Thank You Nancy and SMHufflepuff - Winston Update

[gingerred]

Hi Ladies,
Well, he feels the same, but I took one of your suggestions to check his food. I gave him both regular kibble and some with a bit of water to soften it and he has been chowing down more than ever on the softened stuff. I just refilled his bowl cos he almost emptied the first one. He's down quite a bit of weight, so I have no problem letting him eat right now. He's been eating his chicken and mealies each night, and about 25% of his kibble before tonight, so I"m calling this a success.

When he saw the vet last month, she gassed him, so can I safely assume she looked in his mouth?? Can I assume there's nothing stuck in there, but he might have a tooth ache or similar?? Or could he just be getting old and like his food softer?? I have no problem doing this every night if that's what he wants. Thanks again for the previous advice. I'm just so pumped about tonight that I wanted to share.

 

[smhufflepuff]

Very glad to hear he's perked up!

I wouldn't necessarily assume that the vet checked his mouth & teeth if she didn't say something about it. You could ask her directly as a follow-up question. You could also go ahead and see if you can take a look on your own... he may let you look/feel around a bit in a way that he wouldn't let a stranger (like the vet) do without sedation. Though, if I'm remembering correctly, he's a bit of an older hedgie so his teeth just may be worn down to a point where moistened kibbles and a little warmth is all he needs. Gosh, I hope that's it!

Hugs to Mr. Winston

 

[lauralynne]

Yay! Happy Hedgies are the best!

 

[gingerred]

Ha ha. he doesn't let me check his mouth. Occasionally I could get a look if he yawned, but not in forever now. I can usually get the sides of his mouth up with a q-Tip, but that's about it. He'll be 5 at the end of the summer, so he is getting a bit older. We'll see how tonight goes.

Another question, while I think of it. Do you just soften kibble with water?? Or is there anything else yummier I could use to change it up?? I'm also wondering if his hibernation attempts are because he's lost weight and doesn't have a lot of body fat anymore to help keep him warm. He's pretty skinny now, but the vet said he's been lower before so she wasn't concerned. The lower weight was when he had an infection after I first got him as a baby, so he was still growing.

 

[smhufflepuff]

Water will be the easiest/most reliable and not accidentally yucky to him. But, I'd suppose you could use things like stock for chicken soup - the difficulty being that you're going to need to make and eat a lot of chicken-based soup to keep up with him!!

Sides of his mouth with a q-tip may be pretty good idea for looking at and wiggling his teeth. Hopefully, they don't actually wiggle.

You could add some higher fat food to help plump him back up... some of the small kibble brands have higher fat than is usually recommended for typically plump hedgies. Check out Fromm. And there's always Royal Canin Kitten or BabyCat if you need to increase his calories with small X or tiny pellet pieces. Fromm will be more healthy/nutritious than Royal Canin. Mealies are good. Waxworms will add on the grams a bit better. Not that you have to do any of that -- just thoughts in case you're looking at adding some grams back on and if it's not happening with moistening his kibble.

 

[gingerred]

Thanks for the food ideas. I just picked up a new tub of mealies today, so I might give him a couple along with the chicken. One of his kibbles is Acana, which I think is already a bit higher fat than recommended, but I'll keep the others in mind if things don't change weight wise in the next week or so.

 

[cindyv3737]

Great news!