Yesterday morning Gloria’s condition was deteriorating. I made some changes to her medications and upped her syringe feeding - I have to admit to feeling less than optimistic. Was almost frightened to look in her hutch this morning but she was much brighter and a little later on this happened!!!! Film quality not great as I didn’t want to disturb her - it’s the first time she has eaten for herself since arriving on Monday. I’m still supplementing it and she only ate a little but it’s a start 🤞❤️❤️❤️
Update
Little Gloria - the Invergowrie hog - whom we believe was out on her own for at least 3 days and nights, is a real little fighter. She has 3 different internal parasites, she also had quite a lot of small ticks, and has a very nasty chest infection. She struggles to eat and breathe at the same time and at present isn’t eating from her dish - she attempts it and then gives up. She copes when held upright and syringe fed a gloopy mix of a high calorie nutritious feed, managing 10 mls every 2-3 hours. She’s on lots of medications to treat her various parasites plus the chest infection. Now out of the incubator and although a very poorly girl, as you can see she is also a very determined wee soul. Respect Gloria 👏👏👏❤️
Were we recently donated a whole pallet of Dog Meat from Butchers - it has always been a firm favourite and is a great quality product and now they will have it every day! This is little Maigret tucking into her dinner she smelt it as soon as it was down and couldn’t wait to get there 😊 thanks again Butcher's Dog Food . We are also sharing the pallet of food you sent with our sister hedgehog rescues Ballumbie Hedgehog Rescue Burntisland Hedgehog Haven and Hogwatch Dumbarton Hedgehog Rescue So this amazing donation will help feed lots of poorly hedgehogs in different parts of Scotland. 👏👏👏❤️🦔
An appeal on behalf of hedgehogs out in the day! This is Rosemary and this clip doesn’t quite show how much she is struggling to breathe. She is also severely dehydrated, horrendously thin and suffering from a huge parasite burden. Rosemary is an older hog and she must have been struggling for a long time to become so ill. I’ve had quite a few folk phone recently about hogs out in the day - and it’s great more people know they shouldn’t be - however they will say ‘but it’s active and looks okay’. So folks - a hog will often ‘appear’ ok - bigger hogs especially might look to be a good size - they will continue to move around. Hedgehogs will hide their illness so as not to draw attention to predators, the ‘size’ means nothing - Rosemary is at least 300 grams underweight. An untrained eye might not see the dip in the neck or bones protruding. So please folks never ignore a hog out in the day - phone a rescue the minute you see it. Rosemary is very sick, she only came in yesterday but her struggle is not new and someone must have seen her before yesterday. The odds are now stacked against this lovely girl - so please for Rosemary and all the hogs like her please phone rescue straight away - as her finder did - or it might be too late 🥺
Update on little Thistle This little man is such a brave courageous wee soul. Overcoming flystrike, dog bites and still battling with lots of internal parasites. We are in this together wee man and we intend to win ❤️🦔
Nothing beats a good morning from a hog - this is Teddy ❤️
Hoglets couldn’t wait any longer - their names are ……
Hello all
This was Rose when she first came into the rescue on June 24th - she was wobbling and falling to one side. This can be caused by dehydration, however she was not hugely dehydrated when she arrived and a few days later she continued to ‘wobble’
So we took Rose to Thrums Vets Blairgowrie to see Emily the vet and although there could have been a number of causes Rose was treated for a middle ear infection. She began to improve after a few days and went from strength to strength - Rose was released on Tuesday - a very healthy, happy hog. Have a great life Rose ❤️
Our gorgeous Tilly - she’ll be going home soon ❤️🦔
Bonnie
This is a very tough watch and read.
Mary Lyon spotted Bonnie in her Perth garden this morning and phoned the rescue as she knew immediately something was very wrong - apart from being out in daylight which this little soul was desperately thin and dehydrated. Mary brought her into the rescue and I noticed blood on her leg - after a quick examination as she was so cold and dehydrated she was given sub cut fluids and placed in an incubator to warm up and closely observed. After a short time she became very distressed and it then became obvious the blood was in her mouth. A more detailed examination revealed that there was no evidence of injury in her mouth and the blood indicated internal bleeding. Bonnie was given treatment for poisons as this can cause this type of bleeding. Sadly this little one deteriorated further and began to fit. She was made as comfortable as possible and died a very short time later. We cannot be 100% sure of the cause of death however poison is a possible cause. It may have been something else - as this hedgehog did not get into this state overnight and it is likely others saw her out in the day too - so please always phone a rescue the minute you see a hedgehog in daylight - this includes early evenings at this time of year - they will come out at dusk but should not be out much before that.
So two big messages
Please don’t use any form of poison in your garden - slug pellets, rat poison, weed killers all kill hedgehogs too. Don’t leave antifreeze in a place it may spill out, or certain ‘wood’ preservatives unsecured. They all kill hedgehogs and other creatures. There is no ‘safe’ poison and if ingested they cause horrendous suffering and generally eventual death.
And please phone - don’t message - a rescue the very minute you see a hedgehog in daylight hours.
So a tough watch - sadly something we in rescue see far too often, and we never get used to seeing such suffering - but if this precious wee souls suffering can s
‘So who’s trashed me house?’ Perhaps it was you Edna?
Do you remember Isla? Kirsty Maskell from Auchterarder brought her in early November having seen her out during the day. Isla had a nasty parasitic disease called Coccidiosis. There was lots of blood in her faeces and she was a very poorly girl. Isla also had many more internal parasites to deal with and needed lots of treatment. She also struggled to walk and it soon became clear that her right back foot was twisted - she was walking on her ‘knuckles’ . Once she was strong enough to cope with an anaesthetic an x ray at the vets confirmed there were no bones broken. It is hard to know what caused it but because she came in as a hoglet it may have been lying oddly in her mother’s womb or in the nest. Once she was a bit stronger Isla was given regular hydrotherapy - we bought a baby bath and each day the time she spent swimming, sometimes supported under her tummy, was slowly increased. The aim was to stretch the tendon back out so she had enough strength in it to correct the foot position. Isla was then placed in a larger hutch with a run to encourage weight bearing and a camera monitored her walking . She spent a little time hibernating and we waited patiently to see how she’d cope once awake again. We are delighted to report that Isla is now fit, healthy and using her foot just as she should. Isla will be going home next weekend, Kirsty is offering her a hedgehog house and support feeding - she may not have had the best start to her wee life but is now being given the start she needs and deserves. We will miss this courageous girl but it will be so good to see her return to her life in the wild 👏❤️🦔
