# im scared



## Betsyc (Jan 22, 2010)

I got my first hedgehog, Cedric, two weeks ago. He was the happiest,friendliest little fellow until I noticed a scab on his belly. At first I thought it was some poop stuck in his fur. Now he has more, they look like pustules. He started being grouchy. I took him to the vet. The vet discovered quill loss and a cloudy and opaque right eye. I didnt have the money for all the tests, so were treating him for a bacteria infection, mites, and maybe an ulcer in his eye. Im so scared. Ive been feeding him pretty pets (got it from the pet store) now mixed with a kitty food the vet gave me. hes on carefresh purple bedding. i clean his cage twice a week. I dont know what I did wrong. Does this happen normally? Is he going to die? Ive been trying not to touch him accept to administer medicine. Im afraid hes going to hate me soon.


----------



## hedgielover (Oct 30, 2008)

It would be a good idea to change to liners as soon as you can. white pillow cases, sheets or old baby receiving blankets are all good temporary options. Carefresh is very dusty, especially the coloured stuff. Liners will ensure that his skin is not getting irritated from the dust and any dropped quills or bodily fluids will be more visible. 

I don't know much about medical conditions but I hope that he's ok. Other may be able to give you more info if they have more info from you. 

How old is your hedgehog? 
What does he eat? How much?
What temperature is he kept at? 
How many quills is he loosing a day? 
Does he have a wheel and what kind? 
Any thing in the cage that could cause a scab?


----------



## Betsyc (Jan 22, 2010)

hes 3 months old, he eats regularly, i just had him on pretty pets hedgehog food, but after he got sick ive been giving him some cat food the vet gave me in a ziploc, so i dont know the name of it, and 2-3 small mealworms a day. There arent a lot of quills lying in his bed or anything, but when i took him to the vet he lost maybe 8 or 10. When I was taking him out he didnt lose any, and after the vet ive only noticed 2 or 3. He has a 12 in comfort wheel i just got, but i havent seen him on it. The only things in his cage are cardboard and foam wheels and plastic bowls. nothing that could scratch him. Our apartment is about 70 degrees, i got him the smallest zoomed reptile heater, it sticks on the side of the plastic bottom of his cage, the top 2/3rds of his cage is wire, i caught him climbing on it once, but he didnt get very far. But the wheel and the heater came after he got sick


----------



## ILOVElily (Dec 5, 2009)

Well its good you are switching to cat food because pretty pets is very low quality its like feeding him junk food.
also like hedgie lover said u should really change to fleece white liners to spot any blood maybe from the scab or some other changeas in urine for example.
I'v heard of some hedgies that get mites and itch everywhere including there eyes.
is he itching cause as you described it sounds like he has mights but at that age he could aswell be quilling which does make them grouchy.
what cat food are you switching to? as I said before it is important that you do the switch. most hedgie foods are not good for them and are meant for there big european relatives.
Good luck i hope your baby gets better soon.
Oh p.s I doubt he is gonna die...he'll be okay


----------



## Bengall77 (Aug 1, 2009)

Is there any way that you could post photos of the pustules on his belly?

Putting him on white or light colored cloth liners (no terry cloth towels) can help you see how he is doing. It will let you keep a closer eye on poops, pees, and quill loss. Even just a pillowcase or an old bed sheet (the flat one) would be good.

I think it's possible that the dust from the carefresh could be irritating his eye and making it cloudy. Is it a cloudy discharge or is his whole eye opaque?

I'm so sorry that your hedgie is sick. The best thing right now is to follow the vet's advice and keep an eye on him. Make sure that he is warm and eating and pooping.


----------



## LarryT (May 12, 2009)

The vet gave you a ziplock bag of food with no name? How were the mites treated? Was it as shot? You should be spot cleaning his cage and washing his wheel daily, not twice weekly. What kind of house is he in? You need to see what the temp in his house is right away. 70 is too low. I'm sorry to ask so many questions but it's hard to help without knowing the situation.


----------



## Garrick (Nov 4, 2009)

LarryT said:


> How were the mites treated? Was it as shot?


this is very important and we need to know.


----------



## Nancy (Aug 22, 2008)

Switch him to liners and clean them daily until he is better. Liners can be any hedgehog safe fabric. Go to a fabric store and buy some polar fleece and cut to fit. Fleece does not need to be hemmed. My personal favourite for sick hedgie liners are flannel baby receiving blankets. The light colours show up any off coloured urine or feces better than fleece.

The sores are more than likely a staph infection. Staph usually appears on their under body, legs, chin and around the quill line. The start as a pin prick sized red spot and enlarge. Then they get itchy. The little guy pictured has a staph infection.


















Staph infections clear up quickly with antirobe and it isn't too harsh on their tummies.

Did the vet actually find mites on him? What was he treated with? As a baby, he may just be quilling and the bacterial infection could be what's making him itchy and that may be what happened his eye. Did you notice his eye prior to the vet visit? He also may have gotten a quill poke from a sibling.

You have done nothing wrong. Mites can come from bedding or he may have come with them. The bacterial infection can just happen as well and with babies are usually caused by a slower maturing immune system or stress.

Continue to handle and socialize him. He will not be friendly if you don't handle him. He won't hold the meds against you as long as you hold him other times as well. Sit with him and let him sleep on you or explore or do whatever he wants.


----------



## Betsyc (Jan 22, 2010)

The vet gave him an injection for the mites, But i haven't seen him itching at all and she didn't do a scraping or anything. She said his sores were not typical for mites, but that it could still be from them. The quills that he is losing look really small to me,like baby quills. i thought he was quilling but the vet said he would have lost a lot more if that was it. I do spot cleaning, but he hasn't been using his wheel. His eye wasn't cloudy the week before when i took him to the vet for the first time, so it must have onset pretty rapidly. His house is a cardboard box, i've switched it out 3-4 times because hes been pooping in it. He has a heater but i have not taken the temperature inside his house. I never turn my fan on and its warm in my room.

Today i tried to take pictures of his belly but its almost gone! His eye still looks cloudy to me, and he huffs at me and he never used to. But i was thinking it could have as much to do with the vet sticking his sores with needles and taking his temperature (down south) as with him not feeling good. Is 98 degrees normal for a hedgehog temperature?

The vet gave me Vetropolycin for his eye and Clavomox drops to give him orally. Hes let me do it twice a day, but he isnt happy about it. Hes actually more active now, and he has definitely gained weight since i got him


----------



## Betsyc (Jan 22, 2010)

oh and he doesnt look like that poor staph infected hedgie. His sores are concentrated almost on top of each other on one spot on his abdomen. and he doesnt seem to scratch it. the vet said they had pus in them,but they looked like bug bites. I changed his liner to a white tshirt.

and he freaks out when i touch near his head, and he didnt used to. But I dont see any sores or anything unusual there/ maybe its because ive been putting ointment on his eye


----------



## hedgielover (Oct 30, 2008)

All the quill loss at the vet was probably due to stress. When I took Quigley to the vet when he was sick he lost like 6-10 quills in half and hour and then when we got home he stopped losing them so quickly. A few quills lost per day is normal Quigley loses 3 or 4 everyday some hedgehogs only lose 1 or 2. 

I don't know if it is standard procedure to treat mites with an injection. Is there a way you can find out what the injection was? 

It's super scary when a hedgehog gets sick and you can drive yourself crazy wondering if you're doing everything right. The best thing to do right now is keep giving him the meds and keep holding him. Also keep him warm like everyone said, it's good you have a heater now. Do you have a thermometer to check the temperature in his cage. it should be about 75 F but for while he's sick he might like it a bit warmer.


----------



## Betsyc (Jan 22, 2010)




----------



## hedgielover (Oct 30, 2008)

How does he get his food out of that bowl? It's a great cage otherwise, I would have never thought of a frozen juice can as a toy. Is it big enough for him get through or would he get stuck?


----------



## Betsyc (Jan 22, 2010)

the bowl was more convenient when it was in the carefresh bedding, but he tips it over fine when hes eating. He fits through the orange juice tube fine, but hes just a baby it'll probably be too small soon.

Ive been keeping his water in a dish because he attacked the metal on his bottle and i was worried about his teeth!


----------

