URI second in two months

[staci00]

Hi All~
I am new to caring for a hedgehog. We read as much as possible before Mr. Wrinkles came home, he was a gift for my daughters birthday. We have had him 2 months. In the time frame he has been sick twice. Both times with an upper respiratory infection. He is sick now (2nd time) and taking .06cc Clavamox, three times a day.

Initially he came home and we used aspen bedding after he had his first bout we changed to carefresh, when i noticed he was nose licking and sneezing a bit more than normal we changed his bedding to fleece. A few days later he had green tingled boogies. We took him to the vet yesterday and started the antibiotics last night.

I was hoping someone can offer some help, he has been sick twice in two months. He is still eating and drinking, but I wonder where I am going wrong He is about 11 months old. It is about 75f in the house, standard temp, this is not achieved with a heat lamp. He is eating dry kibble, Purina One (healthy kitten formula) he has snubbed his nose at fresh fruit/veggies.

Anyway, I really don't know what I can do differently. Anyone have any suggestions??

[lmg_319]

Do you have a thermometer in his cage

[staci00]

um....no I don't (yikes) It seems as though I should???

[Immortalia]

Yes you should always have a thermometer in the cage. Some hedgies are very temperature sensitive so having a thermometer will help keep an eye on it.

When I'm at my apartment the heat setting is usually set to about 77-78 for the cage to read 74-75. And in the summer the ac is set to 80 so that it reads 76-77(ac air feels colder than it reads so I bump up the temp for summer ac).

And that's just for a 2 room aparment. I would assume there to be a larger fluctuation in a house.

[MissC]

I second Immortalia...my apartment is the same: can't get it below 77...but I notice the thermostat on aaaaaall the time...well, it goes on and off to make sure the cage stays at 77 but that shows how often the temp fluctuates and this is just a one-bedroom.

What type of detergent are you using for the fleece?
What type of litter?
What type of hidey spot?

[susanaproenca]

As all the above posters said, temperature is very important.

Just one thought -- it might be that the antibiotic never got rid of the infection in the first place. What antibiotic was she taking on the first two times she was sick, and for how long?

I hope she feels better soon.

[susanaproenca]

Forgot to mention. You might want to give him some probiotics. From being on antibiotics for so long, her gastrointestinal system is probably very irritated.

[staci00]

thank you everyone....i'll go out and get the thermometer and warming lamp now.

as for the detergent I use dreft ultra. his play toys include plastic tubing, a hanging style hammock for relaxation, he likes to burrow under his blankies,he has an empty shoe box that has a circle cut on both sides to make a tunnel. so far he hates his flying saucer (will be getting a wheel in near future). as for the litter box, i haven't used litter. inside the litter tray i placed unbleached organic paper towels. mmmm, his medicine. first URI 10days of clavamox. this is the second infection and he is on .06cc of clavamox for ten days and the vet wrote an order to continue up to a total of 20 days. the vet said he saw a large amount of wbc on the slide with and increase number of neutraphils specifically. sigh, we just love him to pieces and want him well.

off i go to get the cage goodies. thank you again everyone, i appreciate all the help

ps.........good idea about the probiotics.

[Kalandra]

Another thought is to have a culture & sensitivity test done to ensure that the antibiotic you are using is really the right one. It would also ell you what type of bacteria you are dealing with.

The bacteria may be slightly resistant to the antibiotics you are using, killing it off so that the symptoms disappear for a while but comes back.

[PJM]

Welcome to HHC! I hope Mr. Wrinkles gets to feeling better soon!