mily presented me with a baby African Pygmy Hedgehog, whom I named Ivy. I didn't know anything about hedgehogs, so I turned to the Internet and quickly came up to speed. One thing we did was build Ivy a playpen environment where she had lot's of room to explore, run, and tunnel. But, after awhile, Ivy abruptly stopped doing all these things.It turned out Ivy had developed WHS -- Wobbly Hedgehog Syndrome, a fatal degenerative neurological disease similar to human MS. The symptoms start at the animal's rear legs with progressive paralysis up to the head. I'll spare the gory details, but Ivy soon required hospice care of hand-feeding, massages, rotation to minimize developing bed sores, etc.
While it was time consuming to provide this level of care, as long as Ivy wasn't in pain I (and my other family members) were willing to do this for her.
Ivy died last night.
I'm glad that I didn't have her euthanized because I felt she deserved the right to live as long as she could make it with our care. She lived 6 months in this progressively worsening condition.
I'm so sad that this sweet animal had to go through this horrible, progressive disease. I don't think she was in pain. Now her ordeal is over. I'll miss her. I grow very attached to her during the daily hand-feeding and cleaning and massages. This was not a good existence.
Shame on breeders and pet stores for allowing this genetic condition to be passed to future generations (and to the pet owners who are unprepared to deal with the extensive care required.)
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