# Baby Milla keeps scratching Im getting nervous!



## GoldenEyes (Nov 4, 2011)

Everyday I take her out of her cage and put her in her play pen for 15 minutes before we cuddle to get all her poops out and she is constantly scratching. I started with putting Flaxseed oil every second day but now its everyday, on her and in her food. There are no quill coming out, nor is she bleeding but she looks a little red. Could this be mites? Should I take her to the vet? maybe try something else for the itching?


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## Immortalia (Jan 24, 2009)

You might be irritating her with the flax oil. While somewhat water soluble, it CAN still clog pores and that's probably what's making it worse. 
It's only recommended to feed every 3-4 days, and put directly on skin about once per week.

Try just giving her a bath with the oatmeal and no oil and let her skin air out before she ends up with a skin infection.


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## GoldenEyes (Nov 4, 2011)

omg really? crud, okay no more flaxseed oil then. Just thought since she stopped scratching everytime i put it on it was helping. Im not planning on give her a bath for a couple of days but i guess i can bump that up to today or tomorrow. I wanted to wait until i could give her some mealworms so i could reward her for the bath but i guess a banana will have to do


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## GoldenEyes (Nov 4, 2011)

Okay was just playing with her and a quill came out, I guess that's why her skin has been aggravated, she's QUILLING! It still had the bulb on it so it's not mites thankfully, so i guess I really should give her an oatmeal bath to calm that irritation.


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## shawnwk1 (Jul 8, 2011)

just because it has a bulb on the end of the quill does not mean that she does not have mites. that's a myth and not a sure way of telling whether or not she has mites. if she's scratching that bad then she really should be seen by a vet so they can check her for mites, bacterial infection, fungal infection, etc. that may be going on.


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

With no other signs so far other than itching and a quill coming out, I'd guess it's just dry skin or quilling or a mixture of both right now. Since you just got her, I wouldn't stress her out with a vet visit right now. Dry skin would cause itching as well and obviously quilling is going to cause the quills to come out. Unless other signs come up, I don't see the need for a vet visit for a couple weeks yet. The oatmeal bath will help with both dry skin and quilling.


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## shawnwk1 (Jul 8, 2011)

with how much she's saying she's scratching and having put the flax seed on her that could have caused or made a fungal or bacterial infection worse a vet visit is definitely a good idea. plus there's been other issues with her choking on food and whatnot so a vet visit isn't going to hurt anything just to ensure that all is well with her mouth and to find out whats going on with her skin.


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## GoldenEyes (Nov 4, 2011)

Can you really give a hedgehog a fungal infection after only three drop, 4 times in a week of giving her the oil?? I think i might not give it to her at all if thats true. :? 

i'll bring her to the vet anyways.


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

I disagree, a vet visit could cause issues as well...they can be stressful, and it's cold outside. If I remember right, the conclusion with choking on food was that she's still pretty young and the food is just too big and hard for her right now. That's the breeder's fault, not automatically an issue with the baby. And even though I've gone through both with Lily, one right after another, I've not noticed fungal/bacterial infections being super common with hedgehogs. Flaxseed oil wouldn't cause a bacterial infection, to my knowledge, since there has to be an opening to the body to introduce bacteria. Lily got hers because of ingrown quills, most likely. She got a yeast infection directly after and one vet said that it was due to flaxseed oil, while another (her usual vet) said that it was probably also at least partly due to the antibiotics given for the bacterial infection.

My point is...a vet visit isn't always the automatic conclusion. She's still young, she's still new, and the stress caused by the whole thing could cause more issues than just calming down, stopping the flaxseed oil, giving her an oatmeal bath and keeping an eye on her to see how she does with that. She's going to keep losing quills regardless because she's at the quilling age and most likely starting quilling.


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## shawnwk1 (Jul 8, 2011)

i think it's more of if there is a small fungal infection that you don't know about it can cause it to get worse if you put it on her skin (not so much an issue if you put it on her food if i remember right). i've stopped using anything on my hedgies skin because anything on their skin makes whatever is going on worse (we've done skin scrapes and sent stuff off to the labs and only found a small fungal infection around the base of the quills that the vet said was caused by the flax seed on their skin, but who knows without extensive expensive lab work we'll never really know the cause, but just thats what going on which is usually how doctors/vets work anyway they just find out what's going on and treat the symptoms without ever really knowing the cause). 

you've had her long enough now that a vet visit is not going to cause her much more stress then she's already going through being uncomfortable and itching all the time. if it is just quilling then great your vet will have a chance to get to know her now before she does get sick and if it is something more then you will know that too. as long as you keep her warm when you take her then she should be just fine and you will have the peace of mind of knowing for sure. 

and yes her choking is most likely because she's young and the food was too hard, but it's not going to hurt to get that checked either just to make sure she didn't scratch the back of her mouth when she choked on it or anything.


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## Immortalia (Jan 24, 2009)

Stop freaking the poor OP out XD

Unless there were obvious signs of baldness, I'd agree with Kelsey and just take things in stride. This isn't one of those cases where it's "Omg what are you doing not taking your hedgehog to the vet, she could get sicker and die if not treated! And us online people can't properly diagnose". This is one of those "omg, new owner and I've been reading way too much possible illness that could be wrong and I'm pre-emptive doing stuffs"  

With ANY skin problem, the rule of thumb is... If there are NO bald spots, you're in the clear. Only when there ARE bald spots, and NO new quills are growing, should the owner make a vet appointment and get treatment for mites, and possibly send out a skin scraping for bacterial/fungal infections.

I also have no heard of flax oil giving infections, but I mentioned skin infections more in the sense of clogged pores = bad skin = possibly having trapped bacteria which may be anerobic, since it's been kept piling on top, layer after layer.
Clog pores for human skin is just as bad  Which is why women who wear loads and loads of makeup 24/7 need to pile on more and more over the years, cause they've clogged their pores for so long. 

So no, you shouldn't take her to the vet yet. Stop freaking out. BREATHE. ^_^


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## shawnwk1 (Jul 8, 2011)

i never said its an emergency situation that she has to rush her into the vet jesus. i said it's not a bad idea and it's not going to hurt anything which it's not and it will give her peace of mind if nothing else. 

and you're rule of thumb makes no sense. i've had many hedgies without any baldness and only dry skin and losing quills that turned out to be an infection which was only diagnosed by taking them into the vet and sending off for labs so there doesn't have to be baldness and no new quills coming in in order for there to be an infection.


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

A vet visit to test for any skin issues is going to involve a skin scrape. I'm fairly certain that even if that doesn't hurt, it's not going to be well-received by any hedgehog either, so yes. It could potentially be much more stressful than some itching and dry skin. Baby hedgehogs everywhere have survived quilling, despite their owners' worries. The OP has had her hedgehog for five days. It's suggested to wait a couple of weeks for a vet visit unless there's an actual emergency, so the owner has a chance to get to know what's normal for the hedgehog and can actually answer any questions the vet might have (such as normal activity, eating habits, poop, etc.). How is the vet going to get to know the hedgehog if the owner barely knows her yet?


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## GoldenEyes (Nov 4, 2011)

I was just talking about this with my fiance and we're thinking of waiting and seeing how her quilling goes first. I dont know if that's a good idea, but our thought process was, if she stops itching after the quilling, then that must be what caused the dry skin, right?

I'm not giving her anymore flaxseed oil for a very long time. I just hope she wont get too irritated. I do want to take her to the vet soon, just to introduce her to the vet and so he can see how she's doing, but I wasnt planning on doing that right away. Yes, I have only had her for 5 days, I just hope I dont mess anything up.

Immortalia is right, i have been looking WAY too much stuff up, worrying. I just dont want to be one of those owners who sends their pets to the vet everytime they sneeze, but i also dont want to NOT send her when its something she needs to go for. I'm going to keep an eye on her.

Thanks for both sides of this though, I appreciate it very much.


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## shawnwk1 (Jul 8, 2011)

lol...that's actually a huge debate on when to take a new hedgie in and only a couple (nancy included) that say to wait for a couple weeks before taking them. some say you need to wait so you can get to know them better, but the rest of us take our animals in to meet the vet long before those couple weeks to ensure they are healthy and not bringing anything into the house that can be passed on to other animals because even with being quaranteened which they should be at first there is still air born stuff and other stuff that can be passed along to other animals, kids, etc. 

on the other hand though it's normal to be a worrisome new owner and you asking questions and doing research is great  i'm sure you're doing everything just fine. go with your gut and do things when you feel comfortable with them no matter what anyone says (if that's waiting to take her then great, if that's getting her in sooner because you're not comfortable with what's going on with her then take her. do what you feel is right only you know her best and know what's really going on with her).


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

shawnwk1 said:


> lol...that's actually a huge debate on when to take a new hedgie in and only a couple (nancy included) that say to wait for a couple weeks before taking them.


And since Nancy has years upon years taking care of hedgehogs from babies to elderly ones to rescues, and has helped many people with health issues on these forums for years, including me, I tend to see her advice as a pretty good road to follow, and to pass on to others.

Golden, you guys are doing great with her so far, especially with as young as she is.  The oatmeal baths should help with the skin and quilling, and if you want to give her some flaxseed oil on her food once a week or so, that may help with skin issues from the inside, without causing any other issues on her skin. And the health section of the forum is the blessing and curse of every new owner...It's great information, but gives you nightmares about the "what ifs". :lol: If it makes you feel any better, I've had Lily for over three years and still tend to overreact to little things. :roll: That's why I depend on this forum so much, to kind of double check me and tell me if I'm jumping the gun or have reason to be concerned. So far they've never steered me wrong, especially Nancy and Kalandra.


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