# Only Chicken?!



## beccadango (Jan 6, 2017)

My 3 year old hedgehog was in a pet hotel over the new year break for 4 days (he's stayed there before twice without any issues). At the pet hotel they keep the temperature stable and feed him his regular food.

I noticed when he came back he wasn't eating his dry food at all.
He's always been a picky eater - he only likes this one kind of dry cat food and he refused to eat dry hedgehog food, any insects, etc.

Since he wasn't eating at all I started to offer him various things. Like his dry food soaked in water, wet cat food, wet dog food, boiled egg and chicken to get him to eat.

But, he only eats the chicken. He ignores all the other food, even if he's hungry. I try to put it in his mouth a little to get him to eat but he ignores it. He spat out the dry food kibble as well.

I took him to the vet and they checked his teeth and said his teeth are fine. And he gave me some medicine for him, which I can sprinkle onto the chicken and he will eat.

I'm sure it isn't good for him to only eat chicken, but I don't know what else to do at the moment.

Has this ever happened to you before? What should I do?

I ordered some other kinds of dry food online so I'll try to give them to him, but he always ate a lot, so it's really strange that he's suddenly stopped eating his usual food.


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

Have you tried a new bag of his normal food? Maybe the current bag is going stale or has something up with it.


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## beccadango (Jan 6, 2017)

Yeah, I thought the same. Maybe the food he'd had with him at the pet hotel was stale. So, I opened up a new bag but he still ignored it.

I did leave some wet dog food mixed with chicken in his cage last night (along with his usual dry food which he isn't eating) and he ate the wet food by this morning. Then he ate his medicine with chicken in the morning.
So, he'll eat a little bit of wet cat or dog food (maybe around a teaspoon).


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## shinydistraction (Jul 6, 2014)

There's nothing wrong with doing a diet of wet dog or cat food, so long as it meets the requirements for fat and protein. It's also got the plus of having more moisture in it. You will have to be very diligent in cleaning the bowl everyday so it doesn't get gross, but that's probably the worst part.


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## BronandLeslie (Jan 1, 2017)

Could he be upset at being away from you? My normal thing is breeding butterflies. One particular pet butterfly I had used to stop eating when I went away and gave him to my parents to babysit. He'd only start eating when I returned. If a butterfly can be upset by someone else looking after them I guess a hedgie definitely can!


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## MrJsk (Oct 21, 2013)

What is the medicine for?


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## beccadango (Jan 6, 2017)

He's still mostly only eating chicken when offered to him.
He took a bite out of a dry piece of kibble that I'd wet a little so it was softer, but that's all.
I'm going to keep trying offering the regular food in different ways to try to get him to eat it again.

He's been back home for almost a week now. And he's started to run more at night, but it's not at the same level as before.

He had a small lump on his stomach and the vet cut it and squeezed out some pus - it was just a benign lump. The medicine is kind of like antibiotics because he had that small lump cut, I think.


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## BronandLeslie (Jan 1, 2017)

beccadango said:


> He had a small lump on his stomach and the vet cut it and squeezed out some pus - it was just a benign lump. The medicine is kind of like antibiotics because he had that small lump cut, I think.


Poor little guy! :sad:


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## beccadango (Jan 6, 2017)

I'm taking him to a different vet tomorrow for a second opinion.

Over this week I've offered different hedgehog foods, and different wet cat/dog foods. He isn't eating any of them regularly.

I heard him pushing the kibble around in his bowl with his nose last night - it's like he's looking for the food he likes but it's not there.
I haven't heard him eat any hard kibble at all for the last week.

He will happily eat chicken still, nibble at egg, and he tries any new foods I put in front of him.

So, I think he must just not want to eat the kibble that is there. But he's pretty normal apart from that. (I made another post about his skin issue - but that could be related to not eating properly I guess.)

I'm going to try a few more different foods to see if he'll eat any of them.


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## nikki (Aug 28, 2008)

If you're feeding him hedgehog food then there's a good chance that's why he's not eating it. Hedgehog food is crap and is about as nutritious as cardboard. Give him some of the dry cat food he was getting before and see if he'll eat that. Count the pieces so you'll know if he tried any at all.


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## beccadango (Jan 6, 2017)

He was eating good quality dry cat food for 3 years and suddenly stopped eating it - so I've been offering him everything - from wet/dry cat/dog food to hedgehog food.

I took him back to the vet today and he advised to keep trying to give him wet and dry cat foods, mixing them, adding chicken and blending them, anything really to get him to eat regularly again. So, I'll keep trying but it's just a mystery of why he doesn't want to eat anything.


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## beccadango (Jan 6, 2017)

Quick update: I tried a new beef-based/flavour wet cat food and he ate it!


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## beccadango (Jan 6, 2017)

So, another update.

He ate the wet beef cat food for a day or two, and his poops were more regular and longer. Now, he's back to only wanting to eat chicken and ignoring all cat food.
I did make sure his temperature is stable.

His drinking is fine and he has started to run at night/early morning in his wheel.

It's been 17 days since I noticed the issue.
I've been offering him a variety of wet and dry foods, but no break-through yet

I have a feeling the twice-a-day chicken I gave him for 10 days because I was giving him antibiotics maybe reduced his motivation to try to eat other foods.

So, from today I'm trying the method of:
Leaving 30 pieces of his regular dry food in the cage at all times so I can monitor if he eats any.
Offering some wet food in the morning/night (not just chicken).

Aside from the ignoring foods he doesn't like he's the same as usual - alert, bright eyes, energetic and running.

This year his weight has gone from 300g to 280g. (The vet already knows and weighed him.)


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## Artemis-Ichiro (Jan 22, 2016)

Have you thought of a homemade diet?


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## BronandLeslie (Jan 1, 2017)

Have you tried phasing in one food while phasing out chicken? Or offering foods with chicken? 

Offering one new food at a time might be less confusing also. Perhaps you can get him to associate one new food with chicken incrementally. Eg start with a meal of chicken with a very tiny amount of the other food on it (I.e. Powdered dry food sprinkled on or wet food spread on in a thin amount). If he eats the chicken then he might be enticed to think the other food is nice also. Then you could gradually add more of the new food and start reducing the amount of chicken. Then if that works add another food in the same way.

But stick to introducing one food at a time.


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## beccadango (Jan 6, 2017)

Thanks for your advice! I'll keep those ideas on hand in the future with him.

I had a bit of a breakthrough today actually.

Since I stopped his antibiotics/hand feeding yesterday, I guess he was hungrier today.
I offered him his usual dry food and he was interested it in, and tried to eat it. He bit it and I could hear a little crunch sound but it fell out of his mouth again. He repeated this over and over.
I took some and softened it with water and he ate a few pieces.

So, the vet that checked his teeth and said they were completely fine was probably wrong.
It must be a problem with his teeth if he can't crunch the hard kibble like before, right? I videoed him trying to eat hard food on my phone, so I'm thinking of taking him to a different vet and also showing them the video to get a second opinion about his mouth/teeth.

I've left his regular kibble only (softened) in a bowl in his cage, so I'll see if he eats any overnight.
It's strange because I've offered him his regular food everyday (hard and softened) but only today he really seemed interested in it again after two weeks.


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

That does sound likely, unfortunately. I agree with going to a different vet for a second opinion. Maybe something will have changed or become more apparent since the first vet's check so it'll be easier to see what's going on. Good luck & let us know what you find out. I'll keep fingers crossed!


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## beccadango (Jan 6, 2017)

Thanks for the message!

Good news. He's continued to eat lots of his regular food (when it's softened with water) and drinking a lot.
I haven't given him any chicken or treats - I'm keeping him on his regular bland diet. I'm afraid if I start giving him treats he'll be too full to eat his regular food.

He has gained back some weight - he's almost 300g again.

I'm waiting until this weekend to take him back to the vet to ask about his teeth (I didn't want to stress him out too much since he just started to eat again, so I've avoided bothering him too much. Just taking him out and letting him sleep on my lap for a few hours every day.)


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## beccadango (Jan 6, 2017)

Tonight Jon passed away - at three years old.

He was eating again, but not running in the wheel.
I checked him when I got home from work and he was lying on his side and unable to move.
I took him out and made sure he was warm and comfortable, he vomited and about 20 minutes later passed away.

I'm not sure ultimately what the cause of that was - why he stopped eating and why he seemed to be improving to suddenly go so downhill in the space of a day.

It's a bit of a shock, but I'm just glad he wasn't alone when he passed away.

Thanks for all the support everyone.


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

I'm so sorry.


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## beccadango (Jan 6, 2017)

Thanks for your comment! And your advice too while he was sick.


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## BronandLeslie (Jan 1, 2017)

So sad to hear that.  It would have meant a lot to him that you were with him.


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## beccadango (Jan 6, 2017)

Jon had his kind of funeral service yesterday, I wrote about it in detail in his memorial page, but in short here.
I live in Japan, and the Japanese way of cremation still leaves the bones intact (for humans and animals alike). So, the cremating man noticed a big black lump on one bone that he said looked like a cancerous lump and he's seen before in other animals that had cancer or similar illnesses.
So, that might explain all of Jon's different strange symptoms over the past month. And maybe there was nothing I could have done, even the vet didn't know or notice.

This is the memorial I wrote about Jon.
http://www.hedgehogcentral.com/forums/7-memorials/156290-jon-japan.html#post947026


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## luscious775 (Mar 5, 2017)

I'm so sorry for your loss


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