How to keep a hedgehog healthy?

Question

Are there any ways to make sure my hedgehog never gets cancerous tumors or liver failure or seizures or any other health problems? Other than just taking care of it the right way?

Answer 1

it is very hard to totally prevent cancer in any species. Liver failure can be helped by feeding a high quality food with the right levels of fat and proteins. Find a light variety of a high quality cat food and make sure they get plenty of exercise and this will help ward off most liver problems, especially fatty liver disease.

Cancer is curable sometimes if it is caught early enough. Keep an eye on him or her by inspecting their body daily looking for lumps, bumps, redness or swelling on the skin or in the mouth. Oral tumours are quite common and are often the hardest to cure, even if they are caught early.

Seizures are not common in hedgehogs and quite often, a source is not easily determined. It could be a brain tumour, poisoning, hypoglycemia, etc... Poisoning is easy to avoid if you carefully monitor what goes in their cage and what they come in contact with when they are out. If a seizure occurs, get to the vet asap.

Other common ailments are WHS. There is no cure and no preventative action that can be successfully taken. Often, you just need to make the animal comfortable and be ready to help them along when they are ready :(

If you are worried about health problems, discuss with your vet what form of action she would recommend for the more common problems that you mentioned. Have regular stool and blood checks done and visits for whenever you suspect something is amiss.

Best of luck!

Answer 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXjPQYgT2...

Answer 3

this is an excellent link on them..

http://www.gomestic.com/Pets/Unusual-Pet...

to avoid cancer in them - NO chemicals - none on their food.. none in the room... chemicals are leading cause of cancer...