So basially I was out of town for a few days, and my younger sister (who's 13) said she'd take care of my hedgie for me. I thought it'd be okay because she's usually pretty mature, and I was about that age when I got my first hedgie. Well when I got back and went to pick him up, I knew something was wrong. He was extremely cold, wouldn't uncurl, and I legitimately thought he was dead at first.
She swore up and down that she fed him and gave him water every day, as well as kept a blanket over his cage at night, when the temperature dropped.
I immediately warmed him up as best I could and offered him dry cat food and meal worms (what I usually feed him) to try and get him to uncurl. When he still wouldn't, I was desperate so I tried a few other things. I offered him some wet cat food and he almost immediately uncurled, and although he was a little lethargic and and unbalanced, he started wolfing it down. I didn't want to take it away and replace it with the dry food he'd turned down earlier, and after a few minutes, he drank a bunch of water and went back to the food.
As of right now, he seems pretty back to his usual bright eyed, grumpy self, although I will, of course, be keeping an eye on him, and my sister will not, under any circumstances, be left to watch him again. I would like to take him to a vet, as there is one in our area that will treat hedgehogs, but they're non-emergency and have been closed for a few hours now.
What I want to know though is will giving him the wet food hurt him? It's Fancy Feast, which is the same brand as the dry food he's eaten for years, but I don't know if that makes a difference. Google is being entirely unhelpful, and the people here seem to know better anyway. I'm just really worried about him. Was this a hibernation attempt? I mean, our house almost never gets below 77-78, so I don't know how it could've happened, but the symptoms seem to fit.
She swore up and down that she fed him and gave him water every day, as well as kept a blanket over his cage at night, when the temperature dropped.
I immediately warmed him up as best I could and offered him dry cat food and meal worms (what I usually feed him) to try and get him to uncurl. When he still wouldn't, I was desperate so I tried a few other things. I offered him some wet cat food and he almost immediately uncurled, and although he was a little lethargic and and unbalanced, he started wolfing it down. I didn't want to take it away and replace it with the dry food he'd turned down earlier, and after a few minutes, he drank a bunch of water and went back to the food.
As of right now, he seems pretty back to his usual bright eyed, grumpy self, although I will, of course, be keeping an eye on him, and my sister will not, under any circumstances, be left to watch him again. I would like to take him to a vet, as there is one in our area that will treat hedgehogs, but they're non-emergency and have been closed for a few hours now.
What I want to know though is will giving him the wet food hurt him? It's Fancy Feast, which is the same brand as the dry food he's eaten for years, but I don't know if that makes a difference. Google is being entirely unhelpful, and the people here seem to know better anyway. I'm just really worried about him. Was this a hibernation attempt? I mean, our house almost never gets below 77-78, so I don't know how it could've happened, but the symptoms seem to fit.