Whs

[Lance]

Hello sorry if this has been a repeated thread but after seeing my hedgehog struggling to walk and generally not herself I took her to my local vet, as most in England they don’t seem to be too clued up when it comes to Pygmy Hedgehog’s although this one seemed a tiny bit more then other experiences.

Pebbles ( that’s my hedgehog’s name ) on Sunday night I noticed her struggling to walk and was falling to one side which she bless her demonstrated to the vet on Monday evening he didn’t show much concern and put the issue down to, like he said a sprained leg just like us has humans get and noted a common cause is that she’s caused a injury on her wheel gave us pain relief for pebbles and sent us on our way said let us know how you get on. Since then I haven’t been convinced of the dignosis that was given and start my own investigation which 2night led me to come across this WHS which I’m fearing pebbles has contracted below are her symptoms

• Failing to one side
• Weight loss
• Not her usual huffy self
• Struggling to move
• Loss of appetite
• Less responsive when touched

Any advice I can have from experience or knowledge would be much appreciated I hate seeing her like this she will be 3 in early December and I would love her to be back to her grumpy huffy self but after reading up on WHS I have a horrible feeling that’s not going to happen 😔....

I will be going back to the vets and getting them to run tests on her to hopefully have a better understanding but my cut feeling is that she has WHS, I marked her wheel a couple of weeks back as I noticed she hadn’t been onit by how clean it was now I’m woundering was that the start.

Thanks for your time

[nikki]

It doesn't sound like typical WHS. It usually starts with a foot dragging slightly and progresses very very slowly from that point.

A few things to check, what's the temperature in the cage? do you have a heating set up? do you have a light schedule. As well is she eating at all and if so how much?

I would ask to have some blood work done and possibly a fecal as well. There is no test for WHS and it can only be diagnoses after death with a necropsy.

[Lance]

Thank you , I’ve checked on her overnight and she is really struggling to move around her cage dragging herself along on one side, horrible to see her like this and it’s happened so quickly in a period of 48hrs.

Her cage is at 25degrees which is 77F her cage is kept in our living room as it has been for the three years we have had her, she’s not eating as much only because she’s finding it hard to get to her bowl even when moved closer I’m feeding her meal worms direct she’s taking to them fine and I’m syringe feeding her water calling the vet back today.

[Ria]

I know that its really hard to find exotic vets, but is your vet an exotic one or just a normal vet ??
Although the vet can help, if they say shes fine when clearly shes not may be worth taking her to a differnt vet, even if its a bit of a drive. An exotic vet will be able to help as. Though with a leg problem so should a vet that works with small animals.

If you know theres something wrong then get another opion from a differnt vet. It may just be they dont really know and another vet does.

[Lance]

She’s booked in today with the same vet so see what this brings she has got a lot worse since her last visit on Monday. Now she is literally on one side sliding herself along.

The vet has experience with exotic pets I believe he deals a lot with snakes & is from South Africa so I’m hoping today’s visit can shed some more light on the problem. My gut feeling is that it’s going to be very hard for her to recover from this. I really hope I’m wrong

[Ria]

Oh hope things go well and they find out whats wrong. I’m sure once its found whats wrong there will be something to help her recover.

[Lance]

Just returned from the vet, he has gave her a small dose of steroids & antibiotics he said he’s not expecting miracles but we need to ring him tomorrow to give him a update.

After speaking to a recognised breeder she suspected a ear infection or a stroke unfortunately for us the vet could’nt see no sign of a ear infection I hope he is wrong as the only other explanation would be damage to the brain why she’s not functioning correctly. She’s resting know hopefully she becomes a little bit better over night.

[nikki]

To me it does sound like something neurological, such as a tumour and unfortunately she is at an age where tumours often show up. I'm so sorry for this.