Wobbliness and falling over

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Kalandra

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Michigan
Some of you know already that I have been dealing with two sick hedgehogs. Rose (with her cancer) and Cooper. Several weeks ago Cooper had started using his wheel less. I thought he was having some mobility issues due to a tumor removal from his shoulder that was done earlier this year. We did some cage modifications and at first it really helped. Most of his problem was he would stumble and possibly fall when trying to climb up into his wheel. Later he began to stumble and fall while walking.

Cooper's ears were full of "gunk" and a sample of the "gunk" showed he had a lot of bacteria in his ears. Initial thought was he may have an inner ear infection and we started treating for it.

After a week of meds, he began to improve. Beginning of his 3rd week of meds he began to decline. We are now done with week 3 and I am starting to see new things... he has shown some improvement again since the beginning of the week. He is starting to twitch his right ear and I think he pawed at his ear, either he had an itch or he pawed at it.

Cooper is also being syringe fed to help supplement him. He is still eating some on his own but has trouble standing long enough to eat much and gets frustrated. Fortunately, Cooper loves to eat from a syringe. He will suck on the syringe like a baby. I think since he has no teeth he likes the ease of having food put in his mouth. He is a funny boy.

I'm really hoping this is still an infection that is resistant to the meds we are using and not another tumor. Cooper has had 2 benign tumors removed already (jaw and shoulder). We have an appointment with the vet to have him looked at again (also one for Rose as her tumor is behaving oddly and I'm concerned about it).

Cooper is a rescue/rehome I took in from a teenage boy who no longer had time for him. Cooper has had a variety of health problems (2 tumors, toenails that broke easily, and he lost all his teeth). His spirit is still bright.

We could use some well wishes sent our way and some quills crossed that this is indeed still an infection and can be cured. If you have any thoughts that I can run past doc, I'm open to them.
 
Poor Cooper. He has certainly had more than his share of problems. Sending hugs and prayers that this is an infection that is just being stubborn.

Hugs
 
Definitely not well-versed in hedgehogs, but did the vet do a culture and sensitivity on the bacteria from his ear? Any chance of a foreign object in the ear or a parasite?
 
We are working on getting a culture and sensitivity run. However he needs to be off antibiotics for several days to ensure they don't skew the results. Cooper goes back in late next week.

The sample we got out today is white. Doc examined it and said it contains wax, bacteria, and what doc described as looking like tiny fragmented hairs. Still no pus. We are still thinking its bacterial, but with today's sample, fungus is now a possibility.
 
I really should update more often, we have been through so much since the last posting.

C&S results for both ears came back sterile. Not even a common skin bacteria grew. Needless, Cooper's symptoms continue to be those of inner ear infection.

His left ear drum has healed, and he doesn't appear to have any more pain or issues with that ear. For a while he seemed to be pretty stable. Wobbly and falling over still, but stable. I've arranged his cage so he has support on both sides of his body and built paths from his bed to his food and water around the outside of his cage. He would get up on his own, eat, and drink.... so stable. Then his right ear started to bother him a lot again. It gets better then gets worse.

Earlier this week Cooper decided he wasn't going to eat on his own anymore and was going to spit out most of the food I put in his mouth. His weight dropped a lot. He was also showing obvious signs of pain from the right ear and wasn't getting out of bed much anymore. His mobility, while its been a big problem for a while, also greatly decreased too. I was really worried he was finally giving up and we'd be making that hard decision soon.

We added new meds again and then yesterday during our morning medicine/feeding/check he had blood coming out if his right ear. Back to the vet we go. Cooper's right ear drum had ruptured and the bleeding was coming from a tear where it attaches to the bottom of his ear. He had white thick pus behind his ear drum, and doc flushed that out. Still no signs of tumors, which I've been very worried about due to Cooper's history of benign tumors.

Last night he had more blood coming from his ear, but not as much. He shook his head pretty hard before it happened. I think he may have reopened the tear. Hopefully that will heal up soon.

Cooper has been extremely mellow through all of this. He is a very easy going hedgehog normally, but he's had that sick hedgehog mellow going on lately. This morning I woke up a grouchy hedgehog though. He actually raised his quills and snuffled at me. He also ate a full 10cc with maybe 1/2 cc being spit out. Hopefully yesterday was the hurdle we needed to cross to get him well again.

I really wish I knew what caused these inner ear infections though. And hopefully he won't continue to get them. Chronic inner ear infections really suck.
 
Well I'm glad he ate most of his syringed food. Poor guy, a ruptured ear drum is nasty. I'm really glad you posted this, as it gives an indication of how important treating inner ear infections can be.

Hufflelump begin two nights ago walking/running with a head tilt. It got better near the end of the evening and no other unusual signs. I scheduled a vet appointment for Saturday. Needless to say last night the head tilt was worse and the running in a few more circles than normal had started so I'm regretting not taking him immediately to an alternate vet. I've got two hours until the vet appointment....
 
How did his appointment go?

We have been fighting this inner ear infection for what feels like forever now. I will note that to anyone who reads this and you have a hedgehog who gets chronic inner ear infections, don't hesitate to start syringe feeding to supplement them. Cooper has lost a lot of weight since we started, even though I've been supplementing. He will sit and suck on a syringe of food though. He wants to eat, just doesn't have the balance to eat all that he wants on his own.

He's had no more blood coming from his ear, and seems to be acting better. No balance, but its my understanding that until the ear drum heals he may circle or continue to fall over. He ate well for me via syringe last night and less this morning.
 
Monday night, Cooper began to vomit. He only seems to vomit when you first get him up, and he doesn't need to be fed anything. He will dry heave and spit up whatever fluid is in his stomach. He wakes up, he vomits, we wait for a while then I can actually get some food (2 CC max) into him. Couple of thoughts are its the new ear drops, upset stomach from vertigo or pain, or the infection is moving deeper and we are losing. We are hoping its the meds, but most likely its the infection.

I gave him a sub-q of fluids this am, and got a couple of cc of food into him, plus more meds to help settle his stomach. Please keep him in your thoughts.
 
Well, we had more vomiting last night and again this morning. But both times it didn't last as long as the time before. This mornings was just 3 little gags. We switched his ear drops for new meds (had to stop at the pharmacy last night for them), and I sub-q'ed him again last night. This morning he still acts sick, but he passed the dehydration check and was acting stronger again. Ate a decent amount of a Boost with a tiny amount of canned cat food mixed in slurry for me this morning. Hopefully it was just the antibiotics...

All in all, he's still fighting.
 
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