Hedgehog Bottom

Well good morning folks. Here's hoping for a somewhat happier week than last week.

Looking to get all the adults back home this week apart from the pneumonia 3, the sick 3 legged boy from Tadley, three other 3 legs that need special consideration, and Harry the teddy hog.

All the mums and babies are pretty much ready to leave. Litters are about the size where they can cope by themselves

One of my volunteers had her hutches broken into last night and 3 hogs either stolen or released.

Apart from the fact that these animals may now die, the people who did it, and we suspect kids on school holidays, will now have a very high chance of catching scabies from the mange mites the hogs were carrying.

These mites get on the skin and burrow under it.

To the expletive deleted s***s that did this, enjoy scratching yourselves raw.

It's been crazy here this afternoon. Hoglets coming in one after the other. Luckily the volunteers are in so phone duty was abdicated to allow for tick and fly egg removal. 5 minute break for coffee and oxygen then back to work.

More bad news I'm afraid. Seems to be the year for it.

The hog that came in with the elastic band round his neck has been put to sleep. Under anaesthetic it became clear the band had cut through his neck and into his windpipe.

Better news for the one trapped in netting who apart from a few cuts and a sprain should make a full recovery.

Classic example of why people should never try to look after hoglets by themselves without talking to an experienced rescue first.

A hoglet was delivered to a rescue that somebody had been 'looking after'. They had been feeding it on milk. The hoglet died.

What the general public do not realise, apart from milk being lethal to these animals is there are so many other things you can get wrong.

You need the correct formula, everything needs to be sterilised within an inch of its life, with the right sterilising fluids and properly rinsed afterwards, the feed must be at the right temperature, it must be fed in the correct amounts, at the correct speed to avoid drowning and bloating or starvation, feeds must be done at the correct intervals with no long gaps between feeds.

Even the experts get it wrong occasionally and the hoglet dies. No matter how much you care and believe you can do it, do you really want to be responsible for the loss of life?

Two juveniles, Rosie and Jim, who came in weighing 85g have just gone home weighing 660g. Good luck littles.

A third baby from the Stanford Dingley litter has just arrived.

Another one coming in from Woodley that sounds in a right state. Attack wounds to the back of the neck and maggots everywhere.

Little one, 135g, in from Woodley with a very nasty bite wound to the back of is neck, open gaping wound full of maggots and a puncture wound from a large tooth. Saliva on the fur indicates dog attack.

Maggots removed, fly eggs removed, wound flushed, medication given and wound packed. Once finished she went for a short walk so all limbs OK. There is hope for this one. Vet in the morning for more wound flushing, checks and stitches.

Two hoglets to the vet this morning. The boy with the nasty bite wound has been cleaned and sutured and coming back later.

The other, a little girl, had a puffy tummy that was worrying me. Her abdomen was full of pus, ruptured spleen and peritonitis setting in. PTS

Another tiny on the way in from Donnington.

The seriously emaciated hog with mange, ringworm, a stump for a back leg and maggots in one ear, that came in from a vet last week is doing rather nicely. He's put on quite a bit of weight, the ear is beginning to heal, the muck from the skin conditions has cleared up, and he has nice smooth bald patches.

He's not a fan of me picking his scabs though but I keep telling him that it's the best part of hog rescue. I can thoroughly recommend it to anyone who likes squeezing spots

Considering what to do with him next. He should never have had a stump left by whoever did the original operation so we'll have to look at getting that removed once he's fully well then decide what to do with him.

Son of Stompy and Tilly are both on a course of different antibiotics to clear up their nasal issues, I'm starting to think they're comparing notes as they have both put on so much weight they're now on an enforced diet and not at all happy about it. I will seriously miss SOS though when he leaves as he's the sweetest big man ever sticking his head in my armpit when I do his injection.

The latest little one is happily splatted out on her heat mat, legs out all four corners. Can't really see anything wrong with her other than a runny bottom (worms) and 4 ticks which she very helpfully pointed out to me with her back leg.

Another adult female in this morning, appears to have been caught in a trap of some sort. Back leg hugely swollen, necrotic and infection running up into her buttock. Doesn't look good.

Baby on the way from Basingstoke.

Well thanks to Becca for bringing the hog in at 2am and walking all that way, plus Harv for hauling himself out of the bath to go meet her and drive her back home.

The lad looks to have had a lucky escape. He's a bit shell shocked but all his legs are working. Popped him in a cage overnight and will check him again in the morning.

When trundling around in your garden at night, watch where you put your feet.

Another dog attacked hog in earlier with badly infected and stinking wounds all round the head, small maggots in the pus. There doesn't appear to be any skull damage though and the hog is quite bright. Managed to clean a lot of it up and get rid of the wrigglers and would be optimistic if is wasn't for the badly damaged and infected front foot. If that can't be cleaned up then she'll have to be put to sleep. We can't remove front legs.

On a brighter note my tiny girly has now reached 80g and has started to eat by herself. I can now leave her overnight to feed and then top her up in the morning. Fur is beginning to come through and she's starting to look like a proper mini hog.

Depressing. The dog attacked hog from yesterday was put to sleep. Even though she was quite bright in herself the infections were extremely deep and everyone was amazed that she was looking as well as she was. The bite wounds had gone deep behind the ear and into the skull and the leg infection had gone all the way up with necrotic tissue everywhere.

A baby came in from Woolhampton first thing that had been half strangled trapped in rubbish. Died an hour after arriving.

Another little one just brought in from Highclere. Bad breathing and the side of its head expanding and contracting on each breath which I suspect is a skull fracture. The other option is a bite but I could see no evidence of attack.

The finder who arrived with it was turned straight round and shipped to our vet. Thank you Kate for you efforts. I'll let you know the outcome.

Collapsed adult female just in that's been left under a hedge and watched.

She is in a terrible state, newly hatched maggots everywhere. If she'd come into us straight away she might have had a chance. I doubt very much that she will now pull through.

Wild animals do not just lie there until they feel well enough to get up and leave. Wild animals run away. If you find one that doesn't then it's sick, get it some help immediately.

The female left under a bush died as expected. Five minutes later a male came in with facial trauma, not sure what has caused it, possibly a corrosive substance. Flushed and in the ICU.

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Amongst all the eejits there are heroes.

Having cleared breaking and entering onto school grounds with the Police, Harv shot off to join John in gaining access to the grounds to rescue these three little boys from St Nicholas C of E School in Newbury.

A big thank you to John for acting quickly and calling us for help when he heard them making a racket whilst walking his dog. John please contact us, we have a suggestion for your daughter.

Update on the two earlier arrivals.

The adult female didn't give me a chance to do anything to help her. I got her out of the carrier to check her over and she died in my hand.

The baby girl who was cold, floppy and hardly responsive is warm and aware of her surroundings now. The finder had done a great job getting rid of maggots all round her rear end but had missed, quite understandably, a load of the blighters in her mouth.

They were right up the top of her gums, towards the back of her mouth in the fold of her cheeks, where they were happily eating away. She has a very sore mouth but is taking small amounts of formula and isn't anywhere near as floppy as she was when she arrived.

Harvey was extremely surprised that she was still with us when I got her out for her last feed so she's a little fighter and hopefully we caught her in time before her organs started to shut down.

Shattered after a very busy day at the Wolf Trust and then got home to 4 more patients all covered in maggots. Will update tomorrow but going to get an early night, ish.

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One extremely lucky hedgehog. It one of the lock collars off the large plastic containers of pesticides. There are a few small wounds where the spikes had dug in but how the heck she didn't throttle herself I will never know.

More hogs in yesterday. One very sad case.

A lovely couple found a good sized boy running around Thatcham Garden Centre in the middle of the afternoon. Picked him up and popped him in a plant pot they'd bought and brought him here.

The poor lad had lost a back leg to what looked like a strimmer. It had been removed at the ankle, had healed over and he had been walking on it but it had no blood supply. Because he was unable to groom on that side flies had laid eggs in his ear and those had developed into large maggots.

I got rid of all of those and cleaned the wounds intending to take him to the vet this morning but he died last night. My only consolation is that he at least died peacefully without things wriggling around in his head.

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OK, not a badly broken leg, badly dislocated leg and the orbicularis muscle had popped off on one side. I've managed to pull the muscle back into place after giving him painkillers but he'll have a trip to the vet in the morning. I've always said bikes are too dangerous. Once he's better we'll get him on a cycling proficiency course

Walter, the hog that fell of his bike, is a lot happier this morning. The leg is sitting properly within the orbicularis muscle rather than sticking out. We just need to get the joint checked out and the vet will take a look tonight.

Can anyone guess why he's called Walter?

Just when you think it's safe....

4 more unweaned babies in.

Just to confuse matters we now have a possible mum. I've put them together and keeping my fingers crossed. She certainly didn't seem pleased to see them although they were all over her.

Watch and wait.