Yes, they do have health problems. Hedgehogs, the cute little nocturnal mammals that like a life of peace and solitude, can develop oral and dental disease, gastrointestinal disease, reproductive disease, respiratory disease, and obesity, as described in this article.
Signs of health problems in hedgehogs are often non-specific and vague, like lethargy and a lack of appetite. Therefore, any changes in everyday habits by your hedgehog should alert you to the possibility of an illness.
Common Hedgehog Diseases
Below are 8 diseases that could affect your hedgehog’s well-being. Keep reading.
1. Oral and Dental Diseases
Oral disease is prevalent in hedgehogs, particularly squamous cell carcinoma. Dental conditions such as gingivitis, calculus, and periodontitis are also widespread. These diseases are linked with bacterial elements, which are treatable using antimicrobials.
You can prevent these diseases by adding abrasive foodstuffs to your hedgehog’s diet, for example, hard kibble. You can also prevent oral and dental diseases by cleaning the up to 44 teeth that hedgehogs have, although this is very challenging given the animals’ small size.
Extraction of teeth may be necessary to cure severe oral and dental diseases. If your hedgehog loses all teeth, which happens in case of advanced dental disease, you should feed them soft food.
2. Gastrointestinal Diseases
Gastrointestinal diseases in hedgehogs are often characterized by diarrhea, vomiting, collapse, dehydration, weight loss, and lethargy.
Salmonella infection is the most popular type of gastrointestinal disease in hedgehogs. Diagnosis is usually made with a fecal culture.
Poorly managing salmonella can kill a hedgehog. More importantly, salmonella is a zoonotic disease; thus need for extra care when handling and treating the animals.
3. Reproductive Diseases
Mammary tumors, uterine cancer, and uterus infection are some of the common reproductive diseases affecting female hedgehogs.
Spay female hedgehogs at six to eight months to prevent them from getting these reproductive diseases.
Male hedgehogs should also be neutered at about the same age as females to prevent the development of testicular cancer.
4. Respiratory Diseases
Young hedgehogs easily catch respiratory infections, especially pneumonia, caused by the bacterium Bordetella bronchiseptica.
Pneumonia symptoms include difficulty in breathing, sneezing, or nasal discharge. Radiographs and discharge culture are some of the diagnosis methods.
Treatment for respiratory diseases includes treatment of underlying illness, antimicrobials, and supportive care. In dire cases, oxygen and air passage openings are necessary to prevent oxygen deficiency.
5. Obesity
Obesity among hedgehogs is common due to constant feeding without exercise all day. Obese hedgehogs cannot roll into a ball due to the excessive fat in their body. The fat deposits are mainly located in the rump and axillary areas.
Increasing exercise, avoiding high-fat foods, and free-choice feeding are ways of managing obesity in hedgehogs.
You can also hide food in the soil or scatter it around your compound to exercise the hedgehogs through foraging.
6. Internal and External Parasites
Internal parasites such as protozoa and worms cause diarrhea in hedgehogs and call for an examination by a vet. Treatment is administered with the appropriate deworming medicine.
External parasites such as mites, ticks, and fleas can cause skin diseases in hedgehogs. Mites are the most common parasite in hedgehogs, found around the face, ears, and forehead.
Although there are no clinical signs, some indications of infestation include flaky skin, spine loss, and scratching the skin against rough objects. For external parasites, you should give the animal the appropriate antiparasitic medicine.
7. Urinary Tract Diseases
The urinary bladder holds urine that is typically clear to yellow. However, hedgehogs are susceptible to urinary tract infection, which causes urine to turn bloody or brown.
Bladder stones can also cause urine to change its standard color and make urinating for your hedgehogs difficult and painful.
You can diagnose the disease affecting your hedgehogs’ urinary tracts through urinalysis, bladder ultrasound, culture, and radiographs.
8. Wobbly Hedgehog Syndrome
This neurological disease affects hedgehogs mainly under the age of two. Signs of the illness typically begin with neurologic deficiencies in the rear legs. Hedgehogs try to position their feet usually but end up off balance.
As time progresses, this defect affects the front legs too, and the animal begins to feel sick, stops feeding, and loses a lot of weight. Ultimately, the hedgehog will be unable to walk.
There is no cure for wobbly hedgehog syndrome. Euthanasia is mainly employed as the life quality deteriorates.
Final Thoughts
Like other mammals and organisms, hedgehogs are prone to numerous health problems. This affects the quality of life of the animal. Sick animals are dull and inactive, while healthy animals are bright and active.
The article above offers information on common hedgehog diseases, symptoms, and diagnosis methods.
With it, you will be able to detect the change in behavior of your hedgehog that may be health-related. This will lead to an early diagnosis that may reveal disease and save the life of your hedgehog.
Cheers!
