The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

The Good

Pinball seemed to be in good spirits this morning. Not only had he been up sometime through the night to eat some of his food, but this morning he wanted to go for a run. He was buzzing all over the place. Of course he was still tipping over on his side every few minutes, but he was strong enough to pull himself back up and keep going. Here is a photo I snapped while he was standing on his own without any support.



The Bad
Here lately I cringe everytime I hear one of my animals sneezing. All I can think is "oh no not another sick one." Not to mention those vet bills just keep mounting.


The Ugly
Casper's skin scraping was normal at the vet on Tuesday. The doctor is puzzled as to why he continues to lose quills. The vet suggested that we try a round of antibiotics with him to see if this helps stop the loss. Today during his morning injection, Casper made a huge jump which sent the needle out of his body and caused a large bloody lump to form. I had to apply a cold compress to stop the bleeding and try to get the swelling reduced. This photo was taken several hours later.

Sprinkles Now Sick

Add another sick one to my list. For the last two days I've detected blood in Sprinkles' urine. I suspect a urinary tract infection. Since I already had amoxicillin for my other hedgehog, I thought I'd try giving some to Sprinkles. However, being her huffy self she refuses to allow me to give her any. I even tried putting some on food to see if she would take it that way but I didn't have any luck. So we are off to the vet later this evening for an exam.

Update at 6:35 PM - Just got back from the vet. He also believes that Sprinkles has an UTI. He has prescribed Lincocin twice daily. This will have to be done with injections since Sprinkles won't take any oral antiobiotics. This is the first time I've had to use needles with an animal.

Also made a follow-up appointment for Casper on Tuesday since he is continuing to lose quills

Mass Removed

Pinball returned to the animal hospital today for some additional surgery. The doctor removed the black spot on his chest. He said it seemed to be just dead tissue on the top and came off like a scab but underneath there was some yucky looking stuff that the vet removed. It is being sent to the lab to check for cancer. To me it looked like a large mass for such a little hedgie. My guess is this is what has been causing his mobility problems.

Staples were used to close his incision. So I will need to keep this area as clean as possible while continuing his doses of amoxicillin. I was instructed to avoid giving the predinosolone as long as he is eating since this steroid would hinder his ablility to heal his incision. In ten days we will go back to the hospital to have Pinball's staples removed.

Pinball went nuts in the car on the trip back home. I think it was a combination of being scared, the seditative wearing off, and the staples. He started pacing in his carrier. Then he fell on his back and couldn't get up. This set him off in a panic. I pulled the car over to set him right side up. When I opened the carrier door he took a leap out of his carrier and plunged off the seat. I caught his hind legs before he fell completely to the floor. Hoping I hadn't pulled out any staples, I had to hold him firmly in my arms for a few minutes to calm him. After that he was OK the rest of the way home. The poor little guy has had such a rough couple of months.

Pinball: Off Steroids

Hours after taking Pinball (hedgehog) off the prednisolone, his symptoms were worse than ever. He was unable to walk to his food dish without simply collapsing. He lay there until I helped him back to his feet. I ended up giving him a small dose of the steroid later that night. Tuesday I didn't administer any steroid and he seemed to get along better. Tonight while he was eating his supper I noticed something new to add to my behavior list for the vet. While eating, Pinball suddenly just froze in mid-bite. Then his body started jumping slightly. It reminded me of someone having seizures. After only a few seconds this stopped and Pinball went back to eating.

Pinball Update 2

Pinball continued to eat on his own all weekend. The area under his left arm has changed to a very dark black color and he seems to be especially off balance on this left side. I talked to the vet for a third time today. He wants to administer two more doses of steroids on Tuesday and Thursday and observe any changes. If things haven't improved even more by Friday, Pinball will return to the animal hospital.

Pinball Update

I did a follow up vet appointment for my hedgehog, Pinball, last night. After five days on antibiotics he still couldn't walk without wobbling around and falling on his side. I've had to continue to syringe liquids and foods. There has been no evidence of urination or bowel movements for days. Plus a dark discoloration has appeared just under his left arm.

The doctor thinks the dark area is from an injury possibly when he fell over at some time in his cage. I was expecting to have to give Pinball fluids while he was at the hospital but the doctor felt like he wasn't dehydrated so it wouldn't be necessary. I was instructed to continue with the antibiotics and the syringe feedings. He also gave me a steriod, prednisolone, to administer for three days.

Hours after administering the first dose of prednisolone, Pinball is attempting to finally eat and drink on his own. He is still very weak and off balance but he has been able to move from one end of his small hospital cage to the other. I also had to clean up poop in his cage this morning. Yeah! Never thought I'd get so excited about poop. :)

Hedgehog Updates

Casper received his second Revolution treatment for mites along with another oatmeal bath. He has continued to lose quills and looks rather bald now along his backside. I have noticed some regrowth of quills in a couple of areas.



I thought Pinball was recovering from surgery quite well, but then we had a horrible setback over the weekend. First he stopped eating and drinking and became very lethargic. At first I just thought he was cold so I got out the heating pad for additional warmth. By the third day of not eating, I decided to try to syringe some pedialyte into his mouth. While doing this I discovered that Pinball was unable to walk around on his own without wobbling and then tipping over on his side. Immediately I feared WHS and decided to get him to a vet right away. The vet thinks it could possible be an infection so he started him on a round of antibiotics. I'm still trying to syringe food and liquids into his mouth along with his medicine. So far there has been very little improvement.