Hedgehogs, hedgehogs & more hedgehogs.

Although the winter months are the quietest of the year for wildlife casualties, we are still kept very busy with dozens of underweight hedgehogs. Our Small Mammal Room is full of them at the moment, & a large part of the day is spent cleaning out, feeding & giving medications to our prickly friends. Hedgehogs are very prone to all sorts of infections & they invariably end up on antibiotics of some description. Over the years we have learned the most effective drugs to use on them as well as the dose necessary to have the desired effect, which is often an extremely high dose. If you are a hedgehog carer, or you know someone who is, we have just finished a new 'Hedgehog medication & doses chart', formulated by myself & our vet & anyone who is interested in having a copy can email me at caroline@vwr.org.uk

'Hedgehog Basic First Aid, Care & Rehabilitation' courses are now being run at Vale, organised & funded by the British Hedgehog Preservation Society. Anyone interested in booking onto one of these courses should ring the BHPS on 01584 890801 for details.