10/10/2025
A busy day here at the rescue. It started at just before midnight when Purrdee finally decided enough was enough and began labour. She gave birth to 5 beautiful kittens, she won’t allow me anywhere near them at the moment so the photos are from a distance!
When I eventually went to sleep for about 45 minutes I was then woken and have been awake ever since.
Today we admitted 6 hedgehogs, mainly small juveniles who are wobbly and found out during the day. In once case we admitted a larger hedgehog who was found out in the day time and had some fly strike, on further examination he had extensive injuries to the top of his head and under his neck. He was also bleeding from the mouth. His breathing was quite laboured and noisy. His injury to the top of his head seemed to correlate to his breathing difficulties and the fact that the skin on the bridge or his nose was filling with air on every breath. He was given pain relief and left for 30 minutes so I could examine him further with him in less pain. Once the pain relief had kicked in I was able to feel that his jaw was unstable so I contacted Moorland Vets and agreed to meet them at the practice, I briefly explained that I thought that he would have to be put to sleep due to his injuries. Once he was sedated it was easy to see that his jaw was fractured and split in half at the front of his lower jaw and the injuries seemed to correlate to some form of attack from another animal - whether dog or other.
I am still working now as I’ve just returned to the rescue with Ida, a small hedgehog who has fly strike and mange.
Please be aware that all hedgehogs at this time of year seen out during the day are in need of assistance and whilst advice is usually keep them warm, it is currently preferable to just get them into a box and to a rescue centre as soon as possible as if they have fly strike (fly eggs) heat encourages them to hatch into maggots and eat their way into the hedgehogs skin.
Hope you all have a lovely weekend!
