Spikey's Hedgehog Rescue - dehydration, re-hydration and supplement food

Hogarth's / Spikey's Hedgehog Rescue

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Hogarth's / Spikey's Hedgehog Rescue

Dehydration, Re-hydration and Providing Supplement Food...

HOW YOU CAN HELP...

Very sadly, every year a huge amount of hedgehogs die because they have become dehydrated - this is particularly a problem during the hot, dry periods in the Summer months. It has been said that even more hedgehogs actually die of thirst and starvation, than there are killed on the roads - which, if true, is a very worrying thought! We would ask everyone, please leave a shallow bowl or saucer of water, along with a shallow bowl of food (not fish or pork variety; chicken-based cat/ dog food is best or "Spike's Dinner"), out in your garden each night. NEVER give cows milk to hedgehogs - as they cannot digest it!

If your garden is large, more than one of each is ideal, placed in various spots - especially if your garden is landscaped into levels. People often inform us that already well-fed visiting cats and/or foxes help themselves to the hedgehog food. A simple way to exclude cats and foxes, but not the hedgehogs, is to place the food under a stone/small slab, supported by 2 house bricks...on top of this, a plant pot can be placed. Only the hedgehogs are then able to reach the food! A good tip also, when putting out canned food, is to make sure the food is very moist. Hedgehogs like their food very wet - and this helps them to get enough fluids inside their fragile bodies.

DEHYDRATED and STARVING HEDGEHOGS...

A majority of sick hedgehogs we receive every year are in this category - including many orphaned baby or juvenile hoglets. They are always underweight (some terribly thin!), wobbling and some are so ill, that don't have the strength to roll up. If you find a sick hedgehog in this state, carefully place him/her in a box with a hot water bottle well-wrapped in a towel, also a small towel or cloth on top. Then, please as soon as possible contact either us (01455 614013 and 07796 365029), or your local hedgehog/wildlife rescue; and you could try the following. Upon arrival to us, we give them Lectade (mineral-replacement drink), or Esbilac milk-replacer (which we use for hand-rearing); an alternative is international re-hydration fluid (described below):

Make up "international re-hydration fluid" - which is 2 pints boiled water (still warm), with 1 tablespoon of sugar and 1 teaspoon of salt. Stir thoroughly to dissolve. In a small dish, this is offered to the sick hedgehog. But he/she might be too weak to lap from the dish, so the fluid is given using a syringe, eyedropper or pipette. The fluid is given VERY GENTLY, with the syringe/ dropper/ pipette placed at the side of the hedgehog's mouth; otherwise the mouth could be flooded and start pneumonia (if enters the windpipe). So care has to be taken that the hedgehog is actually SWALLOWING the fluid, not choking on it. This should only be used in emergencies when absolutely necessary. Lectade is a much better alternative, available from vets.

All our sick hedgehogs are examined by vets as soon as possible after they are brought to us. Badly dehydrated patients are given IP/intravenous fluid injections; usually, these are given directly into the abdomen... and the badly dehydrated and shocked patients are always kept under observation at the veterinary surgery, in incubators to keep them warm, until they are able to be cared for at our own hosptial facilities.

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Hogarth's / Spikey's Hedgehog Rescue