# Yellow/pink discharge from anus



## KozukueScout (May 23, 2012)

My girlfriend and I are the new owners of our African Pygmy hedgehog, Scout. We've had her for a about a week now and we believe her to be around 6 weeks old. 

This past Tuesday (her second day home), we noticed a pink mucous-like substance in her bedding when we were cleaning her cage. Today, we witnessed her discharge a similar substance several times. It was yellow, with a slightly pink center. It looks a bit like what one coughs up when one has a respiratory infection. We don't think it's feces; she's been excreting as well, and it appears normal (solid and brown).

Needless to say, we're both quite worried. Although we have no actual idea, we fear that the yellow color indicates infection and that the pink is blood. We've had some trouble finding a vet in our area, but Scout will be taken to a vet tomorrow. In the meantime, does anyone have any idea as to what this discharge may be?




Here's some additional information, if it helps:

- Where we are right now, the weather has had highs in the mid 70's and lows in the high 60's (F). We keep a space heater running in the room to keep Scout warm. We face the heater away from her so as to not provide too harsh a source of heat.
- Sunlight usually starts to creep in around 4:30 AM, and it gets dark at about 6 or 7 PM. We keep the drapes open when we are at work to let Scout have some sun.
- We have not weighed Scout, but she appears to have gained weight over the course of this first week with us.
- We are worried that Scout is not hydrated enough. We have not seen her drink often, and have not noticed any significant changes in the water level of her bowl at the end of the day. Her skin is dry (she has been scratching her sides with her hind legs, which causes the skin to flake) and we think her urine may be a bit viscous (although we have no basis of comparison for normal urine). At the recommendation of the pet store, we hydrate her food. Two days ago, we attempted to force-feed her water using a pipette but it didn't seem successful.
- The first day that we had her, it was unseasonably cold and we feared that she may have gone into semi-hibernation while we were sleeping. We warmed her up immediately and she's been seemingly alert ever since (she plays and burrows, etc.), but we're worried about the affect that it may have had on her immune system.


I know that was a lot; thank you for reading through it if you did.

Any help or insight would be appreciated. Have a good one, folks.


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## shawnwk1 (Jul 8, 2011)

i've never had a female so i'm not real familiar with them, but are you sure it's coming from her anus and not her vaginal area? i'm not sure what age vaginal problems can start, but might be one thing to make sure the vet checks. are you sure she's not pregnant or going into labor? was she kept with other hedgies before? she's really young to be pregnant, but it's not impossible. sometimes breeders don't pull the males away from the mama and sisters soon enough and they can inbreed that young. 

most hedgies are not weaned and ready to go to a new home until at least 7 weeks although my last hedgie Ben was ready at 6 weeks. if what you say is correct and you've had her a week and she's only 6 weeks old that means she was pulled away from mama at the latest at 5 weeks to give her to you. that's about when some breeders start weaning, but it all seems a little rushed and like she was a little young to be selling. it may or may not have something to do with whats going on. i wonder if maybe some organ didn't have a chance to fully develop and is causing issues? idk just thoughts

the light schedule is an issue. hedgies need at least 12 hours of light. you can go to walmart and get a cheap lamp and a cheap timer ($20 for both maybe)so you have her on a schedule, without it she may develop more health problems and/or try to hibernate which can kill her. 

you have a heater, but do you have a thermometer in her cage? $10 at walmart. you need to know what the temp in her cage is and keep it at a steady temp. 76 is a pretty safe temp for most hedgies although you really need to get to know her cuz some require higher temps. 

also need a gram scale to keep track of her weight and also to weigh her food daily so you can keep track of food consumption and weight. often a change in one of these indicates illness or injury. 

i wouldn't try to force her to drink water right now unless she's unactive and obviously dehydrated. you're probably just causing her more stress, potentially causing her more illness. she's already stressed from the move, be patient and back off her a little and just watch her water levels to make sure she's drinking. the vet will be able to further advise you on this tomorrow. 

keep us updated once you see the vet


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## KozukueScout (May 23, 2012)

Thanks for reply, Shawn. Here are some updates.

We've returned from the vet, and it seems that the discharge is the product of some digestive trouble that Scout's been having. The vet told us that Scout is a bit younger than we thought, and that, as you suspected, was too young to be sold to us. The stress from the move has been wreaking havoc on her digestion, which is already in a sensitive place due to her age. We've been given some medicine that we're supposed feed her once daily (2 drops per dosage). Based on our experience with the pipette, I'm a little nervous about how that's going to go. We've also been told to mash her food, in addition to hydrating it.

The vet said that Scout doesn't appear to be obviously dehydrated, and that the scratching and flaking may be mites. Scout was pretty resistant to being tested for mites, so we'll be returning next week with her and some of her skin flakes so that they may be checked. 

We've found a heat lamp, scale and thermometer, but they haven't made their way to our apartment yet. 

More updates may be on the way; we still have to get some of the vet's advice translated just to make sure we got everything (we live in Japan, and our Japanese isn't perfect).

Thanks again, Shawn!


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