# Urgent-Hedgehog Refusing To Eat



## HedgieNugget (Nov 24, 2016)

Good Evening everyone. I was looking to get a little insight from others on my situation. About a week ago I received a hedgehog from a young woman, I was recommended to her through the hedgehog welfare society. The little one was ok, but had a few issues. She is terribly overweight to the point she can't fully curl up. The owner only fed her hedgehog diet and people food. She was very afraid of her new home and screamed hedgehog murder for the first thirty minutes of arriving :sad:. I gave her some space for three days and noticed she was not eating. I took her to the vet to check for illness or mouth trouble. Besides being too chubby there was nothing to be found. I gave her space for another day and attempted to syringe feed her some puree cat food and chicken she refused to swallow, and just let it fill up in her mouth! I have tried wet cat food, all she did was anoint with it. Baked chicken, ensure, pumpkin, fruit, and only have her old food in the cage with her (Hedgehog Diet) and as far as I can tell she still hasn't eaten. She drinks plenty of water and wheels. Any suggestions? I am becoming very very concerned. I tried syringing again tonight, but she refused to swallow. Tomorrow will be the seven day mark.:sad:


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## Salt&PepperHedgie (Jul 20, 2016)

That's not good. Good job for rescuing her. Poor baby. Keep leaving food out to eat, and switch the food gradually. I know hedgehogs can get impacted like colic in horses. Has she pooped? My past hedgehog was healthy as can be then as soon as we started moving he got stressed from being moved from house to house while our home was being viewed. He stopped eating, then stopped peeing and eventually died from WHS. It happens sometimes where all you can do is pray. My hedge was three when he passed. Keep her hydrated and I will keep her in my prayers.


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

Is it the same container of hedgehog food that you got from the old owner? Have you tried getting a new container to see if that will tempt her? It might also be worth getting a good cat food and setting some of that into the cage to see if she'll give that a try. There has been numerous cases of hedgehogs immediately switching themselves to cat food when offered alongside hedgehog food. Can't blame them!

It might also be worth setting out a few other options that you're trying to offer her in her cage overnight. Some hedgehogs won't eat in front of people, and she might be more likely to eat the new tasty things overnight. Make sure you're weighing or counting all food options so you can see if she's eating even a little bit. 

Keep trying to syringe feed her - the longer she goes without eating, the more dangerous it is, especially with her weight issues. Without eating, she'll feel crappy and even less like eating, and the situation snowballs from there. With being overweight, she's really at risk for developing fatty liver disease if she doesn't eat and/or loses weight too quickly. It might be worth asking the vet for some syringing food - most vets carry Hills A/D, and Carnivore Care is another good one.

Note on the above answer - if the hedgehog died from "WHS" at the same time as the lack of eating/peeing, it wasn't WHS, it was starvation/dehydration. Hedgehogs should not go more than a day or two without eating before intervention needs to happen.


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## HedgieNugget (Nov 24, 2016)

Hello again,
I apologize for such a late reply. I have been trying everything under the sun. We've been to the vet twice since my first post. Once again teeth are fine, and she isn't constipated. We have tried syringing her and she still refuses to swallow. I've tried giving her back just the hedgehog diet no help..I've tried all kind of new foods..no help. I've tried them dry, moistened, and even to the point they are floating and have doubled in size no help. I've tried meal worms, fruits, veggies. She won't eat the just anoints with them. She does the same with every wet cat food as well. She drinks very well, but still not eating a steady amount. Last night she only at five kibbles. I've even tried letting her have playtime with the other two girls in hopes they could show her that everything around her was yummy food, but she just watches them eat....I am getting desperate. I don't want to lose her. She is very active, still wheeling, but just won't eat enough.....:sad::sad:

p.s to lilysmom: I try not to watch her eat. All of these things have been offered at night and she is left alone to eat whatever she likes. I wake up and count everything its barely touched.


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## HedgieNugget (Nov 24, 2016)

Success. She looked very pale today so I got desperate and made this terrifying concoction of things in a frying pan hoping I could get her to eat something. I scrambled an egg, and added in boiled chicken, peas, wet cat food, and some meal worms. Seared it all into this super gross patty let it cool in the fridge and then plopped it right in front of her and demanded she eat it! She ate all of it :shock::shock: my house smells like death now from mixing all those things and cooking them but it was so worth it I'm so happy. I know I'm not out of the woods yet. It doesn't seem like she is going to ever eat kibble. So my goal is to learn how to make healthy and well balanced hedgie meals from people food. :lol:


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

I'm glad you got her to eat something! The lengths we'll go to for these little guys, huh? :lol:

If you haven't already, check out the Raw/Home-made diet sticky for ideas.  Keeping wet cat food in the mix will help ensure some vitamins/minerals as long as you're careful about what goes into the mix otherwise. And once she settles in more, she may decide to switch to wet food only after all - I had a similar situation earlier this year with my sick hedgehog Pancake. I was mixing canned cat food, a few types of frozen bugs, a homemade Ensure-like liquid, scrambled eggs, and possibly more things that I've forgotten in a blender to make a soft diet that she would eat. It seemed like it took ages, but after a number of weeks, she finally started eating a wet food for me (Wellness canned cat food, the chicken shredded type). So it might be worth trying to introduce more canned food again later on & see if she'll take to something.

Fair warning though, the Wellness one I mentioned is high in fat - 22% DMB. I ended up having to switch Pancake off it recently because she was putting too much weight back on. She's currently eating a Wellness small dog food - https://www.chewy.com/wellness-petite-entrees-mini-filets/dp/104546 Much lower in fat! So that might be something to try as well. I had better luck finding lower fat canned dog foods than cat foods, though it was still a bit difficult.


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## HedgieNugget (Nov 24, 2016)

I have purchased a large variety of wet foods to see which peak her interest. I have Wellness Chicken Food, Purina grain free muse cat food chicken flavor, I have some Sheba turkey food, Chicken soup for the cat lovers soul adult chicken, tons of different 4health canned foods from tractor supply, and some nature balance wet food. Does your hedgie prefer pate or do they like a little chew with their food? Maybe it will have to be a trial and error situation. ?


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

Yeah, different textures can play a part too. Pancake turned her nose up at most of the pate ones I tried, the shredded one was the first she started eating. The food she's eating now is chunks of meat & she doesn't seem to have a problem with them. But I think it does just depend, like with cats. Picky creatures!!


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## HedgieNugget (Nov 24, 2016)

That's underatandable. It seems she enjoys pate cat food instead of the chunks. I was watching her eat yesterday and noticed she would pickup a piece of chicken breast then rub it around the bottom of the bowl to dip it in the pate gravy ?? she thinks she's fancy. Different things for different hogs. I really appreciate nthe help.


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