheese a couple of times(His appetite is over the roof). What should I do next?Will he go hibernating or should I buy a cage for him so he could live in my room until spring? How should I feed him etc. ? I would really really appreciate any help!


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

What country are you in? The UK has several wildlife & hedgehog rescues, and it'd really be best if you could contact them for more information and probably to take the hedgehog to them, if at all possible. I'm not completely up-to-date on UK laws, but I do know that European hedgehogs are considered endangered & that it's illegal to keep them as pets - that may mean it's illegal for you to overwinter him as well.

Some things to consider, though you should really contact a rescue like Tiggywinkles - http://www.sttiggywinkles.org.uk/ - is not to feed him milk again, if you fed him cow's milk. Hedgehogs (and most other adult animals) are lactose intolerant. He may have some diarrhea after drinking the milk, unless you gave him something like goat's milk (which is usually better tolerated, I believe). Another is to see if you can get a weight on the hedgehog (not sure if the vet weighed him or not) since the rescue will likely ask. Hedgehogs need to be a certain weight & have enough fat in order to safely hibernate.

Thank you for picking the little guy up!  I hope you're able to get some better information & advice from a rescue.


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## alexandr00 (Oct 22, 2013)

Hi! Thanks for the fast reply! No I'm not in UK, I'm in Moldova. And here we don't have any of those wonderful places that you've mentioned. I'm basically on my own with this. Yes the little hedgehog had diarrhea & thats why I took it from him and gave him the cottage cheese. I read that he can eat meat but I'm really sure that his stomach is ready for it after the milk. What should I do if he will not go hibernating? BTW I don't know his weight..


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## abbys (Oct 13, 2012)

You can still email the rescue that lilysmommy mentioned and ask them how to handle feeding, hibernation, and any medical treatment he may need. From what I've heard they usually respond pretty quickly. Another place you could contact is: http://www.prickleshedgehogrescue.org.uk/. That site also has some recommendations on what to feed wild hedgehogs.

Hopefully that helps a bit.


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

Not sure if you'd have them available or not, but if you can get a small food scale or something similar, those are great for weighing a hedgehog. If he won't stay put, you can put a bowl on the scale, put it back to zero (most have that function), then put him in the bowl. If that's not possible, perhaps you could go to the vet and see if they're willing to just let you get a quick weight on him for no cost? It wouldn't take long at all, and would be very useful information when talking to the rescues and for keeping an eye on his health.

I'm honestly not sure if it's harmful for wild hedgehogs to not hibernate - I don't believe it is, though, and it's definitely more harmful for them to hibernate if they don't have enough fat stores. I'm not sure that he'll hibernate with being kept warm either - temperature is one of the cues for when it's time to hibernate, so if he's warm, he may not do so at all.

I'd like to help more, but...like I said, don't know as much as I'd like about wild hedgies! Definitely try contacting the rescues and see if you can get more help from them. I'm sure they'll be happy to give you some better advice than we could give here.  Good luck and we'd still love to be updated, if you can!


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## alexandr00 (Oct 22, 2013)

Ok, I'll try yo get his weight. And I also read on a russian website that the hedgehog needs a bigger box like 1x1x0.5(meters), and that I need to feed him only once a day in the evening (preferably) with like two tablespoons of food (thats how to measure), and the food can be dog or cat can-food, boiled meat or eggs. Thats about it for now.. Hope he'll live through his disease.. his breathing got better but it still isn't too good.


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## Tongue_Flicker (Jun 11, 2013)

alexandr00 said:


> Ok, I'll try yo get his weight. And I also read on a russian website that the hedgehog needs a bigger box like 1x1x0.5(meters), and that I need to feed him only once a day in the evening (preferably) with like two tablespoons of food (thats how to measure), and the food can be dog or cat can-food, boiled meat or eggs. Thats about it for now.. Hope he'll live through his disease.. his breathing got better but it still isn't too good.


Really? All this time i had hedgies and i feed 3-4 times a day (with superworms eaten in between meals) and yet they don't get fat. Weird @[email protected] Maybe my super warm weather is keeping their metabolism in check


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## xkatymayx (Jan 25, 2011)

Hi, I am not a wildie expert, but I have worked with them when I volunteered at a wildlife centre which had hundreds of wild hedgehogs in their care. Please avoid giving milk and dairy to hedgehogs, they cannot process this and it isn't good for them. Water and cat food is better.

This might be helpful to you. If you are unsure of anything in the link below, perhaps printing it and showing your vet may help with getting this hog back into good health.
http://www.britishhedgehogs.org.uk/leaflets/L8-Care-and-Treatment.pdf

If he is unwell, it might be worth making sure he does not hibernate so you can keep checking on him. The hedgehogs we had at the wildlife rescue centre did not hibernate, we kept them warm so they would not hibernate so we could continue to treat them. They were released in spring and would do their usual hibernating in the autumn/winter after release.

http://www.britishhedgehogs.org.uk/


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## LarryT (May 12, 2009)

https://www.facebook.com/Hedgehog.Bottom


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## alexandr00 (Oct 22, 2013)

dlonelyboy said:


> Really? All this time i had hedgies and i feed 3-4 times a day (with superworms eaten in between meals) and yet they don't get fat. Weird @[email protected] Maybe my super warm weather is keeping their metabolism in check


Well that's what I read.. Still feed him a lot throughout the day


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## alexandr00 (Oct 22, 2013)

xkatymayx said:


> Hi, I am not a wildie expert, but I have worked with them when I volunteered at a wildlife centre which had hundreds of wild hedgehogs in their care. Please avoid giving milk and dairy to hedgehogs, they cannot process this and it isn't good for them. Water and cat food is better.
> 
> This might be helpful to you. If you are unsure of anything in the link below, perhaps printing it and showing your vet may help with getting this hog back into good health.
> http://www.britishhedgehogs.org.uk/leaflets/L8-Care-and-Treatment.pdf
> ...


Thank's a lot for the pdf - couldn't find that info anywhere. The vet checked him for external parasites, injuries, skin problems etc. And he said that externally his fine. His appetite is fine as well(no internal parasites I guess). I feed him a couple of times a day and the hedgehog eats it all, at night he even goes hunting through the room 

I think he won't be hibernating because I keep him warm and give him a good amount of food (hope so). Speaking of food, I started giving him some boiled chicken meat and cat food.. seems ok, no diarrhea.

Ok I'll stop with the cottage cheese and go with cat food.

An update on his health: today he was very active, and his breathing got better.


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## DesertHedgehogs (Apr 2, 2013)

Yeah keep feeding him as much as he wants. Anyone healing something needs the fuel. Only worry if he starts getting fat, unless you are going to try for him to hibernate, then he needs to get fat first.


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## abbys (Oct 13, 2012)

That's great to hear.  I'm glad you found him when you did!


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