# really worried now, help!?



## ashh51191 (Dec 23, 2011)

I was wondering if adding chicken soup for the cat lovers soul could be the cause of extremely smelly, diarrehha with a lot of mucus? I noticed bleeding with her poop not too long after starting the food and she was given meds. Now its worse, I noticed excessive amounts of mucus with her foot bath today all she could poop was yellowy whitish mucus. Just now she had extreme runs along with a horrid smell. She's had gi problems for far too long, she got better for about a month and just got sick again about a week - a week and 1/2 ago. I started csfcls about 2 weeks ago. I'm picking up antibiotics tomorrow and sending out feces for a culture, but it takes a while for results to come back, so I want to know if adding this food could be the cause of extreme gi upset...should I stop this food tonight?


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## shaelikestaquitos (Feb 2, 2010)

I don't think that sounds like it's caused by food, unless she's allergic to something in the food. I'm no expert though... but I think she definitely needs a vet visit :/

Wait for the more experienced members here and they should be able to give you a better idea.


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## Nancy (Aug 22, 2008)

Doubtful. Although any hedgehog could have an adverse reaction to any food, Chicken Soup has never been known for causing an upset stomach. At least not that I've heard. 

It sounds like she is having bacteria or intestinal infections and probably never getting totally rid of it.


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## Hillybean (Jun 10, 2010)

It should not be the cause if she was being switched over slowly. Are you keeping her other foods the same? 

Make sure you keep her fluid intake up. If she is having diarreha, she could be at risk of dehydrating.

Other than fecal tests what other things have been done?


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## ashh51191 (Dec 23, 2011)

Nancy said:


> It sounds like she is having bacteria or intestinal infections and probably never getting totally rid of it.


Is there anything I can do at all or should I expect the worst? She's not even two yet and I can't even explain how much I love her, but I hate seeing her suffer. Are there some other things I can do? Two vets and no answers other than medication which clearly isn't helping....


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## Nancy (Aug 22, 2008)

What medication has she been on and for how long? Perhaps a longer course of treatment is needed, or a different antibiotic.


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## Immortalia (Jan 24, 2009)

There's not much you can do until the fecal cultures come back. Once the results come back, the vet will know exactly what drug would be best to kill off the bacteria that has grown. 
What antibiotics have the vet prescribed so far? At what dose? length of time?


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## hedgieluv (Oct 29, 2011)

Just an idea...if she's been on antibiotics, have you been giving her probiotics of any kind? I know with human patients, I recommend yogurt or other probiotic daily while they are on the antibiotic. Antibiotics kill good bacteria as well as bad. If the good bacteria in the gut are not replaced, the person can't absorb vitamins and minerals ( like vitamin K) from the food they eat. Without probiotics, the person is more susceptible to yeast infection and _Clostridium Difficile_, a spore that's hard to get rid of and causes diarrhea.

I have seen recommendations here to give probiotics, but I'm not sure how similar human and hedgie digestive tracts are. It may be worth a try, and it's not likely to cause problems. Maybe one of the mods can chime in on this? Good luck and hugs to you and your spiky one.


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## ashh51191 (Dec 23, 2011)

I first took her into the vet on after noticing bloody stool the night before. She had a fecal smear and flost the vet found clostridium in her poop. 

Initial er vet appt: 12/22/11 (can't find the paperwork with instructions its in a file someplace I'll find it at somepoint)
Fenbendaozole 1x a day for 5 days, and was repeated in two weeks. 
Metronidozole 1x a day for 3 days. 


On 1/12/12 I noticed Daisy had a growth on her right front 'wrist joint'.
Ciproflaxen was given 1x a day for 15 days .15cc
Metacam was given 1x a day for 5 days .4cc

On 1/18/12 the joint was still swollen I took her back she was given an x-ray appeared to be soft tissue swelling my other hedgehog went in that day as well and had a fecal smear and clostridium was found Daisy was treated for Clostridium again since it's very contagious.
Metronidazole was added in .15cc 1x a day for 10 days 
The swelling didn't go away completely so it was given for another 5 days. It was completely gone after that.

On 2/16/12 I noticed blood in the water right before/after she pooped during a footbath
Carfate/Sucralfate was given .1cc 2x a day for 3 days.

Today during a footbath I noticed her poop was almost all whitish/yellowish mucus I called the vet back I'm picking up more Metronidazole tomorrow, I'm not sure of dosage or length yet Daisy needs to be weighed tomorrow to determine that. Fecal sample will be sent out for a culture tomorrow as well. Tonight I went to put her in her cage and she had diarrea all over the blanket covering her cage and it was extremely foul smelling. She's been eating well, drinking well, and judging by her wheel I cleaned yesterday she ran all night, and she also started tubing right when I put the tp tube in front of her tonight.


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## ashh51191 (Dec 23, 2011)

also I've given her human acidophilus after every antibiotic treatment about 3 days after for about a week. No specific amount just sprinkled some on top of her food.


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## hedgieluv (Oct 29, 2011)

_C. Diff_ is really hard to get rid of. It's a spore that cannot be killed until it "hatches" so it sometimes takes multiple treatments to get rid of. Pulsed treatment may be required. Now, again, this is in human animals. It is possible that the clostridium strain in animals is different than the human clostridium. I hope so. And I hope she gets better SOON. 
( hugs)


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