NRRRrrrrgggggh, phone is being rubbish yet again
so this was a bit of a mission...but I bring you...


HEDGEPIG

**Please note that he's injured as is reflected through the pictures, but when I left at 6 he was doing well and when I called at 7 he was wandering around snuffling for food, so will hopefully live til the morning**





















When he was first brought in to us in a cardboard box. Weight 120g, not moving around much and has a small cut on his head.


Wrapped up and surrounded by heatpads to keep him warm as he was very cold (trust me it's fucking hot in London, so he's obviously not right). Left in cage for an hour to destress as they can go into shock very easily.


He's given pain relief, anti biotics and a bolus of saline to help rehydrate him. During the op to see how bad the lesion on his head is we find a ton of baby maggots and maggot eggs, so begins the mammoth task of trying to flush them all out and clip the area surrounding the wound to keep it clean. Covered the wound with intrasite gel (made for granulation of wounds) but also useful for keeping any remaining maggots and other bugs out as you can't use cat or dog pest control stuff as it would kill him.


Recovering post op. Kept the theatre light on him to aid in warmth.


Post op once he's woken up properly I tested his curling reflex (fnarr hahaha) and he's able to scrunch up completely into a ball still.

A few hours later he went very limp, his breathing was more laboured and wasn't interested in food, so euthanasia was discussed. Luckily the decision was taken to give him a bit longer, let the heat pads cool down and not reheat them and see how he goes.

An hour before I left he stated perking up and was wandering round his cage for the first time all day, drinking from the water saucer and eating some AD (recovery diet) and cimicat (kitten forumla) from a teaspoon. We had been advised by a wildlife sanctuary (thanks for not answering the phone all day St Tiggywinkles!)to give him catfood and puppy formula, but didn't have any in stock, so tried the cimicat and hopefully it wont have done him too much damage. Another nurse will bring in puppy formula tomorrow and we'll feed that if he lasts the night.

More videos of him
smg.photobucket.com/albums/v345/beckyjsbx/vet%20animals/?action=view¤t=VIDEO_001.flv

smg.photobucket.com/albums/v345/beckyjsbx/vet%20animals/?action=view¤t=VIDEO_0021.flv

smg.photobucket.com/albums/v345/beckyjsbx/vet%20animals/?action=view¤t=VIDEO_003.flv

smg.photobucket.com/albums/v345/beckyjsbx/vet%20animals/?action=view¤t=VIDEO_005.flv
( fuck shit up the best you never had, Thu 24 Jul 2008, 20:54, Reply)