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My boy might have cancer...

1K views 14 replies 3 participants last post by  PricklyPete 
#1 ·
He hasn’t ate on his own in 21 days, I’ve been syringe feeding for 19 days. He stopped wheeling, and isn’t acting himself. He pushes the syringe away with his paw when I feed, then for the first time, threw up this morning. The vet took xrays and gave fluids, and what is suspected is cancer or another disease.

I know hedgehogs are extremely prone to this but I cannot imagine losing him to something so horrible. I wish I could take whatever he has and put it on myself so he doesn’t have to go through it. Please send good thoughts to him, he needs it right now. We will have the xray results tomorrow.
 
#2 ·
The results came back and they don’t see any masses, he has a healthy heart and lungs, no cancer...

The next step would be to take him to the Veterinary Teaching School in Pullman and I can’t do that because my mom has brain cancer and we can’t leave her here.

I don’t know what to do or how else to help him, he seemed like he was doing better the last two days but today he’s acting odd and breathing fast. The vet told us to just keep doing what we’re doing and giving the probiotic daily.

I have no explanation as to why he’s declining like this and it’s so frustrating I just want my baby to be okay
 
#3 ·
Are there any exotic vets in your area? What symtoms does he have besides not eating and breathing fast? Do they have him on anything besides the probiotics? It will help some of the digestion issues but it sounds like there may be respretory issues. A second vet opinion would be a good idea.
 
#4 ·
I had to say goodbye to him today...there was nothing else we could have done and he was suffering. I wish more than anything else in the world that my little boy could still be here, I’ll miss you and love you forever my sweet boy. Im so sorry I couldn’t save you. I’m so sorry.
 
#5 ·
He was shaking when he was walking so neurological issues were suspected as well. Other vets here wouldn’t see him, we have no exotic vets in my area and they gave me the option of giving him more medicine and waiting a few days to decide, but he wasn’t doing good at all. He was struggling to breathe and I couldn’t put him through more of that. He’s gone through so much these last few months and he was struggling so much today. I wish I could have saved him. I would have done anything if I could but even our vets here thought there was nothing else we could do.
 
#7 ·
Thank you, this truly was the hardest thing... I just hope it was the right choice for him. There will always be the feeling of what if, but I just hope I did what was best for him.

If there’s ever a world shortage of cilantro, he’s out there somewhere eating it all. 😞
 
#8 ·
I keep looking back at the videos I took of him, walking around and exploring yesterday for the first time in a while. To barely being able to walk and being so shaky when doing so.
He had a lifetime warranty against WHS so I don’t think it was that but something was definitely wrong with him neurologically I think.
I keep trying to justify that I helped him by letting him go but I miss him so much. I feel guilty that I didn’t bring him back home with more meds and see but he was struggling so much I didn’t want him to suffer any more. Especially when the vet said it wouldn’t help in the long run.

This is so hard, I miss my baby
 
#9 ·
The vet called me back tonight, she stayed late to do the necropsy. She found a growth on his spleen that went undetected on the xrays.

She wanted me to make sure I knew there was nothing else I could have done to save him, and I’m so thankful she did that. Knowing what happened finally made me stop crying.

Even knowing how common it is for them to get cancer, I never would have expected it to happen to him. She’s going to run more tests on it tomorrow.
 
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