[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]This is Chris and his story
He was savaged by a Jack Russell Terrier, taken by the dog from his nest under a shed. He weighed just 100 grms. He came to us on the Thursday evening by taxi. We had just finished a glass of wine so couldn't fetch him. The taxi driver walked up the drive with a tiny box in his hand grinning because he thought he was a victim of a practical joke. I showed him the tiny baby hedgehog that had a huge gaping flap ripped through his back, he was so amazed and in awe of him that I asked his name, Chris is named after that taxi driver.
On Friday I took him to the vet. By this time he was very weak and almost unconscious. The vet thought he was too weak for the general anaesthetic needed to stitch him up and gave me anti-biotics for him.
On the Monday he had miraculously improved in his general state and was quite bright. We had bathed his wounds every four hours and flushed out all the debris and pus that had accumulated. It was a weekend of fingers crossed and lots of stress. He came through the operation well, though the vet warned me that there hadn't been enough healthy tissue left to stitch.
On the Thursday we noticed that his wound was leaking and the stiches in places had actually burst, puss oozed out and we feared the worst. The vet had already mentioned the dredded euthanasia word but he was so bright in himself and was developing a real character I couldn't bear to lose him now.
Another operation to clean and stitch him up with more anti-biotics to add to those he was already on. Poor little mite, he'd arrived with his eyes still closed, no teeth, totally helpless and yet he'd survived against all the odds. He seems to be well on the mend now, his eyes are open and his teeth are just starting to errupt. It will be both a sad and joyous day when we manage to finally release him into the big bad world.
We are so very happy to say that Chris was successfully released into the wild at the end of Septembe