u/Animalaholic67

Ripley, aka Rip, has been diagnosed with a mass in her GI. I have her now on pain meds and an antibiotic due to an infection starting in her mouth. The specialist I brought her to agrees to palliative care at this point. My question is this-She HATES syringe feedings, and even giving her the small syringe for meds she hates. I'm supposed to give her Critical Care, which makes her stressed and miserable. I don't want to give her the large syringe needed for the nutritional, as I want her last days filled with happiness and love. Should I still force this on my baby? I feel horrible doing this when she hates it this much. She is eating and drinking on her own in very small amounts. She gets on her wheel for short walks. I take her out before and after work, and she gives me a few kisses on my face then sploots down. Any advice is welcome. If anyone has seen my previous posts about Rip, then you know she does not behave like a "normal, sick hedgehog. I was sure she wouldn't last a week a month ago, but she still keeps going, and is still showing interest, so I don't feel comfortable euthanizing her at this point.

Even though Ripley is doing better, she's not fully back to her normal self. Reading a lot of comments you all posted, I decided to bring her to another vet. One who will do the needed bloodwork. After my current vet said it was almost impossible to get enough blood for any testing, I knew I was given the run around. A vet who handles exotics knows how to draw blood from them. A vet tech might not be comfortable in doing it, but the vet should have done it herself. I was able to find out what any exotic vet should know regarding this. So Ripley will be going in on Monday (first available appointment) to see a vet who actually knows and wants to treat hedgehogs. In fact, I found out a bunch of us hedgie owners have switched to them from my soon to be former vet. Thank you all for your kindness and prayers for Ripley. Even if this fully resolves by Monday and she's back to her usual self, I'm still bringing her in to become an established patient. I'm lucky The Rip is a fighter!

Ripley has tested negative for all parasites, bacterial infections, abdominal tumors, blockages. She seems to be stabilizing at the moment and was resting on my husbands neck for a bit. Now she's running around. She's started eating her food again, and we haven't seen anymore green loose poop. Hoping she's turning a corner to her healthy self, but know it will take extra food and treats to gain the weight back. Also, that she's not out of the woods yet. But having hope for now.

Picture of her waking up on husband.

I brought my younger hedgehog, Ripley, to the vet today as I knew something was wrong. Her poop was green, loose, and she was barely eating. At least she was drinking water. After her being at the vet all day, our vet said the abdominal x-rays were normal, but they were sending stool specimens out for tests. As Ripley was at the vet about a month ago, her weight was down significantly for the time frame. We agreed Oxbow Critical Care was needed, even though we don't have all the tests back just to give her more nutrients and calories. Rips not even wanting treats. I'm hoping it's an infection that can be treated and was caught in time. The vet was happy that Ripley was very active at the office. I'm trying not to cry, as I hate seeing her unhappy, as she's obviously not feeling well. I just hate feeling so helpless. Im just asking for prayers for my 3 year old baby girl to make a full recovery.

UPDATE: It looks like my vet's office is closed and we haven't gotten the results. My husband texted our vet's personal cell number. Ripley is not doing well, and now I'm having to syringe feed her water. If our vet doesn't get back to us, I'm just going to take Ripley to the ER. I'm so disappointed that the vet we have used for years, and has treated all of our exotics and non exotics is leaving us in this position. I'm currently crying in private so I don't upset Ripley, but I'm feeling devastated. I wish she would have given us meds to treat both bacterial and parasitic so she could let us know which one to start her on. Even if she calls, I'm probably going to have to wait until tomorrow. I don't know if Ripley has that long.

LATEST UPDATE

Just got the fecal results-perfectly normal. WTF?? Ripley is with me now, and kissing away my tears (I know it's actually because of the salt, but let me believe!). As we got her as a baby rescue, we don't have any of her family breeder history. She's still being somewhat active, so whatever time she has left, it will be filled with love. There isn't anymore testing we can do at this time without putting us into debt, as it would need to be a bunch of tests to try to find the what and where, when we don't have the luxury of time as they go down so quickly. We are making sure she's as comfortable as possible, and still praying for the best. Thank you everyone for your kindness.