baby hedgehog runt, swollen leg

What happened after the leg was cut off? surely he sew it up? Poor baby :( with no anaesthetic either must have been agonising. What a horrible situation to find yourself in too. :( Nickgenova did you happen to set up some sort of "goes wrong hedgehog fund" for the babies? I've been in the same boat with my dog the whole "oh god wasn't prepared for this bill" so I can sympathise.. Hopefully you will get the money together somewhere as you definitely have to seek advice from a vetenarian x

Also I know its a long shot as you'll probably know yourself you shouldnt use it but..
You haven't been using Hay/straw have you at any point?
Legs can get caught/wrapped around it and obvious blood supply can be restricted which could cause swelling etc?
Just a long shot suggestion...
x

Poor little thing :( I'm assuming you're selling at least one baby, so I'd just look at that as helping to cover the vet cost. I guess its just something you have to be prepared for :(

Emagask wrote:What happened after the leg was cut off? surely he sew it up? Poor baby :( with no anaesthetic either must have been agonising. What a horrible situation to find yourself in too. :( Nickgenova did you happen to set up some sort of "goes wrong hedgehog fund" for the babies? I've been in the same boat with my dog the whole "oh god wasn't prepared for this bill" so I can sympathise.. Hopefully you will get the money together somewhere as you definitely have to seek advice from a vetenarian x

The leg was badly infected and causing the baby a lot of pain, preventing her from eating properly or thriving as she was not competing for food, just squeaking every time one of her siblings clambered over her, taking herself away from them so as to avoid being hurt. When the decision was made to cut it off, she was way too small for anaesthetic so they used surgical forceps to clamp the leg....that made her screech in the most blood curdling way but for just a second, then the leg was cut off with scissors, which caused no visible reaction at all. There was virtually no blood at all and the stump (she lost the leg from elbow down, not the whole thing) was not stitched, they just used suture thread to tie round it tight. Within moments, she was walking on it...well, crawling around on it in the way a three and a half week old does. She immediately began to improve in appetite and general health, began to thrive and is now a very happy, healthy, normal hoggie who runs and climbs and wheels just like any other!! The amputation was the best thing we could have done and without it, I think she would have died within days.

It was a horrible experience...I had to hold the poor wee mite while they cut her leg off and it made me sob my heart out but animals are remarkably resilient and it was the only chance she has of surviving. It is sometimes very hard to cope but you do the right thing and suck up the bill.

That said, this baby was actually in a litter belonging to my sister (we keep and breed hoggies as a sort of joint pleasure/venture) and she made the decision to fight for this little one. I would have culled her. The injury was caused by an attack from mum and she also had a nasty wound on her tummy and head. Mum also attacked her three times in total before settling down so she was constantly under threat and yet had so little chance if removed from mum as neither myself or my sister were in a position to be able to hand rear and even if we were, she was so tiny, there would have been virtually no chance of success (at five weeks, she was still the size of a two week old)

My sister decided to 'go the distance' whereas I would have assessed the condition of the baby, the pain she was in, the chance of survival and the permanent disability and would have thought her better put to sleep. I feel she suffered an enormous amount before she started to improve and would not have put her through it, however, seeing her running around now, wheeling like a loony on three and a bit legs, with not a care in the world and as happier hog as I have seen, I can see my sister's decision was not wrong....just different.

Once that decision had been made, we did everything possible and money didn't come into it but then we had five other babies to sell and the bill was covered. I think as others have said, you need a 'what if' fund or an understanding that you might lose any 'proceeds' from your litter to a vet bill and sometimes that's just the way it is but I also genuinely believe that assessment should be done and a decision made as to whether it is fair for an animal to suffer and at what level rather than blindly keeping it alive because you feel you ought to. Even my sister, who loves our little girl 'Pip' to bits and is her utterly besotted owner now, says she would do things differently now, not because of the money but because, in hindsight, it was too much to put the little lady through no matter the result.

In the case of this little one, if it is feeding well and otherwise developing, then it deserves a fair crack of the whip and it shouldn't be money that stands in its way but if the baby is suffering and failing to thrive, other choices may need to be made but either way, the vet needs to be involved. I would, at least to begin with, suggest taking pictures and filming its movement and getting a vet to assess like that, not taking the wee one away from mum though as any baby's best chance is feeding naturally amongst the litter and interferance with that at this stage could be signing its death warrant.