# Excessive bleeding from ureatha and Yellowish skin



## Griffi (Aug 7, 2010)

Hello I'm new here.
I've acquired a hedgehog through a friend who works out of town and can no longer care for it. Her name is Sita. She has been bleeding on and off since November and the doctors first thought she was scratching herself. When I witness large amounts in her urine i took her back to the vet and they treated it with antibiotics for a bladder infection. This has been reoccuring. the vet then put her on bladder tincture (a herbal treatment) twice a day and Vit A. This seemed to control the bleeding for a month or so at a time and when Sita started bleeding again I would put her back on the antibiotics and she would stop bleeding within 2 days. The vet also mentioned Cancer as a possibility and spaying as an option to fix this.

However now she has been bleeding with everypee and sometimes without since Monday and she is turning yellow. The antibiotics have not helped this time. The blood is also chunkier now and she's been losing weight steadily since March. Her vet is out of town till wednesday and i took her into a different one yesterday . He put her on a new type of antibiotics, told me it might be a liver problem and now I have to wait until Tuesday to get blood work done. He gave her a little fluid under the skin and I have been feeding her mealworms in the hopes to give her extra protein to make up for the loss of blood.

It would be great if someone could mention if they have dealt with similar problems, but more importantly DOES ANYONE KNOW WHAT I CAN DO TO HELP SITA WITH THE BLOOD LOSS UNTIL TUESDAY? She is still eating kitten food(she refuses to eat anything else except live insects) and drinking water. Other than the mealworms i have no ideas. please advise.

Thank you Kindly


----------



## krbshappy71 (Jul 17, 2009)

I'm sorry you are going through this. I'm not experienced enough to give advice. The yellow color made me think of jaundice and I'm wondering if she is taking in enough water. Does she use a waterbottle or a dish? Can you tell if she has been drinking normal amounts? How old is she? 

Hugs and I'm hoping someone more experienced comes along soon to help you out.


----------



## HedgeMom (Nov 7, 2008)

Have your vet do a fine needle aspiration of the bladder. Most likely it's not the bladder but rather it's vaginal bleeding. She most likely needs to be spayed. 

There is nothing that can be done to support her while she's bleeding other than keep her hydrated and well fed. 

I'd work really hard on finding a vet who can see her on Monday. This is a very serious issue and I can't believe that a vet would treat this for 9 months and not be aware that it's not a bladder infection.


----------



## Nancy (Aug 22, 2008)

Ditto what Hedgemom said. It is most likely a uterine tumour and I too cannot believe a vet would treat as a bladder infection for that long without finding out for certain. Poor little girl. 

Although it sound like it is probably a uterine tumour, it also could be urinary crystals or stones. In this case, what happens is the crystals or stone irritate the lining of the urinary tract and bladder which causes an infection. Once on antibiotic the infection is taken care of but it doesn't cure the underlying problem which is the crystals or stones. Our Kenya had stones and she would suddenly start to bleed massive amounts and a couple days on antibiotic and no more blood. This went on a few times until the vet put her on Medical Dissolution formula. This will help to dissolve crystals and stones but is only supposed to be used short term. With Kenya, as soon as we took her off the food, she would start to bleed again. We finally discovered that 4-5 MD kibble per night was all she needed. 

From what you have said, what is worrisome is the fact that not only is she bleeding but she is also loosing weight and having other problems. My concern would be that she has a tumour that has spread. Blood loss weakens them and makes it that they are not as good a candidate for surgery. Given that she has been loosing blood for a while, plus her other symptoms, I personally would hesitate to do surgery even if it is discovered that she has a uterine tumour. Surgery would probably be very hard on her and it's doubtful it would give her enough time to make it worth putting her through it. How old is she? 

Sporadic bleeding that is initially cured with antibiotic can be a uterine tumour just as easily as bladder related. Often a uterine infection is a precursor to uterine cancer so for a vet to put a hedgehog on antibiotics assuming it's a bladder infection is irresponsible. Uterine infections cause blood too. Alot of time gets wasted when a spay could have been done early on usually with life saving results. 

Why a fine needle aspiration of the bladder is so important is that without it, it is impossible to tell if the blood is from the bladder or the uterus. What happens is when the hedgehog squeezes her muscles to pee, it also squeezes out any blood that is collecting in the uterus. There is no way to tell where the blood is coming from because it mixes with the urine. 

Usually when a urinary tract infection is diagnosed, they are also put on a urinary health food which changes the PH of the bladder and helps prevent future urinary issues. 

Please keep us posted.


----------



## Griffi (Aug 7, 2010)

Hello thank you for all your responses. We got her in to do blood work on Tuesday and all of her system levels were fine (they suspected jaundice as well) except that her redblood cell count was down to 15 (it should be at 30) the vet sent her home because she hadn't bled the whole day while she was there but said if she started again she would crash. 

Early next morning she started bleeding again and she wasn't using her back legs. I gave her some water and cat food through a syringe and rushed her to the vet when she was available. They put her in critical care and started giving her steroids and force feeding her a insectivore diet (she was only eating kitten chow previous), after the first day things weren't looking good but then on the second day she was getting her own fiesty personality back. I've been visiting her at the vet twice a day and have started taking her for walks on the grass. 

The vet is giving me a full diagnosis tomorrow. Right now she is still not using her back legs (they had to bandage them because she was biting them and the technician was saying they think she was something called the wobbles that is a common nervous system problem in horses and hedgehogs where they lose the feeling and use of their back legs and it slowly works it way up. But he said that as long as the animal can keep eating by itself it can live with the condition. Has anyone heard of this before? I'm going to research it more tonight. I'm still super worried about what the vet recommends tomorrow. 

Luckily the hedgie's papa comes back on Monday so he can help make any decisions that need to be made. And can give her some hugs.

She is two and a half. She was never spayed because she was always a solitary pig. I hope Kenya is doing ok now. I will ask about the aspiration of the bladder as I still have no idea what caused the initial bleeding and weather her back legs not working are due to this condition or to her loss of blood.

Thank you again for all your help and support. It means a lot.


----------



## DeniseLynette (Aug 12, 2010)

Wobbles as in WHS? (Wobbly Hedgehog Syndrome)
Im sorry that all of this has happened, but it seems to be looking up!
Keep strong for your little fighter


----------



## Puffers315 (Apr 19, 2010)

From the sounds of what the vet was saying, then yes, they're speaking on the disease known as Wobbly Hedgehog Syndrome (WHS), and its well known to the hedgehog crowd. Sounds like the vet is very up to date on hedgehogs which is a very good thing.

As the vet said, its a nervous system disorder that typically starts with their rear legs becoming paralized and will indeed slowly move through their body until they become completely paralized. They can live with the condition but everyone knows there comes a point when the poor creature shouldn't suffer so much. There is many things you can do to keep them happy until that day comes. If you search YouTube for Wobbly Hedgehog Syndrom, you'll find videos of people's hedgehogs who have had it.


----------



## Nancy (Aug 22, 2008)

WHS does not come on that quickly, nor does it cause bleeding. WHS starts as a bit of a wobbly walk, sort of like they are drunk or their legs are stiff. It progresses to random tipping over. At first, when they tip over they can get up quickly but as it progresses, getting back to their feet becomes more and more difficult.






I am saddened that the vet has brought WHS into this as so many things need to be ruled out before being worried about WHS. With all the bleeding she has been doing, it's no wonder her red blood cell count is low and that can definitely make her wobbly.

Anything that makes them weak or ill or cool also can make them wobbly and weak in the legs. Right now the concern is what is making her bleed because very likely that is the reason for her wobbliness.


----------



## michenrod (Dec 7, 2013)

Hi, my hedgehog have something similar. She started bleeding on Wednesday and I took her to the vet on Thursday cause he was out of town. He said that she have a urinary infection, possibly stones on her bladder and gave her an antibiotic. She's been taking it for 3 days and she's still bleeding  The doctor said that it was because I was giving her cat food instead of hedgehog food. I feel so awful! But I dont know if its normal that she's still bleeding or if its something else. How is your hedgehog doing?


----------



## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

Try to look at dates, this thread is from 2010 and the original poster only posted a couple times. I doubt they're around anymore.


----------

