# Morning Medicine Gong Show



## hercsmom (Jul 6, 2010)

Wow....what a morning, that's all I can say. I picked up some meds from the vet last night, and also some Sunshine Factor (which, according to posts I've read, tastes great and hedgies love it!). Not true....Herc behaved like I was trying to murder him. The doc has him on Novo-Trimel instead of Baytril (so we don't build up a Baytril immunity), and so lucky me gets to give it to him twice a day. Btw, somebody needs to mention how bad that Sunshine Factor stains white fur! After five minutes of struggling I finally get the corner of the syringe with the Sunshine Factor in Herc's mouth and squirt a little in, only for him to open his mouth and let it slobber out the other side. It went all down his chin, and a little bit on his tummy too. His beautiful white fur is now orange! Anyhoo..Sunshine Factor down, time for the actual medicine. Dear God, why are hedgies so melodramatic? I finally got his meds down him too and put him back to bed, only to notice he only ate about half of his kibbles for last night (which, by the way is a whole other story. They switched the shape of his Blue Buffalo weight control, and boy was he angry!!). On the good side though, I've started mixing Innova Weight Control into his mix, and he really loves it. So anyways, I put some kibbles in his pigloo with him to make sure he eats, because he sure as heck was not coming out of there. As soon as I put my hand near his cage, I got hissed at. "Here you go boy, some kibbles",  "Hissssssssssss.....", followed by me "Come on Herc, be a good boy, mommy loves you", to which he promptly responded "hisssssssssssssssss.............". All of this fighting with Herc meant it added about 20 minutes to my routine this morning, so I'm now pretty cranky. As I was leaving the house though, I could hear the crunching of him eating the kibble I put in the pigloo. Sorry for the rant guys, had to get that one out. What a gong show............


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## MissC (Nov 15, 2010)

:shock: 
Wow. I'm trying reeeeeally hard not to laugh...
:lol: 
It's the melodrama that gets me: you put a hand in the cage and they react like you're wielding a live snake...touch them and they act like you threw acid on them...say "Good Morning" and you'd think you screeched through a bullhorn...God forbid you should try to trim a nail!! They act like you're using a weedwhacker. :roll:


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## hercsmom (Jul 6, 2010)

It's really funny, but when I was going through this today, I immediately thought of Snarf. Is he this dramatic too?



MissC said:


> God forbid you should try to trim a nail!! They act like you're using a weedwhacker. :roll:


And, here's what I have to look forward to tonight! I noticed a pinky nail getting super long that I missed last time, so that has to get cut tonight. I think Herc may try to kill me in my sleep after that................


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## MissC (Nov 15, 2010)

Snarf is so much worse. So much.

This morning was a perfect example: Last night I added a Flying Saucer to his cage - just wanted to see if he'd try it; left the CSW where it was. I woke up at 5am and checked on him - wheeling happily. He had tried to drown his Incredible Hulk figure in his water dish so I removed it and topped up his water. I noticed that he hadn't been on the FS, so I removed it and, as it had been so crowded, also moved his hedgie bag about 3" to where it normally is. Well!!! The wheel stops dead...Snarf hiss/huffs/pops...STOMPS off the wheel and through his litter, scattering it everywhere...stalks over to me and glares, huffing & popping the whole time. All because I put his hedgie bag in its normal spot. :roll: 

Have you ever seen a hedgie stomp?? He high-steps and somehow pounds away with his teeny little feet - on fleece, no less. :roll: He would regularly slam a door if he had one.

:roll:


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## hercsmom (Jul 6, 2010)

AHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Ok, I can't stop laughing at that visual! It's like having a teenager in the house! :lol:


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## cylaura (Jan 13, 2011)

I'm sorry you had to go through all of that! Glad you got it all done though. And I think if there's anywhere you can rant, it's here. 



> after five minutes of struggling I finally get the corner of the syringe with the Sunshine Factor in Herc's mouth and squirt a little in, only for him to open his mouth and let it slobber out the other side. It went all down his chin, and a little bit on his tummy too. His beautiful white fur is now orange!


I feel your pain on this one. I work in a lab with rats, and sometimes we have to give them meds by syringe. Most of them hate it (even though it's sugary) and it's usually a five minute struggle-fest with plenty of it slobbed on the chin. I can't even imagine what it would be like with a popping, hissing, angry hedgie though. :shock:



> Have you ever seen a hedgie stomp?? He high-steps and somehow pounds away with his teeny little feet - on fleece, no less. He would regularly slam a door if he had one.


Hahahahaha! This has got to be the funniest visual ever! :lol:


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## smhufflepuff (Aug 28, 2008)

Now try it wearing gloves!*

You can put the SF on a few of his kibbles. He's probably associating being held with an oral syringe coming at him with unhappy times.

Hedgehogs would make the worst "lab rats" ever. EVER.

*note to the uninitiated: don't wear gloves unless you're dealing with a bad bug that could spread to you


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## RalphsMum (Oct 14, 2010)

i don't think i have got to the thread yet about what's up with Herc, but I hope he's better soon!!! Poor lil guy!

I'll send RalphsDad round to help with the hedgie headlock...he's got that thing DOWN! let me tell you :lol: 

yeah I'm glad Ralph doesn't have a door....we just get to see lots of hedgie bum instead....i'm sure there's a meaning behind it....


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## Immortalia (Jan 24, 2009)

Your boy doesn't like the new shape either huh? My boy completely turned his nose up at it the first night I put it in.
Next night, I cut them all in half, and he finally agreed to eat it all :roll: 
So now, I'm stuck cutting up 60 kibbles in half every day. 

I too would suggest putting the SF elsewhere. Even just a single drop on a dish and let him smell and see if he even wants to try it out. He probably does associate syringe with bad meds. And if worse comes to worse, and utterly icky... Get a needle and syringe, and syringe some into a mealie.


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## MissC (Nov 15, 2010)

Immortalia...you made me laugh up my coffee then gag on it all at once:

"So now, I'm stuck cutting up 60 kibbles in half every day. "
:lol: :lol: :lol: 
"Get a needle and syringe, and syringe some into a mealie."
:shock: :shock: :shock:


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## MissC (Nov 15, 2010)

Immortalia...you made me laugh up my coffee then gag on it all at once:

"So now, I'm stuck cutting up 60 kibbles in half every day. "
:lol: :lol: :lol: 
"Get a needle and syringe, and syringe some into a mealie."
:shock: :shock: :shock:


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## hercsmom (Jul 6, 2010)

Immortalia said:


> Your boy doesn't like the new shape either huh?


He hates it! I keep telling him he liked it when it was little triangle shapes, what's the dif? But, he's determined to be stubborn.



Immortalia said:


> I too would suggest putting the SF elsewhere. Even just a single drop on a dish and let him smell and see if he even wants to try it out. He probably does associate syringe with bad meds. And if worse comes to worse, and utterly icky... Get a needle and syringe, and syringe some into a mealie.


I'll try putting the SF elsewhere tonight, but I'm a little worried if I put it in his food he won't eat it.

As for injecting a mealie, did that last time Herc had meds. He wouldn't go near the mealie. Gross side note - the first one I ever injected exploded because I injected too fast. So nasty


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## Immortalia (Jan 24, 2009)

Do you have a special treat dish? Don't try putting it on a kibble just yet. Just a single drop, all by itself on a dish, just to see how it goes. Or a single drop, on a single kibble, all alone in the treat dish. That way, if he still refuses to touch it, it's far away from his normal food not to turn him off from eating. 

And my boy has never liked the cylinder shapes, I think he has trouble with that first bite to break them up. 

Haha MissC, the stuff we do for them huh?


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## MissC (Nov 15, 2010)

hercsmom said:


> Gross side note - the first one I ever injected exploded because I injected too fast. So nasty


 :shock:

Immortalia...if Snarf's health hinges on me so much as touching a mealie, he's in big trouble.


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