# My hedgehog has an ear infection?



## cinnicotsucre (Dec 21, 2012)

Hey! So yesterday i noticed that my hedgehog had some dark yellow stinky discharge coming out of his ear. What could have caused this?! I think that maybe water might have gotten into his ear and caused this. Can i use polysporin ear antibiotic drops in his ear? How do i get the water out if it is there? If no body here knows i will take him to the vet but i just wanted to see if anyone else had experience with this. Thanks!


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## HappyHedgies (Feb 17, 2011)

You need to take him to the vet. They will prescribe ammoxicilin for the infection which is taken orally. Do not put anything in his ears, its best if the animal is seen by a vet.


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## cinnicotsucre (Dec 21, 2012)

I called the vet, and she said that I should just put polysporin antibiotic and pain relieving drops since if i brought him in she would just prescribe me antibiotics anyways. she told me to bring him in if the infection isnt even getting a bit better in a week because then it is something other then a bacterial infection. so ya! i have been doing that for three days now, and the redness in his ear has gone down A LOT, and there is hardly any discharge. now i am just disinfecting a cut he has at the base of his ear from scratching at it. he looks like he is going to be all better though! if someone is reading this because their hedgehog has an ear infection and wants to know how to clear it up, what i did is i just put him in a little bit of water so that he wouldn't curl back up while i was cleaning his ears, and i just took a q tip, and cleaned all of the discharge off from around his ear, and i kind of pulled held his ear with my thumb so that i could see the hole, and i just put the q tip VERY lightly on there, and there was a lot of discharge from there. holding his ear the same way i just put the nozzle against the hole and put in a drop. i did this three times a day. when i woke up, then around five, and then again when i went to sleep, so at around 12. anyways that is what i did, and he looking a lot better in just three days! i was worried about what to use on the cut outside of his ear, and the vet told me polysprin is totally safe, but extra strength is harmful to them...so ya!!! if you are reading this because your hedgehog has discharge from his ear, if it is grainy, it is ear mites so i am pretty sure that they have to go to the vet. same with if it doesnt clear up in about a week, it is probably fungus rather then a infection, and you have to go to the vet. i read that fungus can be treated with alvacado oil, but i am not sure about that so i think that im gonna call my vet again on that one. again, if your hedgie has an infection, GOOD LUCK and i hope they get better!!!!!


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## Immortalia (Jan 24, 2009)

Hmm, I have always heard that pain relief kinds of polysporin/neosporin are not good to use for hedgehogs. It has always been stressed that we should only use the "regular strength" and "original".

So I would double check with the pain relief part before you use it, in case it really is toxic.

Edit - ha, nevermind. I just saw "polysporin pain relief" and jumped to replying first before reading through your post.... Just be careful and keep a close watch.


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## Immortalia (Jan 24, 2009)

And I can't edit anymore.

Anyways, avocado could also possibly be toxic.

From Nancy's Toxic list : http://hedgehogcentral.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=33&t=40&p=54&hilit=polysporin+pain+relief#p54


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