# Advice needed before 1pm!



## DesireeM81 (Jun 14, 2014)

Hi guys. 

As most of you know I have been struggling with River and getting her to eat properly. For a week or so she was eating her wet and raw food. All of it. Her weight went up to 425 grams at it's highest. In the past week she has been forgoing her raw and wet food and eating her kibble. The amounts have varied but anywhere between 7 pieces and a whopping 22 pieces of RC Mother and BabyCat. I have been keeping up on her feedings with a syringe as well. On a good day she will eat about 20ml of Hills A/D. Some mornings she eats less. She also eats most bugs, has decided she doesn't like dubia's but will eat crickets, mealworms, superworms and pinkie mice. 

She is active on her wheel, plays with everything that moves, loves to push things around with her nose etc. 

My problem is this morning, she now weighs under 400 grams. 388 grams. This is as big as my littlest guy. Her sides have gone from straight to indented over night. Yesterday morning she weighed 406 grams. 

I have already made a vet appt for 2 pm. I need to know what to ask to do, what to ask her to look for? Should she run a blood panel? There is no poop for me to take in as of yet. Hopefully she will poop when she gets there. 

This is a new vet since I didn't like the one I went to last time. I'm terrified for my little girl. I told myself as long as she was keeping her weight on I wouldn't worry. Well now she's not and I'm a little freaking out. Any advice is very much appreciated.


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## Kiwithehedgie (Oct 1, 2014)

Is there a chance that she threw up?


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## DesireeM81 (Jun 14, 2014)

I have never seen vomit in her cage, nor have I seen any activity on her camera that would indicate it.


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## CoffeeKat (Jan 15, 2014)

I can't do a darn thing to help, but I understand the freaking out part and will be following. Thoughts are with you both.


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## Charlie's mommy (May 16, 2014)

Blood test or fecal culture would probably be the first step, after that it'd probably be an x ray. Depending on what the vet says about her size they may not want to take blood. This is the route we took with Charlie, I hope it's something simple and easy to treat! Thinking of you!


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## Charlie's mommy (May 16, 2014)

Oh it might be worth adding since they'll likely have to put her under for a blood test if you have the funds it might be a good idea to do x rays at the same time so it's easier on her to only get put under once and you don't get charged for the anesthesia twice


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## DesireeM81 (Jun 14, 2014)

I'll pay anything for her. Thankfully money is not a concern. I can live off ramen for a month if need be.


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## DesireeM81 (Jun 14, 2014)

Alright leaving now for the vet. I can't sit still any longer. When I know something I will let you guys know.


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## Crowley is loved (Aug 27, 2014)

hoping everything is alright and sending you good thoughts!!!!!


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

Saw this earlier, but had to rush off for a test. Keeping you and River in my thoughts. I hope you guys find some answers at the vet and it's something easy to take care of! River's lucky to have such an amazing, loving mama.


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## gracefulchaos01 (Mar 19, 2014)

I was at work. Thinking of you both. Let us know how it goes!


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## DesireeM81 (Jun 14, 2014)

First of all, thank you for all the responses! River definitely knows she is loved!

This vet visit went much better than the last one. Since she had eaten this morning she was up to 408 grams at the doctors office. I just checked her and yep 408 grams, don't know if 10 ml of A/D is 20 grams but oh well. 

She didn't poop at all so we couldn't run a fecal. They did have to put her under a little anesthesia but they were able to get a good look at her mouth and do some tummy exploration. NO masses which was my main concern, however, they did find some red gums and a tooth than may be abscessed. 

She was put on baytril (antibiotic) and metacam (pain reliever) for ten days. The vet is hoping that it will clear up, if not a tooth extraction is in order. Hopefully this is what is causing her not to eat outside of syringe time. 

The vet is letting me do the dosing myself so if she spits it out or I miss I won't run out. She was very interactive and answered all of my questions.

Funny little tidbit, River is my secondest smallest hedgehog, both Penny and Rose outweigh her now but they thought she was HUGE! I must just have big hedgehogs as all of mine will probably weigh over 400 grams as adults. (Winter is still climbing at 370 grams)

As I said before money isn't a problem but for those wondering, I paid 130 total for two prescriptions, brief anesthesia, the office visit and a bio hazard fee.

So we will see how the next ten days go. She was a champ about taking her meds too!


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

Yay for no masses! I hope the medication will do its job and no surgery will be needed. But at least you guys found something, and hopefully this is the problem. Would be nice to have it be an easy fix, at least! Sounds like you found a good vet too, which is always great.  Not too bad of a total for the visit either, IMO. 

Also, just want to say that I think it's a bit funny that over 400g is big now! When I first joined the forum, "big" hogs were usually around or over 600g, and there were stories about hedgies that weighed even up to 1000g (healthy)! Lily was around 400-450, if I remember right, when she was at her healthy or slightly-overweight weights. And I still thought she was a small hedgie since she could still fit in one hand, and I have small hands! Hedgies seem to be getting smaller & smaller over here.


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## Nancy (Aug 22, 2008)

I hope the antibiotics will help and she will soon be wanting to eat. :smile:

I consider 400g average, leaning towards the lower side of average. Big hogs are 600+. My Daisy is 780g. Samson's about 630g. :lol:


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## gracefulchaos01 (Mar 19, 2014)

Umm... wow. My kids are only in the high 200s. Now I need to bust out the scale to know for sure. I must have the world's tiniest adult hedgehogs...


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## DesireeM81 (Jun 14, 2014)

That's soooo weird to me! My heaviest girl Rose (who is just a tad overweight) is at 545, Penny just hit 400 grams at five months old. Winter is at 370 grams at almost four months (I think he is going to be a big hog) and when I first got River, she weighed 470 grams.


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## gracefulchaos01 (Mar 19, 2014)

I must be under estimating or something. I haven't weighed them in several weeks because their food keeps getting eaten and, except for Titan, their body shapes have all stayed the same. Titan has lost weight but he now has the same shape as everyone else. There is always leftover kibble. They usually eat all 20 grams of wet/cold food every night, except Gayle who focuses on kibble. 
Wow. Now I'm super worried I'm starving my kids or something.


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## DesireeM81 (Jun 14, 2014)

Ha, I doubt that Grace! I bet you they are just small. Sebastian was also pretty young when she gave birth right? That probably stunted hers and the babies growth. Also Titan was raised by someone else so I'm sure he is a decent weight as well. Also, they will probably fill out a little more as they reach their year mark.


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## gracefulchaos01 (Mar 19, 2014)

Ok. Ok. First off, I just recalled I had originally been weighing them in ounces, which is odd. However, I just now weighed Gabriel, the smallest. He is 294 grams. And Titan is our biggest, except for maybe Gayle, (who didn't get weighed) and Titan weighs 334 grams. And he really has lost weight. He runs the night away. Everyone gets mealies tonight with their fish. So, while they are all small comparatively, they aren't as small as I was afraid they are. Except they are. 
Dang.


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## gracefulchaos01 (Mar 19, 2014)

Sebastian and Titan will have both hit the 1 year mark by Christmas I'm fairly certain. And the babes were born February 10th. Maybe it's because they are all younger...


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## coffeebean (Aug 27, 2014)

hope things are on the mend


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## Nancy (Aug 22, 2008)

My largest was Truffles and at one point she was over 1000g. At 1000 she was overweight, but she was also a very large hedgehog and was 1/3 longer than the 400-500g hogs. Her brother averaged in the 800's. Their mom was average, dad was small so they must have inherited some large genes from somewhere. 

My smallest was Gizmo a little albino guy found wandering in the woods. He never got over 240. I've had many boys in the 270's.


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## lilsurfergrlsp (Dec 13, 2013)

Wow!! A 1000 gram hedgie! Idk why that's so mind boggling but I literally just gasped out loud :lol: I'm kind of with grace on this one, I'm getting a little paranoid about Tansy's size, since she's only 320ish grams. 

Anywho, glad River is doing okay. You are a very good mama! And Ramen is delicious.


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## MomLady (Aug 14, 2010)

OMG My Nara is about 600 grams, but Gail (from MMF) said that she would be a big girl. Nara loves her meatballs! 

Again, when you have a good breeder, they can predict that kind of thing since they have the genealogy. 

It might be interesting to see how hedgie weight correlates with lifespan. 
I think pet hedgies used to live 6 to 8 years, from reading I have done.

Glad to hear the vet visit went well and hope the meds help her toothies.

Oh yeah, are you a Dr Who fan? River and Rose?
ML


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## DesireeM81 (Jun 14, 2014)

Yep. Dr. Who fan. Rose actually came with her name, I changed River's to fit the theme. 

As for River, she ATE!! And I mean ate, almost all of her wet food was gone this morning and she ate over 75 pieces of RC Mother and BabyCat. I almost cried I was so happy. I can only imagine how hungry she must have actually been these past two months (or longer) and not being able to eat must have sucked so bad.

She refused to eat a good portion of her morning syringing, taking only about 3 ml. Is it okay if I stop syringing her all together now or should I still try to?

Weight is up to 414 this morning!


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## gracefulchaos01 (Mar 19, 2014)

Hippity hoppity!


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

YAY!  Good job, River! I hope she keeps it up, that's fantastic! If you want, you could still offer her a syringe-feeding the next couple of days, just so she has the option, & then cut down on it if she continues eating so well on her own & refusing much from the syringe. I don't think there'd be any harm to just stopping either though, if you'd rather do that.


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## DesireeM81 (Jun 14, 2014)

Thanks, I'll try again tonight to see if she will eat out of her syringe. The skinny little thing can use the extra food right now anyway. I also like using it to help coat her stomach from the meds.


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## CoffeeKat (Jan 15, 2014)

So happy for you and River! Isn't it strange how what our hedgehogs eat can make or break our whole day? Definitely a First World problem


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