[cocogamby]

I am about to purchase a hedgie from a local pet store! ( I know alot of you don't support this , but I love her and I think she loves me already too) She has flakey skin. I am pretty sure that it isn't mites ,but is the only way I can be sure a skin scrap. She doesn't seem irritated by her skin. I was wondering what all I can do! By the way her name is going to be Rollitheanne aka Rolli! I have spent the last three days with her in the pet store and she is already sleeping on me and sticking her little legs out while she sleeps. I have never had a hedgie before but I have always liked them. I have done my reading and read alot of the very imformative posts on here! I appreciate any help!

 

[mel2626]

Hi there!

How amazing that you've already formed a bond~ very special. <3
I won't touch on the petstore thing because I'm sure others will. I'd recommend reading through all of the main "sticky" topics at the top of each Forum to be sure that you have everything prepared at home before bringing baby home.

As far as the flakes of skin: Do you know how old she is? It's very possible that she could be quilling which would account for the dry skin. While my hedgie hasn't gotten overly dry skin through quilling, I know other people who's hedgie's have gotten extremely dry skin to the point of flaking off because of going through quilling. For ways to diagnose mites, that is better left for someone else to answer because as I understand the only way to truly diagnose is through the skin scraping.

I wish you the best of luck. Hopefully she's just going through her growing stage!

 

[Immortalia]

There's actually no 100% for sure way of knowing if it's mites, as even skin scrapings can come back false negative just because the mites weren't at the spot where the skin sample was taken.

Have you found a vet who looks at hedgies? I would suggest bringing her in after you get her anyways for a full checkup, and the vet may suggest to treat her with Revolution anyways as a precaution. And make sure they use Revolution and not Ivermectin.

After getting her treated, you can try supplementing her with flax seed oil. Buy the ones that come in capsules, pop one open and drip onto her food every 3-4 days. You can ease off to once/week once her skin is better. (Just a warning also, is that not ALL hedgies like the smell/taste of the oil, so you have to make sure she'll eat it before leaving her for the night.)

You can also give her an oatmeal bath, followed by a flax oil rinse. If you do a search (upper right corner) for Aveeno oatmeal, lots of threads will come up. ^_^ The same goes for flax seed, and dry skin.

 

[cocogamby]

Thank you for the replies. I just got home with her. I've been with her all day and couldn't stand to leave her again , so i went ahead and purchased her. I have her cage, bedding, worms, baby food, and hedgie food... I am happy to have her home..Thanks for replies.. YAY :mrgreen:

 

[krbshappy71]

I only have one word for you: PICTURES!!!!

Ok more words, Congrats on your new baby!

 

[nikki]

what kind of hedgie food do you have?

 

[cocogamby]

the 8 in 1 food... that is what he had them on.. I will post pictures.. by the way she is about a year old and i think pinto or tobiano.. lol I don't know

 

[mel2626]

Yes, pictures indeed!!!

Edit: I forgot to ask how her skin is doing.

 

[Immortalia]

Once she has settled in, you may want to start adding good quality cat kibble to her food mix. 8 in1 is "ok" but not "great". And perhaps with the addition of better food, it would help her skin as well, but it would definitely give her better nutritional values.

 

[cocogamby]

so what kind of cat food do you suggest? Science diet or ? I also attached a picture of her.. am I doing that right or how do I post pics?

 

[cocogamby]

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=4 ... 1123367432 this should show u my pics

 

[Immortalia]

Science Diet is a crap food. Too many additives.

If you look at the diet and nutrition forum, you'll see a sticky with Reaper's Cat Food List.
But to give you a basic idea, the more popular brands you see listed here are Wellness, Natural Balance, Solid Gold, Blue Spa Select(Blue Buffalo), Fromms, Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover's Soul, Innova, etc etc. And obviously in the "light", "indoor" or "senior" variety, as those are lower in fat.

And she's VERY cute!. ^_^ Congrats.

 

[Hedgieonboard]

I just seen your pictures, too precious. You can tell she already loves spending time with you to be curled up and sleeping so soundly with you. Congratulations

 

[shetland]

I can't see your hedgie pictures. It says I need a password.

 

[cocogamby]

aww you should just be able to see them. if someone can tell me how to post pics on here?

 

[Little Lebowski]

If you right click on your picture on facbook and copy the image location, then come back to the forum here and click the toolbar ontop of the message where it says img you should be able to paste the location of your facebook pic and it'll show up in your post.

Hope this helps.