# Hodge acting oddly and not eating kibble



## GIJosie (Feb 24, 2013)

Okay, so I've noticed some odd behavior in Hodge lately. He isn't running a lot on his wheel anymore, he seems a little weak and a little uneasy on his feet when he's wandering in his enclosure, and he's also become extremely picky with his food. I decided to give in and feed him only one type of cat food instead of his mix since he was picking everything else out. Now, I'm just feeding him the Wellness overweight cat formula. I then decided to feed him a little piece of a hard boiled egg, and now he's not eating his kibble! He just keeps sifting through his bowl looking for more egg!

I'm afraid that maybe he's uneasy because he has not been eating a lot due to his stubbornness. Then a part of me thinks of HWS. My fiancé thinks that he doesn't like the new wheel we got him a couple of months ago and that maybe his muscle has turned to fat and he doesn't have the muscle mass to run much.

I've set up an appointment to go to a vet, but I don't know what to do about his food in here go meantime.

Any suggestions?


----------



## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

Okay, gonna throw a lot of questions at you! They're to help me & others get a better idea of what might be going on with your hedgie, so as much as you can answer on each will be helpful.

What temperature is his cage? Does he have a heating set up? What about a lighting schedule? 

How much is he eating? Do you know the actual amounts? If you don't count/weigh/measure his food, you'll want to start now so you can keep track of how much he's eating.

What other foods were you feeding? Were the bags old, by any chance? Or brand new bags?

What kind of wheel do you have for him? Are his nails trimmed short enough? Does he have any light in his room at night, or is it nice and dark for him?

I think there's a lot of other things to rule out before you jump to WHS. The things I'm considering so far (hence the questions) are not warm enough, not enough light, the food is old & stale or possibly the new bags taste different so he doesn't like them, he's not eating enough so he's a bit weaker (in which case you need to start syringe-feeding him ASAP), he doesn't like the new wheel for some reason (knowing the type of wheel can help determine possible causes for that), his nails are too long & it's uncomfortable to run, and his cage is too light at night for him to be as active as normal (perhaps due to a change in lighting outside, if there's a window, or something else).


----------



## GIJosie (Feb 24, 2013)

Lilysmommy said:


> What temperature is his cage? *the house is kept between 73-76 and he's been in the same location for a while*
> 
> Does he have a heating set up? *we live in Florida so I only have a heating set up during the winter*
> 
> ...


It looks like he's eating the crushed food (and I'm giving him egg still in the hopes that it will give him energy) and he does drink his water. He runs in short little bouts on the wheel and comes out during the day more often. He hobbles around a little bit, but I don't know if he's weak. But I don't know what caused it all to begin with.

I hope the answers to the questions help. Thanks!


----------



## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

Alright, I have a new theory, and it's one that's going to require a vet visit. Between the pickiness with kibble, having trouble chewing the new bag, and liking the soft & crushed foods better, I'm wondering if he may have something going on with his teeth. If you can, you could try getting a look at them yourself. But it would be better for him to go in to the vet and have them get a thorough look at his teeth and mouth to see if there's something going on that's causing him trouble when he eats. 

I'd still lean towards his weakness being from not enough food. I would definitely keep crushing the food, and you could also offer some wet food to see if he likes that. If he doesn't eat more, it might also be worth syringe-feeding him and seeing if more food in his stomach helps steady him out. 

Personally, I'd boost his temperature a degree or two as well. If he's not feeling well, it may help him out a little, even if he's not showing hibernation attempt signs. If he seems like he's too warm with a higher temperature, you can turn it back down, but it might be worth trying.

For the wheel, check the tilt of the wheel & see if maybe it's more tilted one way or the other than his previous wheel. You could also try putting his old wheel in & see if he goes back to his usual amount. He may not like the color or the size of the wheel. I had two different cake cover wheels for Lily, and I'm not sure which it was, but she didn't like running on them as much as she did her smaller blue bucket wheel. So the two giant wheels went into storage and she got the smaller one instead.

Good luck with trying to figure out what's going on with your little guy. Definitely get him in to the vet's to see what they can find. I hope it's something simple and he'll be back to normal soon! Keep us updated.


----------



## GIJosie (Feb 24, 2013)

Thank you! I'll post an update in a day or two so that we can see if he's improving or not based off of your suggestions. We have an appointment Thursday, so I think the crushed food and maybe some wet will hold him over until then, since he seems like he wants to eat now that the food is soft or crushed.


----------



## GIJosie (Feb 24, 2013)

Ok, so last Thursday I brought hodge to the vet. He has WHS. 
-The doctor said that his gait was very abnormal as he is walking in his tip toes and slightly wobbly. Worse on his overall left side.
- the X-rays don't show any internal damage or broken bones which could have caused any abnormal walking, thus only verifying whs.
- he is missing a few teeth on the left side of his mouth, which could have contributed towards trouble eating
- he had a lot of gas pockets in his intestines. The vet attributes this to swallowing air while eating, or having an inability to eat because his epiglottis may not be working properly due to whs.

The vet is an exotic vet and has experience with hedgehogs, especially those who have had whs. He prescribed an anti inflammatory for a week to see if that would help. He also gave a digestive aid to help move the gas along and hopefully improve his appetite. He said that he doubts that anything would help him and he suggested putting him down in a week, which I don't know that I'm ready for.

I am giving him his old crushed food, wet cat food, mixed with a hard boiled egg and monitoring his weight. If he gains weight, we're good. If not, we will consider the vet's suggestion. :'(


----------



## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

I'm sorry to hear the news. 

I would definitely give some thought and time before taking the vet's advice. I don't have experience with WHS, but if you search through the forums, there's other information & experience from people who have had hedgehogs with it. From what I've read, it can progress at different speeds, but often as long as a hedgehog is still eating and drinking well, they can be happy and comfortable for weeks or months after the initial diagnosis.

Definitely keep an eye on his eating, and consider continuing to syringe-feed him to supplement it. Keep his cage temperature warm, and you can also move his food & water bowls closer to his bed to encourage him to eat enough.

What kind of bedding do you use? I've read from either Nancy or Kalandra that it's best to use a fabric liner and that it also helps if you can make it a bit bigger than the cage, then you can use a coroplast insert & tuck the liner under it. It makes it fit better and keeps it from wrinkling up and tripping him when he's already having trouble getting around.

Depending on how bad he is right now, leaving the wheel in may be a good or bad thing. You'll have to use your judgement on whether you think his balance & strength is too bad or not quite yet. He may still benefit from having his wheel, but I imagine it could pose a risk if he gets too unsteady & still tries to wheel.

Here's a link that has more information on things like propping them up, making mazes to help support them, etc. - http://www.angelfire.com/wa2/comemeetmyfamily/wobblyhs1.html

Good luck and keep us updated on how Hodge is doing.


----------



## gracefulchaos01 (Mar 19, 2014)

I'm sorry to read this news. My thoughts are with you and Hodge. I hope he ... I hope.. I hope for the best outcome possible, whatever it may be.


----------



## Melanie G. (May 29, 2014)

I am so sorry to hear this. My hedgehog Mason had WHS and it was heartbreaking watching him suffer.
Please PM me if I can help you in anyway.


----------



## GIJosie (Feb 24, 2013)

Thank you all for your support.

He has been refusing to eat these past 2 nights, no matter how many goodies we give him. All he does is lay on the spot that the heating pad is located (not directly on skin since I don't want him burned also). I usually have a smooth fleece liner for him, but he's been burrowing in it so I made an extension to his cage filled with clothes that he loves and sleeps in. Anywhere else is now filled with pee pads and care fresh because he has begun to poo wherever he wants to, namely as he is by his food and water bowls. I keep his wheel in and he may occasionally walk up to it, and then walk away. I'm thinking that it may be out of habit more than anything.

I just weighed him, and although he is the size of my hand, he now weighs 215 grams, which is super skinny for him. Last night he was 222. I informed the breeder that I got him from and she insists that she has a clean line of hedgies and that it shouldn't be whs. She wants a necropsy report before she believes it. I just don't know what else it could be, and if it we're a possibility that it were something else, I'd assume that the vet would have considered it.


----------



## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

Are you syringe-feeding him? He NEEDS to eat, regardless of what's going on with him. If he's not eating on his own, you need to force him. Letting him go without food right now isn't going to help anything that's going on, and I still think it's very possible that his overall weakness is more due to lack of enough food.

To be honest, I wouldn't be too quick to assume the vet hasn't just jumped to WHS. I understand he has experience with it and I'm definitely not the one with the veterinary degree. But I have seen other situations on here where a vet has been very quick to write an illness off as WHS. It's not entirely uncommon, and sometimes if something else is going on, it's curable if it's actually diagnosed and treated.

I'm not sure I have much more advice unfortunately, with no WHS experience. I'm going to message Nancy & Kalandra and see if one of them might have some more experienced advice for you.


----------



## Nancy (Aug 22, 2008)

Loss of appetite is usually not something associated with early stage WHS. 

It is too early to say this is WHS. Any illness can make a hedgehog wobbly on their feet. Unfortunately, many vets jump to the WHS conclusion too quickly when hedgie is wobbly and there isn't any other obvious reason. 

I'd start syringe feeding him multiple times per day and offering him soft foods. If this is WHS, it will progress over the next months. I certainly wouldn't consider euthanizing him at this point. With supportive care, many WHS hogs can lead a comfortable life for many months or a year or more. 

Any breeder is going to require a necropsy to prove WHS because of the fact that so many other things can make a hedgehog wobbly.


----------



## GIJosie (Feb 24, 2013)

Thank you , Nancy,for the advice. I don't know that I would consider this the early stages, but maybe the later? Only because after he had begun to lose weight did we realize that maybe the previous issues were early signs of whs. 4 months back we noticed him falling from his wheel and as much as we adjusted it, we couldn't get it where he wouldn't fall. We bought him a new one and he just used it less and less. We were on top of his nails in case that was the issue too.

Only when he began to lose weight did we notice an eating issue and we gave him what he liked, and then softer and then more treats and now force syringe feeding. He used to have a desire to eat, and now he doesn't. I feel like I'm torturing him by force feeding him, but I'm doing it as much as I can. I even brought him to work with me today to feed him between classes (the students were unaware of him so he wasn't being bothered either).


----------



## GIJosie (Feb 24, 2013)

He passed away last night. My fiancee tried to feed him last night and he said that as he was feeding him, he wasn't swallowing anything and said that he felt like he gave up... 

It's upsetting because we believe that we tried everything, but now we're at a loss for words on what to do or what we could have done better...


----------



## gracefulchaos01 (Mar 19, 2014)

I'm so sorry for your loss.


----------



## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

I'm so sorry.


----------



## CoffeeKat (Jan 15, 2014)

I'm so sorry that you and Hodge are going through this. It sounds as if you have done everything right in a situation that is so very wrong.


----------



## Melanie G. (May 29, 2014)

I'm so sorry for your loss.


----------

