# Hand Feeding Adult Male



## martysmom (Oct 2, 2013)

My hedgehog Marty, a 3 yr old male, has been through a terrible ordeal with mites. First he reacted badly to Revolution and was given 3 courses of oral ivermectin instead. He stopped eating and I discovered he had a secondary infection so the vet prescribed baytril. At that point I was force-feeding him a/d by syringe. He is now much better and has graduated to eating off a spoon. But he does not seem to be eating much on his own. I have been hand feeding him for 3 weeks now. Any suggestions to get him eating on his own again?


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## Tongue_Flicker (Jun 11, 2013)

Handfeeding is better than no feeding at all. Try feeding him via your hands first then slowly put the food in a dish. What are you feeding him anyways?


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## martysmom (Oct 2, 2013)

*Hand Feeding*

He was on a/d but seemed to get tired of that so now I am feeding him a variety of different flavours of premium cat food.


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## Tongue_Flicker (Jun 11, 2013)

How's his weight? Losing or gaining?


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## martysmom (Oct 2, 2013)

*Hand Feeding*

He has definitely lost weight but was 1.2 kg to start with. I am not sure how much he weighs now as I do not have a scale small enough, but he has stopped losing weight. What do I do to help him gain some back and how much canned food should he be eating? He takes about 5-10 cc 3x a day at present, more or less as it is hard to measure when he is eating off a spoon and smears some of it on him and me. He will no longer let me force feed him and fights if I try.

I inherited Marty from my son when he left home. I asked to keep Marty because I knew my son would neglect him. So I really don't know what I am doing but have some experience caring for small animals. He is a tough little guy and after all he has been through I would like to rehabilitate him. My vet has been helpful but doesn't treat many hedgehogs as we live in a semi-rural area. Any help is greatly appreciated.


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

I would highly recommend getting a small scale so you can track his weight. It's very helpful for watching the health of hedgehogs, since they're so small & they tend to hide illness (so a loss or gain of weight out of the ordinary is often a first sign of illness). A small food scale sold at a store like Walmart shouldn't cost more than $20-30 (I think I paid $15-20 for mine), and should work just fine as long as it measures to 0.1 grams.

What have you tried leaving out in his cage at night? Just his normal dry food or have you left anything else in there for him? Sometimes leaving out a variety of things encourages them to taste things & try eating a bit more. Definitely try leaving some of the wet food in there & see if he'll at least start eating that on his own. Once he's eating on his own, then you can work on weaning back to his normal food and maybe just keep the wet food as a treat if he likes it. (It could also be a normal part of his diet if you want, though you'll have to double check what the protein & fat percentages are in a dry-matter basis - wet foods tend to be high in both). 

Have you tried cutting down on how much you're hand-feeding him to see if he'll start to eat more on his own again? He may just be eating enough with you that he doesn't see the point in eating on his own. You could also try hand-feeding his kibble and see if he'll start to take that from you instead of wet food.

As far as his weight, what does his body shape look like? Do his sides look curved/caved in at all like he's underweight and really needs to gain some back? Higher fat kibble or wet food should help with that, though that'll be another reason to get a scale so you can then cut back on higher fat foods once he's at a healthy weight again. If his sides are just straight, he might need to gain a little, but you'll want to be cautious about a lot of high-fat foods. If he's back to a teardrop shape, which is the normal hedgie body shape, I wouldn't worry about getting him back to his old weight, especially if he was overweight then.


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## martysmom (Oct 2, 2013)

I have been leaving wet food for him in has cage at night and sometimes he eats a bit but usually he doesn't. His sides are slightly concave and I am sure he needs to gain a little weight but not as fat as he was before he got sick. I usually spoon feed him until he doesn't want anymore but I will try giving him less and see if this encourages him to eat on his own. On a positive note, some of his spines are starting to grow back in.


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## martysmom (Oct 2, 2013)

Marty is on a 2nd course of baytril, this time for 2 weeks as I don't think the first course got all the infection. He seems to be getting a little stronger everyday but still prefers to be spoon fed. He can make it to his litterbox but not to his food dish. Maybe he just likes the extra cuddle time. His quills are starting to grow back in. Will new quills sometimes cause redness of the skin? What other quilling symptoms will I notice in an adult? Many thanks for the help received so far.


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## martysmom (Oct 2, 2013)

I think Marty is finally on the mend. He is eating and drinking on his own now but he is half the size he used to be. He is his old grumpy self because his quills are slowly growing back but his skin is clear with no more sores. All the extra handling when he was sick has made him very tame and I can always see his eyes where before he always kept his visor down.


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

Thank you for the update! I'm glad he's finally starting to feel a bit better, even with the soreness of growing quills. I bet an oatmeal bath might help with that a bit, same as with babies! I hope he continues to get his quills back in & feel better...poor guy needs to start chowing down and get his weight back up! Is he eating on his any more yet?


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