Orphaned baby

[lovesnuffles]

Well I have esbilac goat milk ((Which she LOVES)) and esbilac kitten milk, which I thought would be better for her since they eat cat food when they get older anyways. But I'll go tomorrow and get puppy milk. Store is closed now D: I'll just feed her the goat milk for now.

[Nancy]

Keep her on goats milk. It is more easily digested than kitten or puppy. If she's squeaking she is probably hungry.

Are you rubbing her tummy to make sure she eliminates every time she eats? Bloat is the leading cause of death in these wee babies.

Deneen wrote an article on hand feeding babies https://hedgehogcentral.com/handfeed.shtml
She has had the most success hand feeding than anyone else I know so you might want to contact her. She is Hedgiepets on here.

Hand raising is very difficult and you have to feed baby ever 2 hours round the clock for the next 2 weeks and then every 3 hours.

[fracturedcircle]

yeah, even very small kittens need gentle tummy rubs to help them to go potty in such situations.

[Nanobitz]

Originally Posted by fracturedcircle

yeah, even very small kittens need gentle tummy rubs to help them to go potty in such situations.

Oh yes! I had an abandoned Hamster baby who was nursed for less than an hour, I looked in the hamster cage to see the mother died, without delivering any of the babies except one. It broke my heart but ended up feeding the baby hamster 3 drops of milk every hour without sleeping. "Chance" (I named him) made it 2 whole days but ended up dying because he wouldnt pee. I felt horrible but knew I did all I could. And as for Penelope, his mother who died because she couldnt handle the pregnancy, it took me weeks to stop thinking about her. Although I still think about her I know I gave her a good life.

Anyways enough about ranting, haha yeah you have to make sure you rub the "privates" so it will urinate and poop. Unless you dont have to do that with hedgie babies?

-Heather

[nougat]

Originally Posted by lovesnuffles

... and then coming here and getting fussed at for doing everything wrong. I really don't know anything. I'm trying though. That counts for something. I could be like "Oh you guys don't know anything. Ours are fine just how they are. I don't need help." But I do want them to be healthy and I'm also not a know-it-all prick >.>

I looked up the two other threads you made and found no evidence to support your claims.

Most people do everything wrong the first time, there's nothing to be ashamed of when you didn't know any better.

"I could be like "Oh you guys don't know anything. Ours are fine just how they are. I don't need help.""
Yeah, you could react that way and some people do. But why would you sign up and make threads on a forum you didn't want feedback from? You keep saying you're 'getting fussed' at by users, if you're truly unhappy here why do you keep coming back?

It seems to me you're letting your defensive attitude get in the way of people trying to help you. In your original post you're already on the defense, "before anyone fusses, because I know you will". You get in your own way and sabotage any chance there might have been of you benefiting from being here. We all screw up and make mistakes. Sometimes it's hard asking for help and admitting our faults, but we need to swallow our pride and just do it.

I hope you don't take that the wrong way. If you stick around for awhile you'll see we're all here because we care about the welfare of the animals. And that this is one of the most informative forums, with some of the friendliest open-minded people you'll ever meet.

[lovesnuffles]

Ok, I haven't been rubbing her but I wasn't sure you had to do that with hedgies. I'll go do that really quickly! Ahhhh!!! Ok, she peed, but she didn't poop. She did pass gas however. I'm gonna try again before I feed her again to get her to poop.

Sorry to hear about your hamster Heather D: That's sad. I'm always sad when our pet store hamsters die. I'll be really sad when our cool dwarf dies or gets sold. He does backflips D: Not joking!! It's so cool!! He gets on top of his "house" and does backflips off it.

Nancy, thank you for that article. It really gave me some insight. Time to change things!! Bloat sounds scary. Gonna try and prevent that at all costs. I actually do have some Bene-Bac, it came with the formula, so that's awesome o.o And I'm also gonna call my vet and see if he can't get me on tube feeding. It's hard feeding her with a syringe. She doesn't like it, it's hard and her little mouth is tinier than the tiniest syringe. She accepts the bottle, but we have to tweak the nipple we're using. It's long and pointy much like a mama hedgie's nipple. I thought it would be easier on her. Well it is but the dang formula won't pass through. Water passes through just fine, but not milk apparently. I'm kinda finger feeding her right now, letting her suck the milk off my finger. She likes it and she eats happily that way and I'm careful not to let her stick her nose in it, but it takes a while to get enough in her belly lol.

Nougat, maybe I took some of the posts the wrong way, but it did seem like some people were being rude and I am trying. Especially when I mentioned the snake that was loose in my house >.> People seemed to blow that way out of proportion. Even if I was on the defensive and if I was unhappy here, I'd come anyway. I love animals too and you guys are knowledgeable, even more so than me. I do tend to get defensive quickly when I'm feeling threatened, much like any animal, but I'll stand my ground to get the information I need. From my experience on my snake forum, I do realize the best source of information you can get is from a forum from other people who have gone through these experiences already that you can talk to and ask specific questions to that care sheets don't often cover and this is the most active forum on hedgehogs. So I'll stay here.

[Nancy]

Letting her suck it off your finger is fine, just make certain your hands are well washed and disinfected before doing so. I have tried syringe feeding a couple of times and I used a 1 cc/ml syringe and just let baby lick the drop off the end of the syringe.

Here's another article on hand feeding. http://www.hedgehogworld.com/content/view/75/42/

[lovesnuffles]

Yeah I tried to get her to lick it off the syringe. I don't think she likes the hardness of it though.

She hasn't pooped yet .... What can I do for that? She's peed four times since I posted earlier this morning, but no poop. Poor baby, I had no idea I was backing her up so bad D:

[mel2626]

Glad to see you're helping this baby~ best of luck!
I just wanted to add, I saw your other post and in no way was anyone attacking you. The problem is that you were very vague (not specific or certain important details left out) with your questions/comments and it clearly confused people. First you said you had a hedgie loose, then after a few replies with great advice from people you mention btw it's loose at a pet store- which changes the story~in turn, changing the advice. Then a few comments later you say you lost a snake. Of course people are going to think you now mean that the hedgie AND snake are lost at the store! That's a scary thought for anyone who loves hedgehogs (or snakes for that matter)! lol
My suggestion would be: be very clear with your questions and always include the important details. Losing a hedgie in a room in your house (where you are able to do anything necessary to find it) is much different than losing it in a big pet store. I think you were just reacting quickly wanting to find help and maybe that's why the details were left out.
That being said~ you definitely seem to put in extra efforts at work and I hope your boss notices this. Even if you don't end up staying there, going above and beyond what's required of you should get you a great reference for your next job.
The people on this forum are experience and knowledgeable and won't steer you wrong. No one wants you to leave or feel threatened in any way.
(sorry I have no useful info on helping baby hedgehogs...the only thing I can say is..."they're cute!" lol) I'll leave the real advice to the experts.
Again, best of luck!!
~Melissa

[LizardGirl]

Melissa is absolutely right. We can only help and comment on what information you give us, and at times when the information is vague, we are bound to try and help find solutions for the worst case scenario. No one is trying to be harsh at all, only working with what we are given.

Good luck with the baby! For the gas, you may want to try Simethicone drops. They are baby gas drops, you put one drop in a certain amount of formula (of course now I can't remember how much that is) but it will help with the gas and prevent bloat.