Wildies I have cared for and released - as promised.

HOBBIT

Hobbit is the one who started it all by appearing on our decking on 16th November 2010 weighing only 445 grams. We knew he was too small to survive hibernation (minimum weight at that time of year being 750 grams) so we took him in. He was covered in fleas but only had one tick and that night he revealed his horrendous cough. Knowing nothing at all about wildie we took him to the vet where they reated him for lungworm, this involved ten different visits over three weeks and £80. I have now found a cheaper way to treat lungorm thank god. Anyway, shortly after that his spines started falling out, he probably lost 1/6th of them so we bathed him alternately ever night in aveeno oil or salt water for about 3 weeks until they stopped coming out. Hobbit then stayed with us over winter until 4th April 2011 at 830 grams we set him free exactly where we found him.

Hobbit disappeared for a couple of weeks which really worried me but then he turned up with another huge hog and they shared some tea. Apart from the two pink blob of paint staining his sides ( I think he had rammed his way through someone's wet fence, good old Hobbit), he looked really well and had gained weight, 985 grams.

The last time I saw hobbit was 17th May. I expect him to return in the autumn when food becomes scarce.


Here's Hobbit when we took him in
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And here he is before we released him
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Wow you can see the difference in him, I love a happy ending, well done to you for getting him better xx

BRAD

Brad turned up on our decking on 23rd November weighing only 415 grams, he didn't have any fleas and just had one tick. It was touch and go for a while with Brad because he wouldn't eat and had a very bad stomach infection which made him produce lunimous green jelly poop. I called it plutonium poop. After a couple of courses of antibiotics Brad was on the mend. SInce then he's been a loveable pain in the bum. He went through a period when if I took away his fleec pouch and just gave him newspaper, he caught a cold and would sneeze whenever I entered the room. Also for a while he would only eat if he had an egg carton on his head. Brad was always very tame which worried me and I think it made me hold onto him a little longer than I probably should have but once he reached 1kg in weight enough was enough and I put him in the soft release pen to try and wild him up. One day later I had a look at him and he had a nice big hole in his tummy that had all kinds of gunk coming out of it, so brad won and came back indoors. After more antibiotics and some steriod cream Brad went out into the outside hutch. Well brad decided enough was enough and he escaped, I was worried sick. Anyway, two days later he turned up at our back door 100 grams lighter and soaked. We bought him in and dried him off, gave him a good meal and put him back into the soft release pen just to watch that he hadn't got pneumonia. Well after a few days he was fine so we set him free. I haven't seen brad since but am sure he will return in the autumn.

Here's baby Brad
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here he is at cuddle time
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Here he is just before the soft release saga
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And here he is looking rather grumpy just before release.
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Love hearing the background and seeing the pictures lovely .x

I just love the last photo of Brad - butter wouldn't melt in his mouth, adorable.

ICKLE

Ickle was found 2nd April 2011 when I went to check on Hobbit in soft release, they were having a chat. Ickle had a runny nose and I heard his breathing before I saw him. He was 870 grams but thin.

The first thing that struck me about Ickle was the fact that he had a ginger tinge, some people say that old hogs can be that colour whereas sometimes it can be due to illness, but I think he was just ginger lol.

Now Ickle was a nightmare, I treated him for lungworm and even gave him regular puffs of my salbutamol inhaler because at times he sounded like he was having an asthma attack. In addition to this the little bugger wouldn't eat anything solid, so I was having to blend biscuits with wet food and mealies and then heat it up to make it tasty. I was a slave to lickle Ickle. i then noticed that he had a small lump in the corner of his mouth and he flinched when I went anywhere near it. I was out of my depth.

I took Ickle to stay at Jo Reid's house for a while and after having a close look at him she noticed that some of his quills had been singed off which bought us to the conclusion that he had been very close to a fire at some point and had probably got lung damage. Anyway, after a bit of tough love from Jo she got him eating biscuits and cleared the lump on his lip. It turned out that his breathing wasn't as bad as it sounded because he was a really noisy hog anyway, constantly grumbling.

Another feature of Ickle's personality that should be noted is the fact that he was a pervert, all times of the day and night you could hear him humping away, I wouldn't mind so much if he did this privately but no, he would lay there on his side for all to see in the middle of his cage, bless him.

Anyway, Ickle was released on 20th June 2011 with a new lease of life off to spread his wild oats, I'm sure.

This is him looking quite poorly
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And here he is, recovered and ready for action
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I really enjoyed hearing the stories & seeing the pictures for some of your wild rescues! I hope someday to be able to see a wild hedgie in real life.
Good for you for all the good work you do for the hedgies. They are beautiful, magnificent creatures and you do right by them.

gem you have done some marvelous works and is so nice to see someone helping those that others won't.a big well done to you

aww its fab seeing them recover

they are all gorjus!! well done....hats off to you x

Its really nice to hear these success stories, they are all very cute especially Brad. You do a wonderful job well done x

PONGO

Pongo has been a visitor to my feeding station nightly since March 2011 but on 15th June 2011 he turned up with a big gash on his neck and his ear was bleeding. After a night indoors I also established from his nasty cough and a poop sample that he also had lungworm, so the traetment began.

Pongo was seriously displeased with being kept indoors and would spend every night throwing his igloo around the cage and poop painting his zoozone walls. Luckily he was a very quick healer and was released back into my garden on the 18th of July, weighing 1265 grams, 200 grams heavier than when he came in.

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GIMPY

Gimpy came to me from a lady who had called the BHPS and had been given my number, she had accidently hurt Gimpy's leg with her gardening trowel. His backleg was badly broken and severly infected which resulted in amputation on 23rd May 2011. He had a few weeks of intensive care, the poor mite couldn't walk at all so had to be syringe fed and hydrated several times per day until he got his strength and balance back.

In June Gimpy developed a very nasty abcess in his armpit under a front leg. This was a very nasty business, he was in a lot of pain with is and ended up with several different antibiotics. The wound had to be emptied of gunk and cleaned every night.

Towards the end of June Gimpy started to lose fur around his right ear and his ear became blocked, I put this down to being unable to scratch and tend to that side of his face along with the stress he had been through, so I treated his ear and treated him for possible mites.

Finally after gaining lots and lots of weight (he came in at 710 grams and left me at 1500 grams) Gimpy has gone to his new home with a lady who has experience of three legged hogs. She promises to keep me updated.

here's Gimpy not long after his op.
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And here he is a few days ago having a stroll around the garden
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I have really enjoyed reading these Gemma, the work you put in with them is a credit to you.

There are many more, I'm working on it.

these are beautiful stories and such gorgeous hogs, you deserve a medal for all this care, if ti wasnt for people like you god only knows how many hogs would be left xx

Here are some happy stories I've found about some members who have helped our own wild hedgehogs....
xoxox