# swollen eye, not eating, mystery illness



## Kitsune (Mar 14, 2012)

Wednesday before last, I noticed one of Beezie's eyes was a bit red and bulging. I know that bulging eyes can just be a hedgehog thing, so I didn't think too much of it and just resolved to keep a close watch on it. By Friday it was much worse and his other eye was looking a bit red as well (though not bulging) so I called the vet and booked him an appointment for that Monday morning.

Over the weekend, he was VERY sick. His bulging eye ran (all the discharge was clear) and he was sniffling and sneezing (everything coming out of his nose was clear as well) and EXTREMELY lethargic. He just sort of laid over on me and ate very little.

On Monday he went to the vet, who guessed that he had a conjunctivitis in his eyes and some sort of general infection. He put him on 0.25ml of a sulphate antibiotic twice a day and tobramycin eye drops--one drop, twice a day. He seemed to be getting a little better. He has some energy back (he's wheeled two nights in a row now after not doing that at all), the redness in one eye is gone, and he's MOSTLY, though not entirely, stopped sniffling. But his bulging eye actually looks worse to me, he has what looks like a red, swollen place on his lower jaw, and he's still not eating or pooping properly. He's lost 20g in the space of five days.

He has another vet appointment on Friday, but that's a long way away. I've been doing lots of research and haven't come up with anything. If anyone has any clues or just general advice on what to do for him, that would be awesome.

Also, I'm not sure if I should keep giving him his eye drops. It's been a week and his bad eye doesn't look any better. Giving him the drops really stresses him out, so I don't want to do it if I don't have to. On the other hand, I don't want to stop doing something that would help him. I'm attaching a picture of the eye in case some one's seen this before or has any idea what it is past what the vet said.


----------



## abbys (Oct 13, 2012)

He needs to go back to the vet ASAP. Is there any chance you can get him in before your Friday appointment? His eye looks like it will have to be removed.He may end up scratching it out at this point if it bothers him, and if it's an infection there's a chance it could spread.

Does it sound like he's wheezing when he breathes? He might also have a URI and if that's the case you really need to get him in before Friday.

The swelling in his jaw could be a tooth abscess or other infection that makes it painful for him to eat. He needs to get that checked out, too. Since hedgehogs can go downhill very quickly if they don't eat, you should try syringe feeding him. And make sure he's getting enough water. Does your vet have experience with hedgehogs?

Poor little guy. I hope he gets better. Good luck, and keep us posted!


----------



## Kitsune (Mar 14, 2012)

Does the eye still look infected?! Oh no! I thought the infection was cleared up since it's not nearly as red anymore and his other eye is completely fine now. Do you think the drops and antibiotic will prevent an infection from spreading? So that would mean to keep up the drops, right? He went back for a check up appointment two days ago, and the vet didn't say anything about the eye needing to be removed. Beezie's not blinking it rapidly or pawing at it or rubbing it on anything.

I don't think he's wheezing. It sounds more like when you have a stuffy nose than wheezing. He's not having to breathe through his mouth or anything. Does that qualify for hedgehog wheezing? He's never really been sick before (he's about three and a half years old) so this is all new territory for me.

He had a tooth abscess once before and this bump on his jaw doesn't look the same. It's more on the outside of his lower lip. Though even when he had the tooth abscess and through recovery, he still ate. I'm still worried about this bump though. I'll try to get a picture of it, but I don't want to stress him out.

He's drinking a lot of water and urinating regularly. His stool is very green and loose (when he does poop, which isn't very much since he's not eating properly) and the vet said it has some mucus in it, but he also said it was the antibiotic was causing that.

He's turned up meal worms and is spitting out what I try to syringe feed him.

I'm going to pick him up some benebac to see if that helps anything, but my local pet store doesn't carry it. They have GNC probiotics and 21st Century. I'm looking them up now to see if they're the same ingredients/safe for hedgehogs.

His vet has very, very limited experience with hedgehogs. I think Beezie is only the second or third he's ever seen, though he did take care of his tooth abscess and remove the offending teeth. Some one was monitoring him the entire time in recovery and the surgery and anesthesia went so well that I really trust him, but I'm considering calling around to see if I can get a second opinion on this eye/eating/sniffling issue.


----------



## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

I can't speak from experience, as I've never had the issue before, but...to be honest, it sounds to me like he has a tumor growing in his head. Eye bulging, plus breathing difficulty, and now a lump on his jaw...None of this sounds good to me, from what I've read on the forum in the last few years. At the very least, I feel like there should be more concern on the part of the vet with an eye bulging that much. I would look around for a second opinion if you can, and get him back into a vet earlier this week if at all possible. I'm going to PM a couple other members with more experience with tumors & see if they can come weigh in with their thoughts.


----------



## Kitsune (Mar 14, 2012)

Thank you so much!

I'm going to call around tomorrow and see if I can get him in somewhere before Friday. He's going to have to be gassed for the x-ray to check for a tumor, right? Bringing him to a new vet to get gassed makes me really nervous...


----------



## Nancy (Aug 22, 2008)

I would try and get him to the vet before Friday. A red bulgy eye is never a good thing. The protrusion in the corner could be either conjunctivitis, or it could be a tumour. With all his other symptoms, I can't help but wonder if he has more than one thing going on. I would continue with the drops until he is seen again.

Usually an oral tumour has to get quite bad before they quit eating because of it so possibly, hopefully, the lump on his jaw is just an infection. 

I have had a couple of girls with tumours behind their eye that had swelling just like in your picture. One was protruding out from under her upper eyelid and the other was in the corner. The one in the corner once gassed we found she also had an tumour on the roof of her mouth which wasn't visible until she was gassed even though she was very co-operative about us looking in her mouth.

Hopefully you will get some answers soon and that it will be nothing serious.


----------



## Kitsune (Mar 14, 2012)

Thank you so much...

I'm going to see if I can work him in at a different vet (he's seen this one before, the man is very knowledgeable but also very rude so I haven't brought him back), tomorrow morning. I don't think the bump on his lower lip is a tumor, and it's not swollen badly, but it's certainly one more thing to consider on the long list of worries I have. I'll post an update after his visit.

His normal vet said the protrusion on the corner of his eye was a gland that was swollen from the irritation and part of the eyelid, but I'm not sure how much stock to put in that now.


----------



## Nancy (Aug 22, 2008)

Kitsune said:


> Thank you so much...
> His normal vet said the protrusion on the corner of his eye was a gland that was swollen from the irritation and part of the eyelid, but I'm not sure how much stock to put in that now.


It could be irritation. My vet knew immediately that both my girls protrusions were tumours rather than irritation. Peanut was the one with it in the corner and the morning I discovered it, she also had a scratch on her snout so I thought she'd dug herself. That's exactly what it looked like. After a couple of days the scratch had gone away but the spot in the corner of her eye had gotten redder.

Ugh, I dislike vets that are rude. There's no reason for it. Vets should be willing to listen to the owners and work with the owners using their knowledge combined with what the owner is telling about the animals symptoms and behaviour.


----------



## Kitsune (Mar 14, 2012)

So!

I got Beezie to the vet this morning before the doors opened and it turns out he has a bone infection.

Apparently, his top molars on the right side (the one with the bulging eye) had abscessed and the infection had gotten so bad that it actually _infected his cheekbone_. Which is genuinely terrifying. The inflammation from the infection was actually what was pushing his eye out. He had two surgeries, one to remove the teeth and lance the tissue around the infection to get the inflammation down, another to remove the cysts that formed where his eye was bulging out.

He's on two antibiotics. One's a really strong 14 day dose, the other is a long term maintenance antibiotic because apparently _infections in bones_ take a really long time to get rid of.

He also has to be syringe fed for the time being which is really upsetting for both him and me. With all the medications I'm going to be poking syringes in his face a lot which stresses him out and in turn stresses me out.

The vet said he's probably had the abscesses for about two weeks, and if it had been caught sooner his cheekbone wouldn't have gotten infected so he would have just had to have the teeth pulled and not deal with all these other issues. I'm really, really upset about that because I took him to his regular vet back on the 10th and was adamant that something serious was wrong and it never got treated despite my persistence....

But I wanted to say thank you for the comments here! Without y'all's encouragement, I might not have taken him to the other clinic tody and he'd be in much worse shape right now.

At least now he's on the road to recovery! And running in his wheel despite everything. I don't know how the little guy does it.


----------



## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

Oh wow, the poor guy...still though, even as bad as bone infections sound, it does sound preferable to tumors. I'm glad that he's cleaned up and got his medicine, and hopefully he starts feeling better very soon.

For syringe-feeding, he may get better at accepting it with time. You could try putting tasty things on the tip of the syringe, or when you're giving medicines, make sure you suck up something he likes (chicken baby food is a good one for lots of hedgehogs, or a fruit baby food that's sweet) after you measure out the medicine and shake the syringe lightly to mix it together. That can disguise the taste of the meds (especially if they're not already flavored) and make those easier for him to take. Also experiment with positions, sometimes that can make them more comfortable with accepting the syringe. If he gets really frantic, give him a break and try again in a little bit, so he doesn't get too stressed out by it. Good luck...I still remember how upsetting syringe-feeding can be for everyone involved!


----------



## abbys (Oct 13, 2012)

WOW!! Poor Beezie!!  I'm so glad you got to the other clinic though! As much as he resists the antibiotics, stick to it. My mom had a bone infection and she not only had surgery to scrape it out, she was also on a hardcore twice-daily (1 hour per session) antibiotic IV drip for a MONTH. And then more follow-up meds after that. Not exactly the same as a hedgehog, but a bone infection is still serious stuff.

I hope the little guy understands that you're helping him and he cooperates! Good luck with everything! Give him hugs for us.


----------



## Kitsune (Mar 14, 2012)

Lilysmommy - Thank you so much for the syringe feeding tips. I'm still reading up and figuring out how he'll best take it, but the baby food definitely helped. I was able to get a whole milliliter in him in one sitting.



abbys said:


> My mom had a bone infection and she not only had surgery to scrape it out, she was also on a hardcore twice-daily (1 hour per session) antibiotic IV drip for a MONTH. And then more follow-up meds after that. Not exactly the same as a hedgehog, but a bone infection is still serious stuff.
> 
> I hope the little guy understands that you're helping him and he cooperates! Good luck with everything! Give him hugs for us.


Yeah, it's serious. I'm still way worried about him and giving him tons of hugs!

It's actually surprisingly similar. One of his antibiotics is for a month and he'll be on more follow up meds. We've got three more vet appointments booked too.

But! Like you all have said, it's better than tumors. He'll be ok.


----------



## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

Glad it helped! Another thing that can make a difference is temperature, slightly warm versus room temp or cold. What are you syringe-feeding him for food? Did the vet give you anything special? I know two foods commonly given for syringe-feeding sick animals is Carnivore Care, which is liquid, and Hills A/D, which is a canned cat/dog food, but softer and easier to syringe than most. I used the Hills A/D with Lily. She wasn't a huge fan at first, but liked it later, I think. I think I did still mix with baby foods though, if I remember correctly.


----------



## Nancy (Aug 22, 2008)

I'm disgusted to hear that your original vet missed this and your poor boy ended up getting so sick because of it. Sending well wishes for a speedy recovery.

Syringe feeding will get easier as you both figure out what works best and get in tune with each other. Try different sizes and types of syringes to see what works best for you. Many people like the curved tip ones which I absolutely hated. lol A one ml or even 3 ml syringe is often the easiest to start with as it's smaller size is not quite as threatening to them as a 10 ml. I have found switching to the larger syringe after they start to catch on works better with many hedgehogs. Sometimes they get a momentum going with the 1ml but when it's empty and you have to refill they loose that momentum. 

I'm syringe feeding a sick boy right now that came to me last Friday. We have got our routine now and he does best with a 3ml syringe. The 1ml empties too quick but the 10 ml he doesn't like. He came with a liquid called Clini Care which I have never used before and he loves it. I always use Hills A/D and most of them love it. I've also used Feline Rebound which is available from the vet. I've used Carnivore Care but never found anyone who liked it and it was always a struggle to get them to eat it. Some hedgehogs love it.


----------



## Kitsune (Mar 14, 2012)

Lilysmommy said:


> Glad it helped! Another thing that can make a difference is temperature, slightly warm versus room temp or cold. What are you syringe-feeding him for food? Did the vet give you anything special?


Good thing I've been warming everything up  The vet gave me a powder called Emaraid Omni. She said it had everything he needed for right now in it, including probiotics so I could skip the bene-bac for a while. He's taking it pretty well now that I think we've found a position that he's comfortable eating in.



Nancy said:


> I'm disgusted to hear that your original vet missed this and your poor boy ended up getting so sick because of it. Sending well wishes for a speedy recovery.
> 
> Syringe feeding will get easier as you both figure out what works best and get in tune with each other. Try different sizes and types of syringes to see what works best for you. Many people like the curved tip ones which I absolutely hated. lol A one ml or even 3 ml syringe is often the easiest to start with as it's smaller size is not quite as threatening to them as a 10 ml. I have found switching to the larger syringe after they start to catch on works better with many hedgehogs. Sometimes they get a momentum going with the 1ml but when it's empty and you have to refill they loose that momentum.
> 
> I'm syringe feeding a sick boy right now that came to me last Friday.


The vet gave me a pack of ten 1ml syringes since he's on so many meds at the moment plus feeding. He's doing ok with them for right now, but I'm probably going to step up to 3ml since that's what he's supposed to be getting in one go. Though he's still really sick and hasn't been eating well for a while now so it's hard to get more than 1ml in him at one time. I usually let him eat until he starts struggling, then let him rest for about 20 minutes and have another go at it. That seems to be working out.

Hopefully, he won't have to stay on the syringe for too too long.

I hope your boy gets better soon! When I get my own place and a settled job and everything (I'm in university now), I really want to take in rescues. It's going to be a while before I'm financially able though so I just admire the people that can do it from afar.


----------

