we have an adult hedgehog living under the house

[carole]

ok an update on the hedgehog, i have been feeding him on a regular basis and making sure he had fresh water daily, as was very thirsty and it is very hot here in NZ at the moment, we are having a late summer, supposed to be autumn now and a drought upon us, not good.anyhow to cut a long story short, i had not seen him out during the day much, but he was eating all his biscuits, until two days ago, he was not looking good so i decided to capture him, a very easy task and whisk him off to the vets.

Anyhow it seems he has infected dermatitis and so he was given ivomac and an antibiotic injection i also have to give him daily antibiotics in his water daily, so he is now in a pen, that i borrowed from my friend and living in the laundry, which is not ideal for us, as it is our front door and very small, so i have to move him out to use the washing machine as that would really scare him.

He is still very wobbly and after the treatment did not seem at all well, this morning i found him lying on his back feet in the air and i thought the worst, but no he was ok, but worried about him being like that and not being able to turn over,i have a heat pad in there for him, but he insists on sitting on the bit that is not heated, i have been in touch with the rescue lady and she has given me advice, say's i am doing everything right and you can only hope for the best.
There is no improvement as such on his skin, so i am not sure if our BENSON will live, but we are doing our best, any advice or experience with wild hedgehogs is appreciated.

I probably have to take him back for two further injections of imovac for the mange, however i read on the internet it can kill them sometimes, so confused and the vet never said anything like that, not that they are very experienced with dealing with hedgehogs.

And benson may well be a girl, so bessy if so, lol.

[Karen]

Aww, bless you for helping, anyway! We'll be saying a prayer for Benson!

[carole]

Thanks I think benson is gonna need those prayers.

here is a couple of pics of Benson, not very good ones, but you can see close up around his face does not look too healthy, and also you can see the grey caked mud looking type stuff on is back in the second pic, which is the dermatitis.

He only seems to be eating once a day at the moment, and he did drink quite a bit today, which is great as he is getting his meds, his antibiotics through his water, so fingers crossed, he is still very wobbly,and is determined not to sleep on the heating pad, so i just have to hope for the best, i am not sure he will make it, but we can only but try.

[phesina]

Awwwww, Carole, aren't you good! Prayers and healing energies for dear Benson.

[carole]

well Pat i just could not leave him to suffer, i could see he was sick, everything deserves to live, and if we can help it to survive then i will do the best i possibly can, the lady from the hedgehog rescue rang me and really helped my confidence in taking care of him, as i know nothing about them really,i did my research on line too, but that can also be a bit confusing, she said i was doing everything right, just had to make sure he was warmer as they can get hypothermia so easily especially when sick, and that is one of the reasons he is wobbly, so i had the cats heating pad i have never used, so putting it to good use ,if only benson would sit on it, still it does tend to give the whole cage warmth and he was surviving outside, and the nights here are getting cooler, and the mornings, but plenty of heat during the day,so he has to be better than when he was outside, he has meds now and warmth, he did have water and food though as i has started caring for him a week ago.

Yes just have to keep those fingers crossed he will get well and we can release him back in to the wild.

Must be so stressful for him really, hearing all the noises he is not used to, i try to not bother him and keep noise levels around him down, but it is not easy in a small house, and tomorrow i need to get hubby to shift him in to the hallway so i can do the washing, as it will be very scarey for him when the washing machine goes on spin.

yep gonna need a lot of luck i think for him to survive, but we shall try our hardest.

[phesina]

Carole, God bless you and your husband, and God bless Benson.

[carole]

Thank you pat well another night gone and still with us ate all his biscuits and was worried as had not done a poop,but yep done that too lol,so maybe just maybe things are looking better,here's hoping ,cage is lovely and warm and he won't sleep on the side where the heating pad is,so he must be warm enough,those prayers must be working.