# is my hedgie dying? please help



## nobodylikesyou (Feb 14, 2015)

My hedgie usually eats and drinks a lot but these past few days he hasn't been eating or drinking, he stays curled up in a ball and never moves or uncurls. When I go to pick him up he doesn't hiss at me anymore (which is weird because he used to all the time) and hes breathing weakly. he's less then a year old... What should I do, is he dying? Or hibernating?


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## gracefulchaos01 (Mar 19, 2014)

It sounds like Sebastian when she had a hibernation attempt. Have you tried to warm him by holding him close to your body. I recommend skin to skin. But for days... hers was only a few hours.


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## Soyala_Amaya (Aug 1, 2011)

TAKE HIM TO THE VET IMMEDIATELY. A reaction like this that has lasted for several days needs IMMEDIATE attention!


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

What temperature is the cage? Do you have a heating set up? Does he have a light schedule of 12-14 hours during the day, not just dependent on natural light?

Pick him up. Is his belly cool? If it is, he's hibernating and you need to warm him up immediately, but slowly. The best way is under your shirt, against your body, or you can put him on a heating pad set on low, with a towel covering it. Do NOT put him in water, it will make things worse. If he doesn't warm up and become more responsive within an hour, he needs to go to the vet immediately.

If he's not cool, then he has something else wrong, and needs to go to the vet immediately. Hedgehogs shouldn't go more than a day, maybe two, without eating. So whatever is going on with him, it's going to be worse because he hasn't been eating, and he's probably dehydrated as well. For future reference, you should take notice the first night your hedgehog doesn't eat or drink, and the second night, you should start taking action. You shouldn't wait this long.

Here's your course of action:
1. Make sure he's warm. If he's not, warm him up.
2. If he doesn't warm up within an hour, get him to the vet right away.
3. If he's warm or if he warms up well for you within an hour, he needs water. Syringe him some water carefully. If he's very dehydrated, he may need to go to the vet for subcutaneous fluids (fluids injected under the skin).
4. After heat & water, he needs to be syringe-fed food. Until he's eating on his own again, you're going to need to syringe-feed him to make sure he's getting enough food. There's more information on doing this in this sticky - http://www.hedgehogcentral.com/foru...yringing-tutorial-syringe-feeding-sticky.html
5. Vet as soon as you can to find out what's going on (if it's not due to a hibernation attempt).

Make sure you do NOT give him any food until you're sure he's warm and has had some water. Giving a cold, dehydrated animal food can make things even worse.

Good luck and let us know how he's doing.

(Edit: Deleted your other thread as you don't need to post the same thing in different forum sections. Moved this one to the Health section since it had more responses. )


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

Just wanted to let everyone else know that hedgie was indeed hibernating and has gotten warmed up & is back to eating/drinking.


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## sammy cute (Feb 20, 2015)

Help ! My hedghog is dieing pleas what should I do I got home and he layd ther ons his side and won't drink water or eat snails or his food.


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