Hedgehog

[weaseldropping]

I found a hedgehog in our back garden. It was small and sick. The long drought had dried up all the normal sources of food and she was slowly starving to death. I took her to the vet, who said there was still hope, de-bugged the little girl and gave me the number of a wonderful hedgehog-lady. We spoke many times on the phone, and Hedgehog and I spent the next three days and night stinking of pureed cat food. She was only about 3 weeks old - had hardly any teeth and was wobbly on her feet. It was going so well - she was taking about 5 ml every 3 hours and uncurling willingly and trundling about on my lap making little whuffling noises then collapsing asleep in a pile just like a puppy.

Suddenly, she refused a feed. She couldn't stand up. Her belly and chest were CRAWLING with gigantic maggots. We rushed back to the vet who removed them all - they had been eggs laid under her skin which had hatched and then broken through. It was just too much her poor little body to cope with - she refused all further feeds and I just cuddled her till she drifted away several hours later.

It has been very strange. I have never before been so upset over the death of a creature. Maybe it was sitting up with her for so many hours, talking so she knew my voice and wasn't scared. She never once tried to hurt me even though she must have been bewildered and terrified at first.

She is now resting at peace with my departed piggies and buns in a special corner of the garden.

[Percy's Mom]

Oh weaseldropping, that is so very sad. You did the best you could for Hedgehog, and it sounds like you gave her a wonderful last few days with someone who wanted only the best for her and wanted to love her. You gave her that love and let her pass with dignity. Rest in peace Hedgehog.

[weaseldropping]

Thank you Percy's Mom for those kind words.
It all came at a bad time for me - we have had a run of human deaths and cancers in the family recently and I was recovering from a medium-strength bout of clinical depression myself. Time is the best healer, though and it will sort out.

[Lydia]

Oh how sad, weaseldropping! I've got 4 hedgheogs myself (although domestic African Pygmy ones, not wild European ones like yours), but I too have had many sleepless nights with them of handfeeding and concern, as well as caring for a lost/stray cat last spring whom I found severely emaciated and with badly progressed kidney failure. She did better and better and then had a stroke and then died the next day of a heart attack. It was heart-breaking since I had 3 days with her, just like you did with your wee one. I was inconsolable for quite a time afterwards.

What really helped me through everything was something that I realised from a previous situation. I cared for two budgies who'd been dropped off at our avian vet clinic; left at the front door. They both had in-operable tumors, and my job was to care for them until they got to the point where their quality of life reduced, and then to bring them in to the vet for very loving and kind euthanasia. I felt tremendous guilt and sadness on that last day, but through my grieving process I realised that these poor little souls dies with names. They died having a home and people who loved and cared for them in their last days. They died and someone was sad, and mourned their deaths. What a gift to give an animal such as this; I understood the same thing when Easter the cat died. It was terribly sad, but her last days were unlike all those previous to them; she'd been in a warm and loving home and given scrathes and kisses and even had a cat nap in the afternoon sun of our living room. These were her final memories.

Your little hedgehog's last memories are of warmth, safety and love. What a precious gift that you gave her. You gave of your heart and just poured that love into her. How happy that her final moments weren't scared, cold and alone, but warm and being cuddled by someone in a safe place. I know how bittersweet it is, but please know that your bravery for her is an immense gift. My thoughts are with you.

[jdomans]

What a great job you did for her and she had safety and love in her last days. I am sorry she didn't make it.

[Coopdog]

It's so hard when you find a wild baby like that. I've done many rescues, and several didn't survive long in spite of the best care. Frequently there is an undetectable reason they are out alone and even the best care we provide is not enough to save them. But I know how much emotion you can invest in these little ones, and it's always so sad when they don't pull through despite our best efforts.

[weaseldropping]

The worst bit was when one of our neighbours told me this great "joke" - a family of hedgies had been in his garden - the two babies were "walking funny" - so he pushed one over with a broom and saw it had maggots all over its tummy - it did look funny! The others were all maggotty too - how they laughed!

Sadly, he didn't tell me this till about a week after it happened, so it was too late to do very much about it - nature had solved it by itself by then. I did suggest he took any more he found to the vet for swift euthanasia - it is completely free of charge - but he said there was no point with wild animals - they die quickly anyway. At this point I was gently led away by my 9 year old son before I got my bow and arrows and to kebab the man.

Have not spoken to him since.

[jdomans]

Why would it be 'normal' for wild animals to have maggots? That doesn't seem natural to me.

BTW how cool to have hedgies strolling through your yard. Here we get opossums, raccoons, and armadillos. Supposedly we have wild cats of some sort but am not sure if it is true or a fable.

[Coopdog]

Why would it be 'normal' for wild animals to have maggots? That doesn't seem natural to me.

It's deffinately NOT normal. In order for an animal to have maggots, there must be an underlying cause, such as an illness or injury. A healthy animal will not allow a fly to lay eggs on it. In the case of these babies, I suspect that the Mom was killed somehow and the babie's bottoms became soiled since she wasn't there to clean them, inviting flies to lay eggs. Add to that the fact that they were undernourished and weak, and you have a recipe for disaster.

Weaseldropping, your neighbor is a slow witted buffoon. I wouldn't blame you if you never spoke to him again.

[weaseldropping]

I just hope he gets maggots up his bottom sometime so he knows what it's like!

Slightly off track, the daughter of a friend just got back from Thailand with a collection of larvae and maggots living under the skin of her upper arm. Disgusting wasn't in it, but she was given nasty tablets to kill them rather than having them cut out - they died and just sort of disintegrated and left swirly marks on her skin to show where they had been burrowing around. I think I would rather have had a scar and had them physically removed!!!