Hedgehog Happenings
On the 27th August, this poor little hedgehog was brought in found by a concerned member of the public. With severe flystrike, a condition where flies lay eggs around the anus for them to hatch out and eat the animal from the inside, as well as being underweight, dehydrated & cold. All the maggots and eggs were removed by hand and by flushing the system out. Even with intensive care we thought he would not make it.
After warming him up on a heat pad, picking out maggots & fly eggs for an hour and bathing the wounds he still didn’t seem interested in food so he was given pain relief and sub cut fluids as well as antibiotics. He weighed in at just over 100g…
In a few days this little guy made a huge turnaround and found a huge appetite! To be honest, when a hedgehog doesn’t eat we try to tempt them with anything! Puppy milk and mashed up mealworms got this little fella up and about.
In this image we are weighing him again to see if he has put on any weight…
Todays weigh in at 379g! This means that he can move outdoors and acclimatise to the weather. This helps to encourage them to forage and nest for themselves whilst ensuring they are nocturnal. Fingers crossed for a release before Winter sets in where he will be taken back to where he was found – to hopefully repopulate!
So far this year we have had around 30 hedgehogs in our hospital – all with different needs and problems. Although we do our utter best for these endangered animals we can only do what we can with the resources we have.
If you love hedgehogs and would like to support us with our case then the best way is to sponsor a hedgehog or leave us a donation.
By sponsoring a hedgehog for a year or donating to us, you can help buy in all the necessary feed, medication and support for our prickly friends.
Thank you