# Hedgehog not eating after move



## ebolamunkee (Jul 2, 2010)

Hi everyone,
I obtained my hedgehog, Ophelia, early July this summer. She's been doing great—very active and seems happy and healthy. However, I just went back to college and since the move she's hardly been eating. It's been three days. She's still drinking, sleeping, and running on her wheel normally, and she's still her old self when I take her out to play. She has just lost most interest in food. I figure this might be due to stress, but naturally I'm still worried.... Advice?


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## Sela (Apr 10, 2010)

You're going to have to start syringe-feeding her. If she continues on like this, FLD (Fatty Liver Disease) will set in. I don't remember what it is that Nancy says you're supposed to syringe feed WITH, though...I'm sure she'll be here to tell you shortly, though.


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## Immortalia (Jan 24, 2009)

Has anything else changed for the move? Did you try a new bag of food? Depending on how long the bag was opened for, it can lose smell/flavour and the picky hedgies will refuse to eat it. 

Hill A/D is the food you should get from the vets to start syringe feeding her.


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## ebolamunkee (Jul 2, 2010)

I've been feeding her the same stuff she got at home and it's in a fairly airtight container. Today I switched out the food in her dish in case she'd just peed in it or something—I remembered that she appeared to have done so in her water and thought the food might have been the same, although it smelled fine to me. So I'll see if she's any more interested tonight.

I don't have a problem syringe-feeding her if I have to, but other than the possibility that the food was spoiled somehow, any ideas on what could be causing this? Also, in the event that I do have to syringe-feed, will this be for an indefinite length of time?


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## Nancy (Aug 22, 2008)

You should be giving her fresh food daily. Often they won't eat if the food has been sitting in the dish too long. 

Since she is in a new place, try putting some of her kibble in bed with her. Make sure you are counting her kibble so you know exactly what she is eating. 

If she doesn't eat tonight she needs to be syringe fed starting tomorrow.


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## ebolamunkee (Jul 2, 2010)

Okay, here's the update. I went out and bought the things I would need to syringe-feed her as well as some sliced turkey to see if I could get her to eat something really tasty. She ate the turkey happily when I offered it by hand. I continued to put a few pieces in her bowl throughout the night—I know it's probably not great to be eating nothing but one kind of food, but I figured she needed the calories. And she still, as I mentioned earlier, drinks, runs a lot on her wheel, and is alert and curious when I take her out to play.

I also scheduled a vet appointment for later this week, but the catch is that it's at a time which I really can't make unless it's an emergency. I'm heading out of town Friday afternoon to return Monday afternoon, and the closest appointment I could get was, bingo, Friday afternoon. Hedgie will be staying with a good friend who has taken care of a lot of different animals.

So I guess my questions now are 1) should I continue feeding her tasty things like plain meat as her main course?, 2) should I still take her to the vet just as a precaution?, and 3) if I do need to take her to the vet, can it wait until I get back?

I have a feeling she may have just decided she no longer likes her regular food. If this is the case, what do I feed her as the main part of her diet?

Sorry for allll the questions..


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## Kalandra (Aug 25, 2008)

My thoughts are this... Not eating kibble suddenly is a symptom of another problem. Have you tried adding kibble in her sleeping area yet? If she will eat other foods but just won't eat the hard crunchy kibble, then I'd be looking at other possible problems other than stress.

Couple of additional thoughts and possibilities.

1. Her food has gone stale or bad. If her kibble smells different to tastes different she may not eat it. If you haven't you may want to try a new bag of food to see if that will get her to eat again. Maybe her old bag got hot in the move and is now not tasty.

2. Her mouth is hurting her. Sometimes they will eat soft foods when their mouths hurt but won't touch kibble. see if you can get a look in her mouth for any obvious signs of dental problems.


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## ebolamunkee (Jul 2, 2010)

Yeah, I got a brief glimpse of her mouth, but unsurprisingly she wasn't very cooperative. I couldn't see anything, but I also couldn't get a good look at all of her teeth. I should note that she has always been a picky eater, and occasionally she'll eat a new food once or twice and then decide she doesn't like it.


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## Nancy (Aug 22, 2008)

It is very difficult to get a good look inside their mouth unless hedgie is very co-operative or they are gassed. Sometimes even with the most co-operative hedgehog a quick visual check can miss something. I've had a couple with oral tumours that my visual at home and a visual at the vets and everything looked normal until the hedgehog was gassed. 

Often as they age the kibble becomes too hard for them to eat and there is nothing wrong with their teeth, their jaws aren't as strong. On occasion it happens with a young hedgehog as well.


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## shaelikestaquitos (Feb 2, 2010)

Hey, just posting to say that 2 days ago I moved to my new apartment, and I've been having a similar problem.

Kashi has not stopped eating, but he has been only eating about half of the food given.

He used to eat around 25-30 kibbles a night, and recently it's dropped to around 12-15 :/

I think the move is stressing him out.

He still runs like a maniac and such, though.

Can heat cause them to not eat as much? Because it has also been very hot over here..


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## shaelikestaquitos (Feb 2, 2010)

Bump.

I'd really like for someone to answer me :/
Third day and he's still eating around 12-15 kibbles


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## Nancy (Aug 22, 2008)

Probably the heat.


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## shaelikestaquitos (Feb 2, 2010)

Nancy said:


> Probably the heat.


Thanks Nancy 
It's been ridiculously hot here D:
It's supposed to cool down starting tomorrow...

I'm wondering when my CHE set up will arrive :/


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