Hedgy

02/10/07

I found a hedghog while out walking the dogs almost 2 weeks ago. The hedgehog was on the road in bright daylight and was walking unsteadily like her legs were weak and wobbly. Her right eye was crusted over and she sounded snuffly so I took Hedgy with me and took her to the vets.

She was started on antibiotics and I wormed her in case she had lungworm. I thought we would keep her 2 weeks or so and then put her back out before it gets cold. But as soon as her eye was better, she started coughing badly, sounded like a machine gun. I recorded the cough and Michaela thought it might be lungworm. By the time the respiratory infection and cough stopped, the right eye was bad again. As soon as I stopped cleaning it or stopped antibiotics, it got crusty again. And then it was too cold to put her back out so she stayed the winter. Not that she minded as she loved sleeping on the rug under the radiator, all stretched out.

Update 19/04/08

Hedgy is getting quite tame, knows when it's feeding time, comes when I call her- how on earth am I supposed to release her??? I haven't been put on earth to take in wild animals and release them again... I might get in touch with a bigger hedgehog rescue as to where to release her. Badgers are (the only?) animals that can kill a hedgehog and I found Hedgy near a badger set so don't want to release her here.

Update 17/07/08

Then I finally took Hedgy to the vets (03/07/08) to have her chronically infected right eye checked under anaesthetic. Michaela said the eye is set further back in the head than the left eye and this makes it vulnerable to infections. I'd seen that the eye looked different and wasn't “bulging” like the healthy left eye. Michaela said she'll just need an antibiotic eye ointment from time to time. So it looks like she's non-releasable so I'll have to find her a hedgehog rescue. I have no idea whether hedgehogs are social animals or not and what she makes of her different life here, whether she's happy. But Michaela had a lot of fun with her. First she was too big (fat) to fit in the gas “chamber”. But they eventually managed. Then Hedgy did a big yawn as she was falling asleep from the gas which was apparently very cute and funny. Her lungs and heart sounded good and I'd asked Michaela to cut her claws and sex her. I'd been calling Hedgy a “him” but Michaela thinks it's a “she”.

Update 05/01/09

Obviously Hedgy is still with us. She lives free in the living room with the dogs, cats and skunks (at first she was caged at night). Has her own bed but will also sleep in the skunk bed- with or without them.

Over spring/ summer/ autumn 2008, she spent a few hours every night outside. Once the last ferrets came in, I let her out and she ran in the garden with dogs, cats, skunks and ferret Bobby when he was still alive. I actually thought I could leave her out all night but when all the others came in, she didn't want to be left out by herself and would climb onto the step by the back door and scratch at the cat flap, she was actually trying sooo hard to climb up and through it... So she spends nights indoors and runs around the downstairs...

One "funny" story... When we first had Hedgy, I let her run in the garden one afternoon. Blossom skunk came out and next thing she jumped onto Hedgy with both front feet. Like she thought Hedgy was prey. Needless to say she did this once and never again...

Oh, and she is pretty much toilet trained. I put her onto a toilet after feeding and she usually goes. But she also often goes during the night and often goes to one of the skunk or ferret toilets.