Hedgehog's Heart Issues
Hello again readers,
We have briefly discussed Hedgehog's heart on Instagram, however I thought it justified an in-depth blog post.
Hedgehog is my first ever roborovski dwarf hamster - so he's that little extra special. Hedgehog like many robos is a little difficult to handle, to say the least. He does however love running around in the playpen.
Throughout his life he has had around 5 respiratory infections that went away with antibiotics. One day Hedgehog sounded quite squeaky when he was breathing, so again we trialed him on a course of antibiotics. He had become slower over the past 4 weeks, but we put it down to getting older.
The antibiotics didn't shift any of the squeaking when he breathed, so he went to the vets and he was trialed on another course of antibiotics along with some metacam. We believed it to be a very nasty respiratory infection at this point.
Hedgehog once again did not respond to these strong medications. The next step would have been an X-Ray, however due to Hedgehog's size and current state we doubted if that was the best option.
Hedgehog is tiny, even for a roborovoski - so even reading the X-Ray would have been very difficult.
When he was at the vets he did have another "flare-up" with his breathing and the vet decided to listen to Hedgehog's heart on the stethoscope. The vet noticed Hedgehog's heart rate was a little slower than it should be. We decided to trial him on some diuretics, as his breathing could have been a symptom of his heart.
After a week of being on diuretics, Hedgehog's breathing has improved dramatically. He has the occasional bit of squeaking when he gets overly excited or nervous, but he is still a million times better than before.
When he was at the vets for his medication review, they were as pleased as we were and decided he should stay on the medication.
Hedgehog is on medication for the rest of his life, but he has gotten very good at taking his medication now.
As the weeks have gone by we have seen him continue to improve whilst on his medicine. We are so happy for him.
We have briefly discussed Hedgehog's heart on Instagram, however I thought it justified an in-depth blog post.
Hedgehog is my first ever roborovski dwarf hamster - so he's that little extra special. Hedgehog like many robos is a little difficult to handle, to say the least. He does however love running around in the playpen.
Throughout his life he has had around 5 respiratory infections that went away with antibiotics. One day Hedgehog sounded quite squeaky when he was breathing, so again we trialed him on a course of antibiotics. He had become slower over the past 4 weeks, but we put it down to getting older.
The antibiotics didn't shift any of the squeaking when he breathed, so he went to the vets and he was trialed on another course of antibiotics along with some metacam. We believed it to be a very nasty respiratory infection at this point.
Hedgehog once again did not respond to these strong medications. The next step would have been an X-Ray, however due to Hedgehog's size and current state we doubted if that was the best option.
Hedgehog is tiny, even for a roborovoski - so even reading the X-Ray would have been very difficult.
When he was at the vets he did have another "flare-up" with his breathing and the vet decided to listen to Hedgehog's heart on the stethoscope. The vet noticed Hedgehog's heart rate was a little slower than it should be. We decided to trial him on some diuretics, as his breathing could have been a symptom of his heart.
After a week of being on diuretics, Hedgehog's breathing has improved dramatically. He has the occasional bit of squeaking when he gets overly excited or nervous, but he is still a million times better than before.
When he was at the vets for his medication review, they were as pleased as we were and decided he should stay on the medication.
Hedgehog is on medication for the rest of his life, but he has gotten very good at taking his medication now.
As the weeks have gone by we have seen him continue to improve whilst on his medicine. We are so happy for him.
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