13 days into her rehabilitation Hope had a big set back. Up until this point she had been doing well - eating and drinking up a storm and packing on good solid weight gains. She was 585gms and nicely plump and well rounded. However the condition of her skin was causing me increasing concern.
Usually a mange hog's skin will be looking almost back to normal -smooth, soft and grey, by the time they are approaching their 3rd Ivo injection on Day 15. But Hope's had continued to 'overproduce' skin cells and her crust had been particularly stubborn and difficult to remove. Her skin was dry in places, inflamed looking in others; with little red sore patches becoming apparent, she had greasy flakes and build up in many places especially her face and her quills has started dropping out in increasing numbers - much more so than could be attributed to her now resolved mange infection.
Often hogs with a severe mange infection can also have a co-morbid fungal infection - Ringworm or Candida so I had been giving Hope regular anti fungal dips since she came into care, just in case. She'd also been receiving regular warm oil treatments to help soften her mange crust and soothe her skin - which is usually very dry and prone to cracking with am advanced mange infection.
By the beginning of her second week I was becoming increasingly suspicious that there was something else in play. Then, on Day 13 when I got her up for her morning weigh in and clean out Hope had lost weight and she had not eaten her usual big dinner, but had had a drink of water. Because she had been oiled the day before I didn't worry too much as this can sometimes mean a hog is a little 'off' for the following night.
However the following morning I found that Hope had not had anything to eat or drink. In fact she had not even ventured out of her cubby house and her weight had plummeted down to 500gms. This was really worrying and something had to be done about it. With the presentation of her skin in mind and after discussing her case with my Hedgehog guru buddy we came to the conclusion that the issue may well be a Staph skin infection and decided to start Hope on a course of Clavulox. She may also still have a fungal infection, but time will tell.
Now, that's all well and good BUT young Hope is a bit of a problem in that she will NOT uncurl. She has only opened up for me once in 2 weeks so the thought of medication her with oral antibiotics was concerning. I gave Hope some subcutaneous fluids to help her feel a little better and decided to wait until later in the day to tackle the oral meds, hoping that she would also have eaten a little.
I had to visit a friend that afternoon to give a wee hoglet in her care an Ivo jab, and upon arriving she told me that a product I had given her to to try with her wee bubba had worked fantastically! Her wee one; Archer, had also stopped eating and had been steadily losing weight. The product I gave her to try is called Polyaid Plus which is a critical care formulation for birds but can also be used for small animals. She said the first try had been messy and she wasn't sure how much the hoglet had swallowed - Archer also curls up really tightly making administering any oral food/medication challenging. But a second try a few hours later had seen Archer grab for the syringe and it was game on! Since then she had been taking the formula really well and had managed to gain a little weight.
When I got home I decided to try the Polyaid Plus on Hope. It's the first time in a very long time that I've had such a critically ill hog so I hadn't needed it before. My experience was the same as my friend's. I had to pop Hope on her back on my lap - something I would usually advise against as there is a danger of chocking or inhaling the liquid, but in this instance it was the only option I had to have any chance of getting something into her. Tickling her back to encourage her to uncurl, I slowly dribbled some of the formula into the front of her mouth - which was very tightly clamped SHUT. Most of it went all over her tummy but I hoped that a little went in her gob! After trying for 1/2 an hour I popped her back into bed, hoping that she would at least lick up some more of the mixture as she cleaned herself up as she was covered in it.
A couple of hours went by and i decided to try again. Some story - Hope snuggled on her back on a thick towel on my lap, tickling and dribbling the liquid into the front of her mouth. 10 minutes in she suddenly shot her head out of her prickle ball and launching her mouth at the syringe, grabbed it and started lapping the mixture up furiously. She never looked back and I spent the next 1/2 an hour filling the syringe up again and again as Hope scoffed it's contents down. By now I could just gently bring the syringe to the tip of her nose and wait for the reach, open, SNAP, lap routine to commence. Once I ran out of mixed up Polyaid Plus I grabbed some ZiwiPeak Mackerel and Lamb canned cat food - which is nice and smooth and good smelly, mixed it with water and tried syringing that. It was a hit and off we went again - reach, open, SNAP, lap. I then prepared her antibiotics and down the hatch it went - reach, open, SNAP, lap! She eventually slowed down - she had a nice round belly by now, so I popped her back to bed and left a bowl of the same watered down cat food 'soup' in her box in the hope that she would eat something overnight.
Sometimes when a hog will not uncurl enough to accept the syringe at ALL I use a method of feeding I call 'tummy feeding'. Being very careful to avoid the nose - so the hog doesn't inhale the food, I sneak a teeny bit of food at a time onto the curled up hog's tummy and if I wait quietly and patiently enough the hog will usually start to lick the food up to clean their tummy. Eventually they get the idea that it is yummy food, will open up a bit more and start to eat from the syringe. I've only ever had to do it twice before but it can be an absolute life saver!
This morning I got Madam up and to my joy and amazement I discovered she had almost polished all of the cat food off overnight. Her tummy was very round, she looked mighty content and had gained 80gms! As I had to give her her medication I decided to see if she would take another syringe feed. It took a few minutes but soon enough there it was - reach, open, SNAP, lap. We continued on this way until she had finished all of the food I had prepared and had had her antibiotics. She has since polished off another bowl of food in her box all by herself so I'm not going to bother her again today.
Fingers crossed she will keep it up overnight, the antibiotics will kick in and tomorrow will see a happier wee lass.
Usually a mange hog's skin will be looking almost back to normal -smooth, soft and grey, by the time they are approaching their 3rd Ivo injection on Day 15. But Hope's had continued to 'overproduce' skin cells and her crust had been particularly stubborn and difficult to remove. Her skin was dry in places, inflamed looking in others; with little red sore patches becoming apparent, she had greasy flakes and build up in many places especially her face and her quills has started dropping out in increasing numbers - much more so than could be attributed to her now resolved mange infection.
Often hogs with a severe mange infection can also have a co-morbid fungal infection - Ringworm or Candida so I had been giving Hope regular anti fungal dips since she came into care, just in case. She'd also been receiving regular warm oil treatments to help soften her mange crust and soothe her skin - which is usually very dry and prone to cracking with am advanced mange infection.
By the beginning of her second week I was becoming increasingly suspicious that there was something else in play. Then, on Day 13 when I got her up for her morning weigh in and clean out Hope had lost weight and she had not eaten her usual big dinner, but had had a drink of water. Because she had been oiled the day before I didn't worry too much as this can sometimes mean a hog is a little 'off' for the following night.
However the following morning I found that Hope had not had anything to eat or drink. In fact she had not even ventured out of her cubby house and her weight had plummeted down to 500gms. This was really worrying and something had to be done about it. With the presentation of her skin in mind and after discussing her case with my Hedgehog guru buddy we came to the conclusion that the issue may well be a Staph skin infection and decided to start Hope on a course of Clavulox. She may also still have a fungal infection, but time will tell.
Now, that's all well and good BUT young Hope is a bit of a problem in that she will NOT uncurl. She has only opened up for me once in 2 weeks so the thought of medication her with oral antibiotics was concerning. I gave Hope some subcutaneous fluids to help her feel a little better and decided to wait until later in the day to tackle the oral meds, hoping that she would also have eaten a little.
I had to visit a friend that afternoon to give a wee hoglet in her care an Ivo jab, and upon arriving she told me that a product I had given her to to try with her wee bubba had worked fantastically! Her wee one; Archer, had also stopped eating and had been steadily losing weight. The product I gave her to try is called Polyaid Plus which is a critical care formulation for birds but can also be used for small animals. She said the first try had been messy and she wasn't sure how much the hoglet had swallowed - Archer also curls up really tightly making administering any oral food/medication challenging. But a second try a few hours later had seen Archer grab for the syringe and it was game on! Since then she had been taking the formula really well and had managed to gain a little weight.
When I got home I decided to try the Polyaid Plus on Hope. It's the first time in a very long time that I've had such a critically ill hog so I hadn't needed it before. My experience was the same as my friend's. I had to pop Hope on her back on my lap - something I would usually advise against as there is a danger of chocking or inhaling the liquid, but in this instance it was the only option I had to have any chance of getting something into her. Tickling her back to encourage her to uncurl, I slowly dribbled some of the formula into the front of her mouth - which was very tightly clamped SHUT. Most of it went all over her tummy but I hoped that a little went in her gob! After trying for 1/2 an hour I popped her back into bed, hoping that she would at least lick up some more of the mixture as she cleaned herself up as she was covered in it.
A couple of hours went by and i decided to try again. Some story - Hope snuggled on her back on a thick towel on my lap, tickling and dribbling the liquid into the front of her mouth. 10 minutes in she suddenly shot her head out of her prickle ball and launching her mouth at the syringe, grabbed it and started lapping the mixture up furiously. She never looked back and I spent the next 1/2 an hour filling the syringe up again and again as Hope scoffed it's contents down. By now I could just gently bring the syringe to the tip of her nose and wait for the reach, open, SNAP, lap routine to commence. Once I ran out of mixed up Polyaid Plus I grabbed some ZiwiPeak Mackerel and Lamb canned cat food - which is nice and smooth and good smelly, mixed it with water and tried syringing that. It was a hit and off we went again - reach, open, SNAP, lap. I then prepared her antibiotics and down the hatch it went - reach, open, SNAP, lap! She eventually slowed down - she had a nice round belly by now, so I popped her back to bed and left a bowl of the same watered down cat food 'soup' in her box in the hope that she would eat something overnight.
Sometimes when a hog will not uncurl enough to accept the syringe at ALL I use a method of feeding I call 'tummy feeding'. Being very careful to avoid the nose - so the hog doesn't inhale the food, I sneak a teeny bit of food at a time onto the curled up hog's tummy and if I wait quietly and patiently enough the hog will usually start to lick the food up to clean their tummy. Eventually they get the idea that it is yummy food, will open up a bit more and start to eat from the syringe. I've only ever had to do it twice before but it can be an absolute life saver!
This morning I got Madam up and to my joy and amazement I discovered she had almost polished all of the cat food off overnight. Her tummy was very round, she looked mighty content and had gained 80gms! As I had to give her her medication I decided to see if she would take another syringe feed. It took a few minutes but soon enough there it was - reach, open, SNAP, lap. We continued on this way until she had finished all of the food I had prepared and had had her antibiotics. She has since polished off another bowl of food in her box all by herself so I'm not going to bother her again today.
Fingers crossed she will keep it up overnight, the antibiotics will kick in and tomorrow will see a happier wee lass.
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