old rescue hedgie with severly overgrown nails

[rileymai]

I'm cross posting this here from another forum, thanks to the advice from another hedgie owner.

I normally only help foster rats or hamsters on occasion, but this morning I was contacted to take in a old hedgehog who had "badly kept toenails". They didn't act as if it was very serious, but when I finally got a look at it, I knew I needed some advice before I can get him into the vet this week because it looks much more serious than I was told. I am thankful that the girl who contacted me did so, because she rescued him from a lady who had far too many animals and was using him to breed (yet another awful byb trying to make a quick buck) but knew she didn't have the money or time to figure out what was wrong with him. I'll be honest - my expertise isn't in hedgies, so I thought I'd ask the advice from everyone here. She did tell me he was pretty old, and he's QUITE grumpy. Doesn't enjoy being handled, touched, talked to lol huffs like a grumpy old man. It doesn't help that I am a little unsure on how to go about getting those nails trimmed to an appropriate length because all I get when I touch him is a spikey ball!

I will be getting him into my exotics vet on Friday when she comes back from a conference, but are there any suggestions to what I can do to make him more comfortable until then? It's a little difficult to get him to not huff and curl up immediately, and it's very apparent he's not been handled hardly if at all.

 

[rileymai]

an update:

I soaked his feet a little bit ago for just a very short amount of time and was able to trim up the other feet and clean the scabs and grime off. On the really bad foot, I was only able to trim it back a little and part of the scabby crust part did come off to show his foot underneath. The skin was red but isn't a sore or open, so I'm wondering if I can continue to soak his foot to get more of the scabbing off in prep for the vet visit. He actually cooperated better than I thought he would, and actually didn't seem to mind getting his nails trimmed despite how huffy he had been earlier. I made sure to get that foot completely dry with help from a heatlamp, a nice warm towel, and my lap. When I got him back in the tote I'm temporarily keeping him in, he actually ate for the first time I've seen him.. so maybe he's feeling better? I sure hope so <3

 

[Nancy]

Reading your first post I was going to say that the one foot looks horrible but that it may just be a build up of dried poop and whatever bedding they had him on.

Yes, continue to give him foot baths and probably most of that poop will come of and you will be able to trim his nails once the mess is gone. Sometimes that poop takes quite some time to soften enough to come off. A soft bristle tooth brush quite often will help after it has soaked for a few minutes.

That he is laying out in the towel the way he is means he will most likely be a fairly social guy once he is more comfortable with you.

How old is he? Thank you for taking him in.

 

[tunes]

I cleared this thread last night and when I saw the pictures (while eating supper, ugh) I was just sickened that someone would allow their pet to come to this. I couldn't offer you advice (though my first thought was soaking as well), but I just want to say thank God he's no longer in that home and that he's somewhere he will be cared for for the rest of his life.

 

[Kalandra]

Is the one foot red and swollen too? Its hard for me to tell on this computer.

If foot baths are not overly stressing him, I too would continue to try to get any excess yuck off of them that way. The nails will also soften and be easier to clip afterward.

One thing to note though, trim only small amounts off at first. The quicks in the nail often will grow out much longer than they should be when nails are allowed to grow to such lengths. You have to trim small amounts off to encourage the quicks to "retreat." It can take quite some time to get nails back to normal shape, and sometimes they will always just always grow oddly and require a more frequent nail trimming.

 

[charlie]

Just keep at it and of course be patient with him. It may be his toes are now deformed. Thanks for taking him in. He looks like he may be a bit thin but that could be the picture. I'm glad you've seen him eat, so often with the older ones, they can't eat properly anymore (old teeth) and need slightly softer food. Many owners (negligent or otherwise) don't notice the decline in eating.