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Dry skin, quill loss, not mites or quilling. What is it?

5K views 23 replies 7 participants last post by  abbys 
#1 ·
Hey everyone,

It's been ages since I've posted, I've just been so busy. Anyway, recently Lily has had very bad dry skin. There are pretty big chunks of dry skin coming off, and she is losing several quills a day. Lily is about 2 years and 3 months old, so this isn't quilling. I did the black shirt check for mites and didn't find anything, and she isn't scratching. She does have a vet appointment on Saturday morning, as some of her poops (warning: about to get disgusting) have been mucousy and I'm getting worried. I'm going to try and get flaxseed oil for her skin sometime this weekend, but in the meantime, does anyone have an idea about what this is? I know that sometimes dry skin is just a symptom of something more. Thank you!
 
#2 ·
As long as you're going to the vet anyway, you can try asking the vet's opinion as to whether it could be a skin infection. Perhaps he could take a sample to test, just in case. You'll want to hold off on putting oil on the skin till you find out - it can seal the pores & make infection worse. If it's not any kind of infection though, oil on the skin & in the food might help. Oatmeal baths can help a little as well, and there's a product called Humilac for dogs/cats that has gotten pretty popular & many people have said it works well and quickly.
 
#4 ·
Well I just got back from the vet. After taking a skin scrape and a skin tape, my vet said that it certainly looked like a skin infection. She didn't find any mites, but she went ahead and put Revolution her skin and we have another appointment in two weeks. More Revolution is planned. We got antibiotics (it's a banana marshmallow flavored goop) that are to be given twice a day. Looks like I'm gonna be having some fun with antibiotics and a grumpy hedgie!:) But overall, she was very well-behaved. :D All her fleece is being heavily washed, and everything was scrubbed with hot water/bleach solution. Sorry for the long post, I just wanted to cover everything. :)
 
#5 ·
Thanks for the update! :) I hope the antibiotics help and her skin starts feeling better soon. A note for the antibiotics - sometimes they can upset the tummy since they'll kill good bacteria in the gut as well as the bad bacteria. If you start seeing green poops, you can help by giving her probiotics like Bene-Bac (pet store) or acidophilus (human pharmacy, by the vitamins). Just a pinch on the food each night, just make sure it's at least a couple hours after the antibiotics so they don't render it useless. And if you need help with getting those antibiotics into her...there's a handy video stickied at the top of the Health section. :) Good luck & let us know how she's doing!
 
#7 ·
Ok so there was no Bene-Bac at the Petsmart. :roll: but I did order it off Amazon when I got home. Hopefully it'll be here before the antibiotics start affecting her digestive system. I do have a question about it, though. When i give it to her, how much should i give her? It comes in tubes (I bought a pack of four), so should i give her the whole tube or less? Also, will her quills grow in? Or will she just be bald there forever? Thanks!
 
#10 ·
Just finished giving Lily her first dose of antibiotics. It actually wasn't painfully horrible like I expected, but to be fair a large amount ended up around her mouth :lol: It looked like she had rabies! Eventually she licked it off, though. Overall, pretty successful! :)
 
#11 ·
Woohoo! :) Another thing you can do to help get it in her (if she seems pretty "eugh" about the taste) is to mix it with some fruit or chicken baby food. Suck up the meds first, then about the same amount of baby food, then shake the syringe carefully to mix them together. That helped with getting meds into Lily.

I'm not actually sure about Bene-Bac either, just know it's an option for probiotics! I always used acidophilus with Lily, which was a powder. I would guess you wouldn't need the whole tube...my first guess would be to do a squirt about the size of a dime or so? There might be instructions on or in the packaging too. I'll see if I can do a search and find anyone who has better instructions for Bene-Bac.
 
#13 ·
I found this for dosage..hopefully it helps

Pocket Pets and other small mammals: Under 1 lb, use ¼ to ½ gram at birth and on days 3, 5, and 7. These levels should be given before and after marked environmental changes. Two feedings, 3 days apart are recommended. Place gel on food or directly into mouth.
 
#14 ·
Thank you all for your help! :) I haven't given her a bath since I figured that the Revolution would need to stay on her skin for awhile. She also had a bath on Friday anyway. I looked for acidophilus when we were at the pharmacy, but they only had it in pills and I was worried about over or under dosing her and just crushing it up and everything. She seems ok with the taste, but I'll use the baby food if she starts rejecting it. (She hates healthy things, unless it's unseasoned chicken/beef/eggs :roll:) Thank you for looking up the doses nikki! That helps a bunch! :) She does have green poop, so the Bene-Bac will hopefully help when it arrives. I'll update again tomorrow!
 
#15 ·
Sorry I missed an update! I just got really busy all of a sudden. The Bene-Bac should be here today. She's been taking her antibiotics well, and it looks like her quills are growing back in on the bald spot and her skin is starting to look better. The Bene-Bac is going to be the "fun" part of the night. :)
 
#16 ·
So the first dose of Bene-Bac went well! Evidently it's delicious, because she licked it all off the end of the tube as soon as I got it near her face. :lol: I gave her the antibiotics before the Bene-Bac (about 2 hours before) so I'm hoping that was enough time for the antibiotics to work. Anyway, I'll update tomorrow!
 
#18 ·
Last night we ran out of antibiotics. It was supposed to last until next Saturday, but evidently not. She missed her dose last night and her dose this morning, but the vet gave us a new bottle with a little extra just in case. I did ask the vet about the Bene-Bac and if it was okay to give her that with the antibiotics just in case, but it's fine. :) My vet was so impressed that I knew about the Bene-Bac and taking care of her and everything that she actually asked me where I was getting all my information from! :lol: I said an online communtiy full of breeders and hedgehog experts/owners. Lily's second does of Bene-Bac isn't going to be until tomorrow since the dose that nikki found and the package says give once every three days. But she is definitely on the road to recovery! :grin:
 
#21 ·
Lily has already been to the vet and is being treated for mites and a skin infection. She is due back to the vet for a second treatment of Revolution next Saturday. :) Nothing really new besides another total cleaning of the cage today (I did a mini-clean this week when I washed everything with hot water and gave her a new liner and all that). She's getting Bene-Bac at about 9 this evening since she gets her night meds at 6 so I figured that is spread out enough. That's pretty much it for today! :D
 
#22 ·
Well, the last vet visit was today. The amount of bacteria on her skin has extremely decreased, and the vet said one more week of anti-biotics and then Lily should be all better! :-D Thanks everyone for all your help! :)
 
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