[Quillsmith46]

My hedgehog is about 4.5+ years old (I am unsure his exact age when I got him 4 years ago) and has recently been sick. Hes gone to the vet for checks and Xrays and we cant find any tumors/infections/obvious concerns. He seems to be doing better after some medicine for inflammation but lost weight. At only 233 g Im trying to get his weight up as fast as possible but no matter what he seems to stay stable at 233 g. Any advice for helping an older hedgehog gain weight and keep it on?

 

[Kalandra]

What do you feed him now? Occasionally you run into those that need higher calorie diets to maintain weight. Basically when they are sick and are losing weight or I'm struggling to get them to maintain it, I'll start giving them foods I wouldn't normally. Foods like supplementing with canned cat foods, higher fat/calorie kibble. Getting calories into them one way or another.

What does the vet think is going on that he prescribed anti-inflammatory meds?

 

[Quillsmith46]

After the Xrays there was only bloating in his stomach so the meds were for stomach inflammation and anti gas incase there’s inflammation in the linings of his stomach. Ive started feeding him canned kitten food and more eggs and chicken. We have another appointment on Wednesday with the same Vet to see any progress with his stomach. At the moment im wondering if its just because he’s now older and has always been super tiny and active. I always feed him an exotic nutrition commercial food along with bug protein and fresh fruits but he is just struggling to gain weight and needs to ideally be around 300g

 

[Kalandra]

Another thought, you may try to offer him wet food in the morning. I have a couple of active quilled ones who I couldn't keep weight on until they got a meal offered to them when they were in bed. Just close enough that they can stick their head out of bed to eat and then go back to sleep.