# Walking Funny



## hemigirl (Jul 15, 2013)

Hey everyone, I know it's been awhile since I've been around but it's been busy here between my sonic and our new bearded dragon plus school.
Tonight I brought sonic out for playtime (later than normal). I noticed he was walking funny but not wobbly his back feet were like they were sliding on the floor and the right one was bent out farther than normal. After playtime yesterday he was normal and we enjoyed some snuggle time. Normally he goes out earlier than what I put him out. I heard him running on his wheel during the night and that all seemed normal. 
I'm worried big time. Hubby is at work and I'm going to have him check him out when he gets home. Should I give it a day or so if there is something wrong to call at vet? I don't know what to do I just want to cry. Who knows I may be the usual paranoid hedgie mommy too.


----------



## hemigirl (Jul 15, 2013)

I should mention he was eating fine, he peed and pooped on the floor during play time like he normally does. They both looked like they normally do.


----------



## hemigirl (Jul 15, 2013)

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10152032332671699&l=4028691235405309314 here is a link to the video I took earlier. Sorry it's the best I can get, he does not like later night play times


----------



## hemigirl (Jul 15, 2013)

Well here is the Sonic update. We went for a visit to the vet today. They ended up sedating him because he would not unball or stop clicking. I totally cried when I had to leave him there for a few hours. His heart rate and lungs all sound good. He weighs 892 grams. Which I don't think is because of his food because it is the chicken soup for the cat lovers soul light. Anyways, it boils down to the doctor thinks that his problem with his leg is the fact that he is so overweight. I just thought it weird that it just happened out of no where. There gave us some meds for him for pain and inflammation. Now we need to start the hedgie diet. That is once I figure out what to give him. He also wants me to take his wheel out of the cage and limit his play time for the next little while. If in 3 weeks he hasn't lost any weight than we have to go back and go from there. He does not think that he has any tumors because nothing showed up on the xrays and he didn't feel anything when examining him. Suggestions for hedgie diets would be awesome.


----------



## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

I'm sorry you didn't get any responses before now to your thread, but I'm glad you took Sonic in & got him checked out. 

I'll admit I don't have much experience with overweight hedgies (Lily was a tad overweight at one point, but not by much), but it seems strange to me that the vet would recommend taking the wheel out and limiting play time, but then expect to see weight loss in three weeks. A diet isn't going to do it alone - it needs to be combined with exercise. Also, if you do remove his wheel, make sure you keep an eye on him in case he decides that a good alternative is climbing. If he starts climbing, personally I'd give his wheel back - it can't be more dangerous than the risk of him falling & hurting himself.

How does Sonic feel about water? I know carefully supervised swimming time is often used as an exercise activity for overweight hedgies that don't completely panic in water. It's best to make sure there's something he can get on for a rest (like a container placed so that it will be stable when he climbs onto it) or a shallower section of the tub so he can stand and have his face out of the water. If you do give it a try, make sure you keep your eye on him at all times and keep sessions short. They can get tired out quickly in water, and they can drown even more quickly if you're not watching. You'll also want to make sure he doesn't get water in his ears or nose (risk of ear infections or URIs).

To be honest, Chicken Soup Light is probably one of the lowest fat foods available at 9% fat. The other thing to try looking at is how many calories (or kilocalories) are in the food and see if you can find one with fewer. I tried looking to see if I could find that info online, and for some reason it's suddenly difficult to find Chicken Soup food info online? I thought they had a website, but it's not coming up for me with a search.

Another option for altering his diet without changing his kibble is to add in more veggies and low fat insects. Crickets are good for low fat, and you can buy them live, feed them veggies for a night or two, then freeze them so they're easy to keep & feed. To encourage movement around his cage, you can hide the crickets around his cage to let him sniff them out & get him moving a bit more if you do have to remove his wheel. 

For veggies, that may be more difficult if he's not a fan of trying new things or veggies. If he likes meat, what worked for me was making a mix of baby food. One jar of a meat (chicken or turkey - they're leaner than beef), with 2-3 jars of veggies (sometimes single veggies, usually veggie mixes, there was usually 4-6 veggies in the mix), and one or two jars of fruit. Lily would eat just about any mix as long as there was meat included in it, so it worked very well to get her to eat veggies. She ended up eating about 1-1.5 tablespoons of baby food mix every night, and it cut her kibble consumption in half. She lost a bit of weight after I switched to doing this, as well as using crickets for treats.

Good luck! And keep in mind that there may end up not being a lot you can do...sometimes hedgies end up overweight and try as they might, their owners can't seem to make them lose it. There's been a couple of situations I can remember seeing online & the owners said they'd tried many things & discussed things with their vet & just couldn't get hedgie to lose it.


----------



## hemigirl (Jul 15, 2013)

The vet wants the wheel out and cut down on playtime because of his leg. He figures his weight is causing the issue with his leg. He definitely hates the water. Bathing him is a nightmare all on it's own. I have read that people use weight control cat food for their hedgies so I may also look into that. I've never tried him with crickets before but we do have some kicking around the house because of the bearded dragon. I will have to have a talk with Hunter and see if he minds sharing with Sonic LOL. I never thought of baby food. Is there any kind that I should worry about? I originally switched to the chicken soup for the cat lovers soul light to get his weight down and it apparently hasn't been helping at all. So that makes me feel terrible. I had a hard time finding the info on it earlier today so I can bring it with me to the vets. I got the info off of Amazon: Amazon.com: Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover's Soul Dry Cat Food for Adult Cat, Light Chicken Flavor, 6 Pound Bag: Pet Supplies I attached a couple of pics one is his x-ray and the other is of us not even a half hour ago. He is really snuggly tonight but I understand that after the day he has had and he wants to feel safe and secure.


----------



## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

I usually tried to get organic if I could, but had pretty limited options for organic baby foods at my store, so half of the time I used other ones. I think some people avoid onion powder, but I never bothered as I'd read that onion powder was cooked, then ground down, & raw onions are dangerous. As far as safe/unsafe veggies, check here - http://www.hedgehogcentral.com/forums/12-diet-nutrition/17725-treat-list-safe-fruits-veggies.html

I would check weight control foods carefully - often they cut the fat down by adding in more fillers & junk.


----------



## hemigirl (Jul 15, 2013)

The hubby and I were just talking and taking into account the baby food to try that. Did you just keep some kibble in Lily's cage? Also, I swear I read somewhere else that veggies had to be cooked for Hedgies but here it says they don't. My brain is so confused on that. I definitely would watch for the weight control food and do my research and ask the wonderful people on here their opinions first.  I just want my boy to be healthy and happy so I will do whatever I can.


----------



## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

Yup, Lily still got 40 pieces of kibble every night (10 of each of four brands), as well as the baby food. For the baby food, I mixed it all up in a bowl, then spooned it into ice cube trays (1-1.5 tablespoons per cube), then kept the cubes in a freezer bag. Each night I just took a cube out & microwaved it for a few seconds until it was thawed. For most of the mixes (there was one mix that she was a little less keen on, but still ate 3/4 of the cube every night) she would eat all of the baby food, and then eat 15-30 pieces of kibble. 

Veggies needing to be cooked is just the hard ones (like carrots) to prevent choking hazards. If they're soft veggies or in baby food form, they don't need to be cooked.  Good luck and keep us updated on how Sonic's doing! Maybe others will have some more ideas to add.


----------



## hemigirl (Jul 15, 2013)

Thank you bunches, I will go tomorrow after classes and pick up some baby food for him and get that done. Maybe I will start counting out his kibble too like you did. I usually just used a tbsp measuring spoon to dish out his food. I was doing 2 tbsp and then just recently brought it down to 1 1/2 tbsp but counting seems better. LOL By having both for him at night maybe I won't feel like I'm starving him.


----------



## hemigirl (Jul 15, 2013)

Ok so I went and bought baby food, mixed meat and veggies and fruit. Total fail last night he wouldn't even look at it. Anyways, I looked through the list of safe foods for hedgies and I didn't see anything about pasta. One of the jars and I didn't realize has lil pasta stars in it. Would this hurt him?


----------



## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

It won't hurt, but since you're concerned about his weight, I wouldn't offer it to him. Pasta is just going to be more carbs, which is something avoid right now since he doesn't need them. Is it a third stage baby food? Usually first and second stages are best since they tend to be just single ingredient foods (just peas, or just chicken, etc.) or mixes of veggies, fruits, etc. without anything extra in it. Third stage is usually when you start seeing the spaghetti, mac & cheese, etc. kind of foods that would have things like pasta in them.

Disappointing that he wouldn't even sniff at the mix though! Silly little bugger.


----------



## hemigirl (Jul 15, 2013)

This afternoon when we had him out for snuggle time I put a bit of the food on my finger for him to taste it. Which he did so that is a start. I will try a bit more later.


----------



## hemigirl (Jul 15, 2013)

Sonic is still not taking to the baby food unless it is on my finger, that is the only way he will eat it. He eats all of his kibble and I'm worried that he is starving. So my next question is, can he eat wet cat food? They have this weight control stuff at the pet store I grabbed a can, it is 8% protein, 2.5% fat. If I do like the baby food would that not help? Also, when buying food should I be getting him grain free food? I found another brand it was science something that had lower fat and protein content in it but there is grain.


----------



## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

Canned food is unfortunately going to be worse - what's the moisture on it? You need to do some calculations to adjust the protein & fat percentages for the high moisture. I explain how to do so in here - http://www.hedgehogcentral.com/forums/12-diet-nutrition/19-soft-food-recommendations.html With 2.5%, it might still be low enough to try even adjusted for moisture, but I'm not sure.

I'm not sure about whether grain free would help or not. Perhaps it might be useful to try starting a new topic with a title related to weight loss & diets to see if anyone else has more information or advice? I don't have much experience with other methods than the baby food, unfortunately, since it worked well for Lily. Maybe one of the other mods will see a new topic & chime in if they have any ideas.


----------



## hemigirl (Jul 15, 2013)

The food is 78% max for moisture. Thanks for the idea I never thought to start a new thread on it.


----------

