# Old man questions



## geraldmom (Dec 11, 2010)

Hello all! I have some questions about how to care for my old man. He is about 5 years old and hasn't had the best health for most of his life. He sees the vet on a regular basis, but we can't always keep him healthy (I suspect some of this is due to poor nutrition when he was younger and before I got him).

Old man has recently lost more of his teeth, and I plan on switching to wetting his food as he isn't really eating much. I'm a bit worried about keeping him warm and comfortable. He has a plastic bottom cage and I was wondering if I put a heating pad under part of it would that be ok? I plan on taking him to the vet on Monday, with the possibility of putting him down as his quality of life has really gone down recently. I don't want to put the money into buying him something fancy if I won't have him much longer.

:sad:


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## geraldmom (Dec 11, 2010)

Oh forgot to ask what others on here have done with their hedgie's body.


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

Sorry to hear your little guy isn't doing too well.  Sounds like he's had a good life with you though!

I would try and make sure the room temperature is at least 75*, if you can. Heating set ups that heat the air are best, but can be expensive. A space heater can be as cheap as $30 though, and be used for other things later - that could help with keeping him warm enough. A heating pad wouldn't hurt either though, underneath part of his cage and/or his bed. Just make sure it doesn't get too warm - the cage floor should just be lightly warm to the touch, not warm-warm. Definitely keep wetting his food, and make sure his food & water are close to his bed, so if he doesn't want to walk far, he doesn't have to.

I wanted to have Lily cremated, but I couldn't afford it. I ended up laying her body to rest in my mom's lily garden in our backyard, where I had a favorite picture of Lily taken once.


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## MochiAndMe (Jul 13, 2013)

If you don't mind me asking Lilysmommy, how much does cremating them cost?


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## Tom (Jul 21, 2013)

Cremation can range from $20 - around $100 usually for small animals.


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## Purplesheep (Aug 22, 2013)

MochiAndMe said:


> If you don't mind me asking Lilysmommy, how much does cremating them cost?


I unfortunately had the experience of this in August. My bearded dragon died and I had her cremated. The places I looked into basically had different options with different prices for each. There are "public" cremations where your animal is with others. That was the cheapest around $50-$150 here. Then there was a "private" cremation which is just your animal. I saw those for around $100-$200 ish. I ended up finding a place that did a private one for $110. I knew I wanted to know it was only my beardie in there. It's such a hard process to go through. 

Some places also might go by weight.


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

Yeah...my problem wasn't just with the cost of the cremation itself, but what to do with the ashes afterwards. I had a couple ideas of what I really wanted, but those were way too expensive. I didn't like the idea of just having her in a plain old box, and I just couldn't make up my mind. I finally decided to stop debating over that and just bury her, since I knew where I wanted to do that already.


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## Kalandra (Aug 25, 2008)

You can always get a little decorative urn to put their cremains in. The last few I have cremated came back in urns that look similar to this one:

http://www.perfectmemorials.com/going-home-cremation-urn-wings-freedom-keepsake-p-391.html

Most places seem to use ugly plastic boxes, but the one I send my hedgehogs to in Colorado does this little extra to make it feel less impersonal.


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## formonsiuer (Dec 9, 2011)

With Monsieur I wanted him cremated because we moved from my home state to this state 2 years ago and I always promised him we'd make it back; which slightly devastated me. I assume I was offered a private cremation and it was $120 or $150...super high for me. So my mother took him, put him in a big ice cream bucket, buried him with his blankie and a piece of pumpkin pie (his fav) and did some various things to make sure no wild animals would smell the sent and devastate me further (ducktaping the holder). We both agreed he'd like the holder and the place she buried him near her shed...nice hiding places.

This was only last week but we both thought of getting him a small stone. I ordered it on ebay and its the size of like a tree dedication. Should be here soon, but let me customize 4 lines of anything so I really liked that and I think he would of too. Its been hard, but considering he had his attack at 8am then was still kicking about 10am (but barely) euthanasia was by far the most humane method.

If you do want a stone of varying sizes ebay is full of tons of them...could get a full on human like one to the smaller ones depending on your feelings, pocketbook, where buried, etc.


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## hkschumaker (Aug 26, 2014)

We did that with our Trooper. Buried him with his favorite blankie cuz he was always cold and a piece of peanut butter toast. Surrounded his grave with lime to help the process. Did you do any other sort of memorial for him?


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## Pommymommy1025 (Jun 5, 2015)

Hello all! I'm kind of going through this with my hedge right now. He has a tumor that we're pretty sure has turned malignant and his vet basically said to keep him comfy till he's no longer able to "enjoy a normal hedgehog life." I haven't seen him use his wheel a while (doesn't mean he isn't sneakinf onto it at night) but he's a little wobbly on his feet so i don't think so. However aside from that, he seems fairly normal, just more tired than usual. He's still coming out to eat or drink and just staying close to his house. Every once in a while (like once or twice a day) he lets out a little wimper like he's in pain, but then seems fine again. 
What I'm wondering, is how do I know that it's time to put him to sleep?? I know that he's in Some degree of pain, I'm just not sure how much, and I don't want him to suffer, but I also don't want to cut him off short if hes just too weak to run his wheel and he's still got several good months.


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## writergirlmel (May 16, 2015)

Also check with your local animal control/services office. When we lived in Georgia, our dog (who had been with me for 14 years - my entire adult life) passed away, and the county animal services office provided private cremation with a simple urn to county residents for $50. Public cremations without remains returned were provided at a charge of $15.

Your vet might also be a good source of information on your options, including any legalities you might encounter.


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## simply_claire (Apr 28, 2011)

Pommymommy1025 said:


> Hello all! I'm kind of going through this with my hedge right now. He has a tumor that we're pretty sure has turned malignant and his vet basically said to keep him comfy till he's no longer able to "enjoy a normal hedgehog life." I haven't seen him use his wheel a while (doesn't mean he isn't sneakinf onto it at night) but he's a little wobbly on his feet so i don't think so. However aside from that, he seems fairly normal, just more tired than usual. He's still coming out to eat or drink and just staying close to his house. Every once in a while (like once or twice a day) he lets out a little wimper like he's in pain, but then seems fine again.
> What I'm wondering, is how do I know that it's time to put him to sleep?? I know that he's in Some degree of pain, I'm just not sure how much, and I don't want him to suffer, but I also don't want to cut him off short if hes just too weak to run his wheel and he's still got several good months.


I'm going thru a very very very similar situation as you. I am also at lost when it's really time to put him to sleep. I wish you and your hedgie the best though!


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