HELP Hedgehog won't eat

[amyabbottx]

Ohai,

I have a hedgehog called Violet, she is ab out 5/6 years of age.
She was bleeding everytime she had a wee so I took her the vet today, they haven't experienced a hedgehog so they put her anti boitics twice a day through a syringe.

She's not eating, she's lost weight, what can I do to help her eat?
she normally goes crazy for meal worms, but she won't eat, she has gone so skinny..


What can I do to help her eat!?


Amy

[abbys]

I don't have experience with this myself, but from what I've gathered from being on the forum, blood in the urine could be a sign of uterine problems and sometimes cancer. 6 years is pretty old in hedgehog time, and as much as I don't want to say this, it may just be that nature is taking its course and all you can do is keep her comfortable and give her lots of love.

Are there any vets near you who have dealt with hedgehogs? Do you have a syringe you could get her to eat or drink from? Make sure she's still drinking enough.

Best of luck, and lots of hugs to Violet.

[racheldrown]

If you can, take her to a vet that has experience with exotic animals! It doesn't sound like the antibiotics are helping her.

[tiggyboyd]

Take her to an exotics vet and if she won't eat anything, you could try mashing or blending some wet cat food with warm water and syringe feeding her, just to get something into her. But make sure you don't give her too much or that will be worse for her.

[Lilysmommy]

I merged your two topics since you had answers on both. You only need to post a question once.

A few questions for you..

1) How long has it been since she ate?

2) How long has she been on the antibiotics?

If she's been on them for a few days and she's still having blood in her urine, it might be uterine instead of urinary. I would find another vet that has experience with exotics, hedgehogs, or small mammals, and have them draw urine directly from her bladder (I believe it's called a fine needle aspiration?) to check for signs of a urinary tract or bladder infection. If they don't see anything from that, it's probably uterine and she will probably need to be spayed.

However, the eating is the most important part right now, especially if it's been more than a day. Either crush her kibble up extra fine and mix with water to syringe-feed to her, get baby food (chicken, turkey, sweet potato, peas, and applesauce are all popular favorites) and syringe that to her, or get some Carnivore Care or Hills A/D from a veterinarian to offer her. You need to get food into her, and continue to hand-feed her until she's eating on her own again. She might be not eating because the antibiotics are upsetting her stomach, but it could also be side-effects of being sick. Either way, you'll need to make sure she's getting enough to eat until she feels like eating again. Make sure she's also staying warm, since being sick takes a toll on their body and can lead to hibernation attempts.