# Quills loss, not mites.



## Rubicant (Jan 28, 2009)

Hi, my Name is Serge and I am new to this forum.

I would first like to congratulates the site creators for your nice website and salutes everyone who are active in this forum and share their precious informations concerning hedgehogs.

Talking about concerns, I'm actually living an issue with my hedgehog. She's around 3 years old and she has major quills loss every day. (she lost 50 yesterday and 10 today). It's getting worst and the regeneration is not as fast as the loss. This problems has been running for 8 months. We've seen 2different vets for this issue and their solutions didn't workout.

The first told us it was mites and that was wrong. There was no visible mites even with microscopes but we decided to do the revolution treatment anyways which was a failure.

We've seen a second vet that said it wasn't mites but they could be mites under skin that weren't visible so we did the invermectin treatment which was a failure as well.

We changed the food several times for more concentrated proteins food, it didn't help. We gave her vitamin E on her skin and that didn't work. We gave her vitamins in her food, we stopped using any kind of soap to wash her house and blankets. We only wash with water now but it's not going any better.

Where I live (Montréal south shore), there isn't many professional ressources for exotic animals, vet are still learning a lot on these and they are helpless regarding many issues.

I would like to know if anyone has experienced this kind of problem and found a solution or maybe is there anyone that could actually have an idea of what the problem is.

Me and my wife noticed that there was sometimes blood at the root of the spine. She also have a lot of white flakes on her body (not every day). It seems that she has some sort of dry skin but we don't know what is the cause.

I have took some pictures, forgive me if the quality is crap, it goes along with my camera.










































Thanks and take care everyone.


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## smhufflepuff (Aug 28, 2008)

She looks a lot like how Satin looks now 

What I've learned are there can be a few different contributors to quill loss - stress due to illness/infection/other sources, mites, bacterial infection, fungal infection, nutritional issues, allergies, and hormonal issues. 

Sounds like you've ruled out mites, allergies, and possibily nutrtional issues (unless, of course, she happens to have developed an allergy to the food you're feeding her). I'd bring her into the vet to check for bacterial or fungal infection. And if those are ruled out, I'd follow the advice I've received from experienced owners and start looking for a hormonal inbalance.


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

I don't have much else to say regarding the quill loss, just what smhufflepuff said. But I want to note that the wheel you have for your hedgehog is not very safe. Her feet or toes could get caught in the little holes, and get seriously injured. Hedgehogs should have a solid plastic wheel to run on, so there's no risk of broken legs or ripped off toes/claws. Flying Saucers and Comfort Wheels are two safe kinds that you can get at a pet supplies store, or you could make a bucket wheel. I think you could find instructions on how to make one online.


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## Rubicant (Jan 28, 2009)

> I'd bring her into the vet to check for bacterial or fungal infection. And if those are ruled out, I'd follow the advice I've received from experienced owners and start looking for a hormonal inbalance.


We wet to the vet today and he prescribed an oral medecine for 24 days for fungal infection. We didn't do a biopsis because it cost 500$ but the vet said there was no danger using the treatment anyways. He also sold me a shampoo that kills the fungus as well, I hope it will solve the problem, thanks a lot for mentionning this possibility.


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## djfiggy (Dec 20, 2008)

I'm curious myself. My hedgie, Oona, is about one year and eight months old. She's had a successful mite treatment before and doesn't go outside, particularly at this cold time of year, and also recently had successful surgery to fix a uterus related problem. She shed about eight quills last night and ought to be at about ten tonight, after a couple of nights of one or two quills and a long period of about zero quills lost.

She's also dealing with dry skin, I can tell, and it's about that time of year. I'm thinking about getting some fatty acids into her diet and putting olive oil into her bath. It is nevertheless quite worrying.


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