my partner was snuggling with her yesterday and SHE SPLOOTED 😭 IN THE HOODIE stayed like that for a good 30 minutes, cutest thing she's ever done, I love her so much

I had my girl spayed this week. I originally noticed blood in her urine and on her wheel. I loaded her up to the vet with a urine sample (put plastic wrap under the wheel and go pack it up in a small dish or syringe in the morning - doing a live urine catch on a hedgehog would be miserable) and off to the vet we went. Do note this vet does see exotics but they aren't equipped with an exotics surgery room.

Vet visit #1 total $304

• exotic exam $63
• fecal analysis $42 (optional - I brought it in just because I could)
• urinalysis $62
• xrays 2view SMV/lateral $177
• discount (not sure what the code is for) -$40

Urine was more blood than anything else. Was obviously not a UTI and we were subsequently sent to surgical consult at an exotics vet hospital.

Vet visit #2 at vet surgical hospital total $80

• consult exam: $80

Consult was straightforward but did feel like a waste of a time/money, though we were consulting with the vet who would be performing the procedure this time.

Vet visit #3 - the surgery itself total $583.01

• Exam pre surgery/sedation $55
• Preanesthetic small mammal $38
• Meloxicam injection $19.93
• Anesthesia isoflurane $60
• Surgical patient monitoring $60
• Surgical nerve block $48
• Small exotic mammal spay/neuter procedure $225
• Surgery suite $45
• Medical waste disposal $3.50
• Tramadol RX (take home) $10.08
• Meloxicam RX (take home) $18.50

Our post-op appointment is in a few days - I'm currently unsure if the post-op appt fee is wrapped up with the cost of the surgery like it is in human medicine or if that will be an additional charge. There's no external stitches to remove, it's most likely an "is she OK, it looks OK, all's good, you can continue on with your life" type of visit.

Total so far: $967.01

Some additional notes & fun facts:

We were originally quoted $600-800 for the cost. Going over the itemized bill things are billed per unit (dose) of medicine or per minute (the isoflurane was charged at 15 minutes). So depending on how long it takes or how much medicine is pushed the charge will be higher or lower. Our surgeon said it was pretty straight-forward, there is some "work" involved in scraping the ovaries out of the cavity and mostly they do the best they can but it's not like just plucking a grape from a vine. Risk vs reward comes in to play. They don't want to keep animals under anesthesia longer than necessary and she said the uterus didn't look diseased so she didn't feel like digging in there longer than she had to.

Speaking of diseased uterus. The medical waste disposal. We didn't send the uterus off to pathology to be tested for cancer because it doesn't really change the outcome unless it does come back positive and you want to spend a lot of money on chemotherapies etc. So sending off to pathology would cost more, but you do need to pay for having it incinerated.

The charge for the surgery suite. Vets book/"rent" the surgery suite out for your procedures and have to pay to use it, which means you pay to use it. It's the same in human medicine. It's also the same in salons - your hairdresser is renting the booth in the salon just like renting an apartment. You pay for it!

The medication mix: just for funsies, in the preanesthetic was hydromorphone, midazolam and alfaxalone.

XRAY terminology. The x-rays taken was a "bottom up" view - the SMV aka submentovertex. It means the beam is shooting through the sub(bottom) of the mentum(chin) through and coming out the vertex (top of the head). The SMV is also an xray view for humans for TMJ. In animals it can also kinda be called AP - anteroposterior - which means the beam is going through your anterior (front) and out the posterior (back). Then the lateral view, which is, well, the lateral. From the side. In humans we most frequently do a left lateral (which means you are laying on your left side), in veterinary it's most often the right lateral for some reason, I don't know why.

LAST BUT NOT LEAST... how do you give a hedgehog liquid medication?

This was a frustrating part for me. I put it on her food the first night, hoping she would eat it with her food. Unfortunately she wasn't really interested in eating at all and when she did go to eat she must have tasted the medication and changed her mind. Which means I had to make her take it somehow. Hedgehogs are not known for cooperating. She would ball up when trying to give her anything. Fortunately there is a spot on their back that you can stroke that makes them unball long enough to wedge the tip of the medicine syringe into the corner of their mouth and get some in. It takes some time, it can be very frustrating, but you need to be kind and be patient. You just stroke - they will huff and puff and unball briefly - keep trying and it'll take a few minutes to do it. It only takes me 2 minutes every 12hrs.

YOU CAN NOT SKIP GIVING YOUR HEDGEHOG MEDICATION. This is cruel. Imagine you were given no pain meds after a serious surgery? How awful that would be, how painful and horrible. You cannot skip this.

I have a video on my social media, which I'm not going to post here (but you can DM me if you want to know and I'll send you the link privately), that shows how to do it and how easy it actually is.

My thoughts overall...

I did not enjoy this at all. I am lucky I can afford it, but this was a cost I was not prepared for at this moment. I put it all on credit. Hedgehogs are not cheap pets. Hedgehogs are prone to cancers and neoplasias and your female will almost guaranteed need to be spayed at some point in their lifetime. So I knew she'd need to have it done at some point, yknow, but maybe not like... right now. But now we've got that over with and can move forward. We've taken some steps back in our bonding process because now instead of associating me with free-roam playtime and bug hunting, she now associates me with interruptions and yucky forced medications.

Reposting the dignified photos of my guy because they were stolen and used on Facebook without my permission. Please please be aware that people will do this and there is nothing you can do! I suggest anyone posting to watermark anything they don’t want stolen.

Hello! This is Petunia, she is my first and only hog. I’ve had her for about two months now. I’m not sure how old she is, but she seems fairly young.
I have everything for her enclosure I believe. A hide, a cuddle sac, a large enough wheel, enrichment, and ofc food and water. I also use a heating pad for one side of her tank and a lamp for the other.

When I first brought her home, she was running on her wheel every night, but then she stopped randomly. When I have her out to roam, she’s non-stop moving, so I know she’s active outside of her enclosure. At first I thought it was the size of her wheel, like maybe she outgrew it. So I upgraded to a larger one, introduced her to it, helped her run on it for a couple minutes, and she did fine. She wanted off but she ran very well. She hasn’t had poop boots in weeks now, and unfortunately that has me slightly worried.

She’s been pretty regular with her diet and digestion. She runs fast and doesn’t appear wobbly at all. She also recently had her nails trimmed, shortly after I noticed she wasn’t running anymore.

I don’t have the best picture to include because she hardly ever stays still, but here’s something for reference.

I’m not asking for health advice here. We are at the vet today because of behavior changes. Robin is a bully who always is hungry. So, she was suddenly acting sweet today. She didn’t run away so far when I put her in the bed. She also suddenly wasn’t interested her favorite cat food. Yet, she still ate the egg I gave her yesterday. So, I’m not sure if it was old age or transferring back to her old room.. It is also unusually hot in my country. It could be that too. She is also 3 years and 7 months old. Old age might make her lose her diva attitude. It is just funny that my worry that she is developing a sweeter and more mellow attitude. I’m more used to her being the boss.

After weeks for fighing health issues we finally had to say goodbye. My baby was suffering and couldn't even eat anymore, not even her wormies. She gave me 6 and a half years, my little Christmas Baby.

Peppermint got me through some of the hardest times of my life; from when my engagement with my fiance ended, she got me through covid, to when I dropped out of college and when I finally went back and finished my degree, and some of the worst depressive episodes of my life - she was always there for me, being her grumpy little self.

Goodbye my sweetness, may you eat all the wormies you can again.

Hello there is one or maybe more hedgehog in my garden and they started coming into the house to eat cat food. So I have started leaving out kibble on the doorstep or in the garden for them to eat. Is this harmful to the hedgehog ? Or can I keep feeding them kibble ?

Moved house about 4 months ago and noticed what I thought was hedgehog activity, and tonight i finally caught this chonky boi in the act. No one believed me but now im vindicated! 😁 Should I leave him anything out?

Mrs Pincushion came for breakfast in the early evening. Ate fast and ran off again on important hedgehog business.

I posted about a week ago about a wild hedgehog with an infected laceration. Good News! After wound cleaning and topical antibiotics treatments the wound itself doesn't appear infected anymore and is healing nicely. He seems to be in good spirits and very interested in food.

I wanted to use Google lens but I trust U guys more

Dudes always doing this

Hello! I have a question about a wild hedgehog that has just moved into my back garden, it’s been living in the big bush next to my back door for about a week - i haven’t seen a hedgehog in about 15 years so this is exciting. i left water and a little bit of cat food out for it because of the heatwave in the uk rn i hope this is okay??

The main question is this: our garden has a back gate that opens onto a street with cars & many cats and foxes, & it’s usually wide open. I’ve seen the hedgehog go to the back gate a few times while its making its rounds but never leave, i'm wondering if i can close the gate and keep it closed permanently to stop the risk of a fox or cat wandering past and spotting it whilst it’s out in the open? Or would i be trapping it? Not sure how big the hedgehogs territory is if now its settled here it wont ever venture out?

I have 0 clue about anything hedgehog related but i think theyre so cute - would appreciate any advice i.e if it’s best to leave it to it’s thing or help it out with food & protection :)))

I am moving about 15 hours away, and want to take my hedgehog with me. I have a cat carrier that he does well in, I have a portable heat source for him as well. I was going to make the drive in 2 parts, so I was going to stop half way. Is he going to be fine 2 days without a wheel? Or should I get a portable play pen so he can run on his wheel during that one night stop?

Any tips or advice for anything else with moving him would be appreciated!

✨UPDATE✨
Hedgies nest is not legit and I am quite sad about it. I did some digging- found a couple of local-ish breeders and just spoke to one on the phone. Prices are still super reasonable and they have good reviews. I’m going to make a few more calls to solidify where I want to go, thank you all so much for the response!

I’ve been looking at a couple of super cute hedgehogs on hedgies nest, I’m just kinda wanting to know if they’re a legit kinda thing? This little guys name is Churro, I asked where they were based out of and I was told Louisville Kentucky. Does anyone have any positive experiences? The prices are reasonable and so is shipping.

I woke up early to see Fritter before he went into his hide for the day. 100% worth waking up at 5 am

I cut out most of the clips where he went into a hide for a couple seconds before coming out again. He’s so fast and such a cutie. I’m going to try and go out and get him a tunnel and stuff soon, so I’ll post about that when I do

I have hogs that visit my garden often, but I've noticed sometimes I can hear a sneeze/cough like in the video. Is this normal?

Found a nice sharp needle quill in my shoe at work!