This is Willow, an adult female, not pregnant, not lactating, collected from Bovington this morning after being found out in daylight, very cold and lethargic. She has a skin condition and is losing her spines, but is a very good weight for post-hibernation, weighing in at 1009g (I know, you should never tell anyone a ladies weight ).
Continuing our weekend of none-stop emergencies, we have had a pregnant female brought in that was in the process of giving birth.The stress caused by being disturbed, picked up and brought in has caused to her have 3 stillborn babies so far.
Winston, the hog that came in yesterday with infected puncture wounds (believed to be from dog bites), and covered in flystrike was euthanised last night as the vet felt his wounds were too severe for him to recover from. Bailley, one of the other hogs that came in last night with infected bite marks all around her face is still very poorly in the ICU/recovery unit. The vet cleaned her wounds out last night and gave her antibiotics. It is believed she has been bitten by an Adder.
Below are some pictures of puncture wounds from canine teeth on one of the hedgehogs that came in earlier, with fly strike (fly eggs/maggots) around them.
Three very poorly hogs in one after the other this evening; One with bite wounds which are infected, including one through the right eye, head wound, dehydrated, emaciated and covered in ticks. Currently in one of the ICU/recovery units, in critical condition.
Another new entry, male hedgehog, 938g, found out during the day yesterday, seemed to be struggling to walk. Brought in to us at lunchtime today, query broken rear leg. On examination, there is no rear right leg this appears to be an old wound – there is a large flap of skin where the leg should be.
A new entry this morning – male hedgehog – has lost one eye to apparent old injury and now gone blind in the other eye. He was found blundering around, bumping into things during the daytime.
Robbie is doing so much better now, his breathing is much improved, and he does not have so much nasal discharge. The spines on the back of his head and neck are taking their time to regrow, although the wound is well healed thankfully.
This year Hedgehog Awareness Week runs from 5th – 11th May, BHPS is asking everyone to do one extra thing to help hedgehogs that week. You might build a hedgehog home, put up a poster display locally (materials available from BHPS), run a fundraiser for your local rescue centre or even simply ensure there’s always a shallow bowl of water in your garden for thirsty hedgehogs.
