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ANY advice is ADORED - Concerned Hoglet Owner

1047 Views 3 Replies 4 Participants Last post by  sc2001, 
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Hello All,

I am a new hoglet owner! I got my little Gus about a month ago exactly and hes grown immensely since I got home, eating LOTS of the food he was SENT HOME WITH. He is about twelve weeks old now and he is my wittle baby who I greatly adore. Before I got my little guy I did lots of research but this is boggling me and I would really appreciate ANY advice on what to do.

Two days ago I came home from work and out of nowhere three of his little paws, both ears, and one small spot on his face all have bumpy swollen sores. I keep doing more research but I think I am just freaking myself out even more which is why I came to you guys -- the hedgehog owners and masters!!!! The one paw is the worse and its about twice the size of his other normal paws. I immediately gave him a short warm bath, cleaned and sanitized his home, and turned to Google.

I haven't noticed any change in habits (sleeping, eating, drinking, playing, ect) at all so I was hoping after a day it would start to go down and thought maybe he just licked something funny or something. No luck. Today it is the same, if not slightly worse, and I am getting nervous. I do not live ANYWHERE near an exotic animal vet....

After the things I have read and sad gross pictures I have come across on the internet, I came to the conclusion it could POSSIBLY be mites or ringworm.

I came home this evening and decided to clean his cage out again. I noticed his food bowl basically empty and I also noticed something very interesting -- small gross wiggly dudes in his food... WORMS! Other interesting thing, lots of quills in his bed that I cleaned out yesterday....

The catch is, I ordered new food a day ago since I was getting low on food anyways. Now that I found these gross worms in his food tonight, I have thrown away the rest of what I had left that is now clearly worm infested.... So until his new insectivore food comes in (hopefully by next week), what can I feed my little baby? I have seen people feed them high protein cat food but I know its awful for them for several reasons.

So my questions are:

Does this sound like ringworm? If not suggestions? If so, whats next?

and

Can I give my lover cat food until his new worm-free food comes in? If not, what can I feed my baby????

I really REALLY appreciate any insight I can get to help Gus and I out. I am not looking forward to driving four hours to an exotic vet, but if I need to then thats what I must do! Please help.

Much love,
A concerned Hoglet Owner -- Aka, Ariel

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Unfortunately, you need to find a veterinarian that will be willing to look at your hedgehog and to learn about how to treat them. You don't necessarily need an exotic vet, but you do need one that is willing to research, learn and is willing to take suggestions from you (as you research about medical care at the same time). As a hedgehog owner you are going to run into instances where you need them and this sounds like it is one of those times.

The images you post are helpful, but unfortunately there is no way for any of us to diagnose what is causing the problem. I have thoughts about what could be going on, like fungal infections, bacterial infections, allergic reactions, mites, etc. Far too many items and almost all require medication to treat.
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Most people here feed cat food. It is considered the best food you can buy for a hedgehog at this time. Not sure where you heard it is awful from... Just make sure it is a good quality.
I would steer clear of all hedgehog food. It is basically garbage.
Like Kalandra said, he definitely needs to go to a vet
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sc2001
Hi there. When my hedgie had mites, she also had swollen looking sores. First she had one of her foot and then she developed more and more. The only way you can tell for sure what it is, you're really going to need to see a vet. Like Kalandra said, it doesn't NEED to be an exotic vet. it would be better if it was but you just need someone that cares enough to learn about treatment and help u. If it is mites the vet needs to treat you're hedgie with revolution at a small dose. That cleared up my hedgies mites quickly. You should also bring a fecal sample so the vet can look for parasites.
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