Dry Skin/Quill Loss

[ponylover317]

I haven't posted on here in forever but i have a serious question...

Layla is about 2 1/2 now and for the past month maybe I've noticed dandruff all over the felt in Layla's cages. We have very little humidity where I live, especially in winter. Her skin is normal colored, not red or puffy at all, but there is obvious, huge dry skin flakes. What really worries me is that she is losing way more than a normal amount of quills? When you look at her, she doesn't look patchy or anything, I just find the quills in her cages (all have the little ball at the end still there).

I fully bathe her once a week/once every other week, and since she's shown dry skin, I bathe her in an oatmeal bath. I wash her with Johnsons Tear Free Baby Shampoo, which I've been using on her her whole life (though now I'm thinking of switching to some Aveeno oatmeal shampoo).

I've also been putting vitamin E oil on her about once a week, but she only seems to be getting worse, not better. Should i try putting some vitamin E oil in with her food? Is there anything else i should be doing/anything I shouldn't be doing?
Also, am I bathing her too much? I've kept this bath routine her whole life (I've owned her since she was 2 months old) and we've never had this problem before..plus she unfortunately is a very dirty hedgie who loves covering herself in poop -.-

[Lilysmommy]

I'd suggest scheduling a vet appointment to have her checked for a skin infection. There's been a couple other people on here who have had a hedgehog be diagnosed with a fungal infection with no symptoms other than severe dry skin. If oil isn't helping & it's just getting worse, it's possible that could be the cause rather than just low humidity & dryness, especially with the quill loss.

However, I'd also suggest switching to a different shampoo. I've heard a lot about baby shampoo being rather drying, contrary to what you'd think.

[ponylover317]

Thank you, I'll probably try a new shampoo for a week (which probably won't show any results in such a short amount of time) and then go to the vet I wanted to make sure on here first that it wasn't some part of her bathing routine that could be easily fixed before I made a vet appointment. Thank!