# I'm so Pround of Him



## hedgielover (Oct 30, 2008)

As some of you may know I recently adopted a hedgehog into my little family. He came from a pet store down the street, they had him for over two years and couldn't sell him so they basically gave him away for the price of all of his equipment. 

My boyfriend and I named him Quigley and have been lavishing him with attention and care for the last two months. 

We are really enjoying Quigley and I love him to bits. He has so many funny little quirks and has come such a long way since we got him. I was really worried about him bonding to us and being social but he is actually really amazing. Especially considering that for two years at that pet store he didn't have any attention. Also he was overweight when we got him because the pet store fed him a bad brand of cat food and he didn't have a wheel. 

When we got him we made changes really slowly, we kept everything the same for the first night then we cleaned the cage and changed the bedding. After that I started holding him everynight and we put the wheel in the cage. After the first five days or so I gave him his first foot bath in the sink. He had another foot bath a week later before we introduced him to soap and scrubbing. 

Since then we've gotten into a routine of having a foot bath every night or every other night as needed, and a real bath once a week. We put Vaseline on his ears for his dry skin and we are currently perfecting toe nail clipping. We also switched him to liners (he was on some kind of pine or ceder bedding when we got him. And over the first month we gradually switched his food to a Wellness cat (healthy weight).

I can't believe how fast he changed, he's eating regularly which he wasn't at first and he's lost so much weight, he actually looks healthy now. He loves us but hates his bath. He lets me rub his feet and get dirt from between his toes but he's afraid of nail clippers so it's a fight to cut his nails. Right now I am working on litter training and we had our first successful BM in the litter box last night!

It's a lot more work than I thought it would be but I love doing it. 

I just wanted to share that.


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

Aw, that's great that he's doing so well! I'm glad he found such loving parents to take care of him.


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## shetland (Sep 2, 2008)

I really enjoyed reading your story. How wonderful for little Quigley that he got such wonderful hedgie parents!!!! I look forward to more Quigley stories.


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## Nancy (Aug 22, 2008)

That's awesome. You deserve a huge pat on the back for taking in this little one. Amazing what love will do isn't it.


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## hedgielover (Oct 30, 2008)

It really is amazing, thanks for all the responses. Our success with him is mostly due to this forum. I learned so much from here. 

I had another hedgehog when I was in highschool he died about six years ago and it makes me really sad because I'm not sure he would have if I'd had this forum then. So anyway thank you to everyone on the boards for all the info because research made all the difference this time around.


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## Lilly101 (Sep 1, 2008)

He is a very lucky hedgie! that pet store*aka* prison, should be shut down. If only all of us on this forum could help all the hedgehogs that are in pet stores! Can't wait for pics!


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