# HELP! Vomiting, no syringe, not taking solid food or water.



## crunchmouth (Nov 23, 2011)

Hi all! I recently got a new baby, Olive, she's two months and a few days old. I've been meaning to post to introduce her to you guys, but her and Opal's shenanigans keep me rather distracted.

Regarding the actual topic, I'm kind of concerned. Olive threw up twice today. The first time it was kind of white-ish, and there were no contents other than a couple of white specs, which honestly looked similar to calcium buildup that you could scrape off of a showerhead or that calculus stuff that can buildup on your teeth. I was surprised at the throw up, but after reading a few topics and having had dogs with sensitive stomachs that would throw up the EXACT same looking throw up, I wrote it off as her being a sensitive baby and kept an eye on her and let her sleep after offering food and water.

The second time which was about three hours later, the contents were kind of a (for lack of a better word)doodoo green and the same texture as her vomit was when she got carsick on the way home from the breeder, which was comprised of her food. What I'm thinking happened is either she and her food are not agreeing anymore for some reason and her stomach being so upset that she threw up bile along with her stomach contents, or she ate her poop for some even odder reason, which introduced a bacteria that her body is not familiar with. 

Other than the throwing up, she's perfectly active and she's still a cuddly little explorer. What happened both times when she threw up, she was sleeping like a little angel in her blanket, then I'd hear her stir a little (both of my hedgies do this, they'll wake up and stir to get more comfortable and fall back asleep, so I didn't pay it any mind), then I'd hear a gag, a weird liquidy noise, and then she'd huff a little bit at me when I went to check on her because of the weird noises coming from her. and lo and behold she's just vomited.

I was already planning on taking Opal to the vet because she's nearly a year old, and I was also thinking of taking olive too because her poops didn't seem to be of the right consistency, but I was thinking it was just the food she was on from the breeder because I used to have Opal on the same food and it made her poops the same, so I'm working on switching the foods and I FINALLY got the sweet potato baby food to loosen them up a bit. I WILL be taking Olive to the vet now because of this, in a few hours is when they open.

The other concern I have is that she absolutely refuses to eat her food and drink water. She took the baby food, which I had to water down some because she wouldn't take the water and I was scared it would go down the wrong pipe, and I figured some was better than none. I do have wet cat food on hand to make her eat(which I will attempt to be doing here in a little bit, but I'm a little wary as while she may have an empty belly, she might just throw up again if she eats something heavy like cat food), but the only problem I am having is that I do not have a syringe. I was in the middle of putting together a first aid kit, so I didn't have all the items all together yet, and the syringe is proving the hardest to find. What can I do? Can I jerry rig a syringe? I tried with a straw but the opening was just too big, and she wont lick the water out of a spoon or out of my hand or off of my fingers or anything :C. She isn't dehydrated (yet) so I'm not having a freak out of the century just yet on her water intake, but I don't want it to get extreme before I can get to the vet, which again, will be in a few hours.

I'm going to try to offer food to her again in about thirty minutes and see if she takes it on her own, and if she doesn't I'm going to raid my family's medical supplies. I know we have a syringe with a hypodermic needle SOMEWHERE, I could just use a pair of wire cutters to cut in the middle of the plastic chamber that leads to the needle to make a needleless syringe. But I'm just asking if I can't manage to do that, what other options do I have?


----------



## crunchmouth (Nov 23, 2011)

Forgot to post a tl;dr:

She's vomited twice, doesn't want to eat solid food or drink water on her own. I made her eat watered down sweet potato baby food to get something fluid in her, doesn't seem dehydrated. Is there anyway I can macgyver a syringe for her if I can't find one for her in the house? she's going to the vet in a few hours. Other than the vomiting and refusal to eat, she's acting normal. The refusal to eat is pretty normal for her too, because she's a little shy about that, but she'll usually have at least a kibble or two and a couple laps of water instead of outright refusing.


----------



## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

I'm glad you're taking them both in to the vet - the first things that pop into my mind from throwing up are maybe food allergies or just being sick (no clue what kind of illness this would be...health issues aren't my strong point, and I haven't seen a ton of threads about throwing up that aren't related to kibble being stuck, etc.). I do know that green vomit is because their bile is green, I've seen Nancy say that. Hopefully the vet can see what's wrong with her. I'm glad you're taking Opal as well, just in case it's contagious. 

I would think that the poops would most likely be from changing foods, but it could be related to the throwing up. If she's going to the vet in a few hours, I wouldn't worry about trying to get more food into her right at this instant. See what the vet says, what's going on with her. If she needs medicine, you'll get some syringes for that. Either way, you should be able to ask the vet for extra syringes for syringe-feeding. Either the 1ml or 3ml syringes would be best - I found that the 1ml syringes worked much better for me and Lily when she was sick. I could control how quickly the food came out much better so I didn't drown her in food or cause her to aspirate any. If she ends up being sick, ask the vet about getting some Hills A/D. It's a canned cat food made for syringing to sick animals, very soft and tasty. That might entice her to eat. Baby food is a good option too, especially if the vet thinks it may be a food allergy and you want to limit what foods she's getting.

I'm sure you'll get some more answers and opinions from some of the more health-knowledgeable people as the day goes on. I hope the vet visit goes well and you guys find out what's going on! Please keep us updated.


----------



## Nancy (Aug 22, 2008)

Syringes are not that difficult to find. Look at Walmart and ask in the Pharmacy. Tell them what it is for and ask if their 1ml syringes have removable needles. Some do, some don't but I've found Walmarts consistently have the right ones. They should help you find what you need. If they don't have needles with removable tips, ask about a toddler syringe. These are 10ml syringes that have an off set tip for giving meds to young children. They have the same tip as the 1ml syringes. You can ask at any pharmacy but I've had the best luck at Walmart. Also, they sell pet syringe feeding syringes that give a couple of tip options. Any petstore also sells pet syringes.


----------



## hedgielover (Oct 30, 2008)

I had the same problem with finding Syringes, All the Wal-marts in Toronto are sort of out of the way so I never checked there but the people at the other pharmacies I tried at looked at me like I was nuts when I tried to explain what I needed a syringe for and their 1mL syringes didn't have removable needles. I personally didn't like the 10mL toddler syringe I thought it was too big and the tip wasn't long enough to get in his mouth the same way. In high school I once used an eye dropper to feed my hedgehog. The bottom line for me was that I had to get all of the syringes from the vet. After using it over and over the measurement label wore off the side but that doesn't matter if it's just for food.


----------



## crunchmouth (Nov 23, 2011)

Just an update:

Olive made it through the rest of the night without vomiting or anything else, she had a bowl movement, it was a little bit looser than her usual but still not what I'd like to see. 

I ran over to wally world and after much running around the ENTIRE supercenter with my arms filled with jars of babyfood, I found syringes for her. I found it in the baby department, it's called "safety 1st" and it comes with a medicine spoon, oral syringe and eyedropper. Pretty good deal for three dollars. I'll have to take a picture of it. 

They have another kit with the same stuff plus a few other accessories including a nasal aspirator and thermometer. No need for the aspirator but I think I'll go back for the thermometer, as 3-way thermometers are about 9$ on their own from that brand, and that kit comes with a BUNCH of good stuff I could use for my babies for 13$, ready to go and in its own case. Very good deal.

I'm rambling. Anyway, I bought the syringes, came home and made her have some more sweet potatoes, ground up kibble and water, and put her back in her cage so I could take care of some stuff. This little girl went straight for her kibble! And the water too! 

She's made a huge improvement and I think it was just a temporary sick brought on probably by eating poo or an acute intolerance to her food, though I will still be going to the vet just in case. though instead of the vet in this town like I had planned, I'll be heading to the office in Fayetteville that is listed as having a vet that knows exotics/hedgehogs on the welfare site.

I'm still keeping an eye on her, but she's perked back up completely, she even ate an entire bowl of food, leaving her old food for last and completely smashing any of the mix of kibbles that I have Opal on. She wheeled off and on for a little bit, but that's usually how she is, can't decide if she wants to wheel, sleep or push the cat ball around. 

Even though she's back to normal, I'm continuing to keep an eye on her, and a very close eye on Opal incase it was indeed contagious as Lilysmommy cautioned and she starts showing symptoms. 

Buying a second hard carrier tomorrow so I can take both of them to the exotic vet on Thursday provided I can get an appointment and i dont have any reason to rush either of them in before then. Hurray for lots of days off from work, because I would not have caught onto her dilemma were I at work and it could have become something seriously serious without any care. especially with her not wanting to eat or drink much for nearly 16hrs.

Quick ramble though, does anyone get weird looks buying things for their hedgie? I'm 18 years old, and I was buying ten jars of baby food and two sets of baby medicine tools. To be fair it generally only people with babies buy those things, but I've never felt so judged by a cashier in my life! It doesn't really matter because it's none of her business, but still, jeez.


----------



## hedgielover (Oct 30, 2008)

Glad to hear that your hedgie is feeling better. Hopefully the vet doesn't find anything wrong either.  

I used to get weird looks at the store all the time, sort of the same feeling as when I was out with kids I was babysitting. It's stupid of cashiers to assume that just because you're buying baby food you're buying it for your own baby, it could be for anyone's baby, a younger sibling a cousin, maybe you are a nanny and shopping for the kid. I hate the assumption, and the judgement associated with it. But yeah the weird looks are just part of hedgehog ownership. :lol:


----------



## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

Oh good, I'm glad she's eating again! And :lol: Ohhhh, trust me, you'll start loving the weird looks. I was always highly amused - especially the time I was buying not only baby food, but lanolin (human nipple cream, for breastfeeding moms), and especially because I'm really short, so I look about 14. :lol: One time when I was buying baby food, someone I knew from high school saw me...came over and was like "...Did you have a baby? :shock: ". "Yes...she just has lots of quills. >.> I have a hedgehog!" "Hedgehogs eat....baby food?" "Yes. Yes they do." :lol:


----------



## qjtrinh (Jul 4, 2012)

My hedgehog had the same symptoms (vomiting and wouldn't eat... but behaved normally and would still eat mealworms and crickets)

The HHC community helped me determine that her kibbles needed to be crushed because they were too big for her to chew. I suppose she became afraid of eating kibbles after that. Now that I crush the the kibbles, she stopped vomiting and is eating regularly again.


----------



## hedgielover (Oct 30, 2008)

Lilysmommy said:


> Oh good, I'm glad she's eating again! And :lol: Ohhhh, trust me, you'll start loving the weird looks. I was always highly amused - especially the time I was buying not only baby food, but lanolin (human nipple cream, for breastfeeding moms), and especially because I'm really short, so I look about 14. :lol: One time when I was buying baby food, someone I knew from high school saw me...came over and was like "...Did you have a baby? :shock: ". "Yes...she just has lots of quills. >.> I have a hedgehog!" "Hedgehogs eat....baby food?" "Yes. Yes they do." :lol:


 :lol: that's a great story!

Same issue with me, I look young for my age. I worked as a nanny from 17-24 everyone always thought I was a teen mom. At 17 people thought I was 13 (they said this to my face, "oh, you're not the Mom are you? Oh good, You look too young to be the mom, are you about 13?") At 24 most people still thought I looked about 16 and still had no qualms about telling me they hope I'm not the mother. What if I was?

I also got so many weird looks when I took Quigley to the park not just when I was buying babyfood. Everyone is so nosy! :roll:


----------



## AngelaH (Jul 24, 2012)

Thanks for the tip on finding a syringe! I don't need one, but wanted to have one on hand just-in-case, but couldn't find one! Glad she's eating again!


----------

