Caleb bids me Farewell

Caleb on Admission - Sept 23rd

November 2nd

At Release - Nov 16th

Caleb was in care for 55 days and went from strength to strength once he settled and got over his mange. He weighed 580gms when he came in and 1378gms on the night of his release.



 


It had been quite some time since I had released a hog in my garden so I decided to release Caleb at home. I had assumed he had moved on but in mid January a male hog with red 'war paint' made his presence known at the feeder box - yes, Caleb was in the building! He's a stroppy, aggressive and territorial male who delights in fighting with Baldric - who is also still around.

For a few nights there was a lot of fighting in which a little baby got caught up .... more on that in another post as well.... Although he's a bit of a pain, it's great to see that Caleb is surviving and living a successful life. To help ease the competition for the food box, I've made another and located it at the other end of the garden. I'm also trialling a very large plastic feeder box which has room in it for at least 4 adults hogs.




Hopefully this will stop some of the fighting and the log jam aka hog jam I am coming across when I open the current feeder box - often there are 3 hogs stuffed into the box and none of them can get out or move. Silly things!

Long Time No Post ..... and there is a LOT to catch up on!

After a break of two months during which I had no incomings, things got busy - little did I know JUST how busy it was about to get...

Chalk and Cheese

On Nov 29th, the rescue rang me to say that two babies had been found curled up by a fence, next to their dead mother. So, off I went to collect them.

And so Chalk; 65gms and Cheese; 72gms arrived. I estimated that they were about 3 weeks old. These two little ones were dehydrated and starving but even worse, they were fly blown. However luckily they'd been rescued before the fly eggs hatched. A friend and I spent 2-3 hours plucking the fly eggs off them - they were even in their eyes!

Chalk being a big scary, huffy hoglet!

Right from the beginning, these two had very distinct personalities with Cheese being placid and calm whilst Chalk was a prickly bundle of huffy, defensive spikiness.
As I was syringe feeding Chalk on admission she was jumping, spiking and huffing like a grown up hoggie, LOL. Cheese simply took the electrolytes and went to sleep.

Hence their names. You simply couldn't find two hogs more different in personality.







These two wee girl's journey to adulthood has been uncomplicated and fun to watch. On day 22 they moved outside into a hutch and on day 34 they were into a pen. A week later I split them up as Chalk was being bullied out of the nest box by Cheese.

Since then I've been waiting, waiting, waiting, WAITING for them to go completely nocturnal. Chalk and Cheese imprinted very strongly on me in spite of me keeping my contact with them to the absolute minimum. Since going into their pens they've been coming out for a walk about every morning at around 10am. After talking to Narelle we reckoned they were being woken by me cleaning the hutches and pens out earlier in the morning and were coming out to say 'Hi' to mum! So, I have stopped following any form of routine in 'hog alley' and only open their pens after dark to clean them out and put in their food. This approach seems to be working thank goodness! Tonight - after a VERY exciting and stressful day I will be releasing Chalk a few days earlier than planned as I am now desperate for her pen .... more on that in a later post ...

Chalk on Dec 25th

Chalk on the day of her release - Jan 25th

Caleb, Conrad ..... and other... ... ... Critters ... ... ...

Caleb arrives sporting his big belly

Rach from Paws4Life contacted me on Tuesday night. She has been setting humane cat traps near the shelter in an effort to capture an injured stray tom that had been spotted hanging around. To date the tom has eluded capture, but she has been doing a roaring trade in catching hedgehogs! For the most part said hoggies have been healthy and after having a jolly good feed in the trap are set free to go on their merry way.

However, the first night yielded a very mangey little boy and Rach contacted me to see if I could help him. Upon arrival and inspection I determined that the hog was male, had awful mange and a very full tummy. After I had given him his first Ivomec jab I popped him into his hospital box with a bowl full of electrolytes along with a little food and left him to it.

Caleb, expressing his appeciation for his heat pad by demonstrating the 'splat hog'

The next morning's weigh in revealed that Caleb had lost just under 80gms which I was expecting as his tummy had been very full the night before. It was so full in fact that I think it was actually helping to prevent him curling up LOL. He'd been exceedingly busy over night and had completely trashed his bedroom. After I'd done his housekeeping and he had been back in bed warming up for a while - he really enjoys his heat pad, I got him up to give him his first oil treatment, start his Panacur and generally have a closer look at him. Apart from his mange which had caused a lot of cracking on his back, he seemed to be in pretty good condition which was great. He very shy and nervous which is to be expected but seemed to be coping with his new situation ok for the most part.

Ouchy ...

 These cases with 'dry mange' as I call it, are much easier; in my opinion, to manage. They don't tend to smell as much - and if they do smell it only lasts a few days at the most, the crust comes off quickly - generally within four days, and in my experience to date they are less likely to be fly blown. So far, Caleb has been one of the easiest cases I've had .. long may it last.

A quick word about his name - when Rachael's partner dropped this hoggie off to me I told him to let their daughter Indi chose a name for him. Rach warned me that said name could well be very random but I knew this from previous experience with Miss Indi and awaited the naming day with baited breath.

Rach informed me the next day that the naming decree had been announced by Queen Indi and that if the hoggie was a girl it was 'Kora-Nina' and is it was a boy it was 'Caleb' so Caleb it was ... I did let Rach know I was very disappointed to have such a mainstream name for him but the Queen had spoken hehe.

Oil treatment on board and it's back to bed to warm up

Caleb coped with his first oiling like a champ and even managed to curl up a bit more since his tummy had 'deflated' overnight. He had another light oiling yesterday and a good 80% of his crust has gone. He's mighty resistant to being medicated but we'll get there with that one via patience and perseverance.

After his big drop in weight the first night Caleb has been steadily gaining and has nearly gotten back to his admission weight. He is eating well - he just loves his Hills A/D and has figured out how to make a nest bed in his blankets so is more settled and content which will reduce his stress levels a lot.

In this photo you can see just how emaciated he is - his head here is about 2/3 the size of his body when it should be about 1/4 the size of his body when rolled up.



and so to Conrad ....

Jacqui from Hedgehog Rescue New Zealand rang me about another hog on Wednesday. This one had been picked up by some children and was full of maggots. Now, maggots and me aren't a good combination so I got them to take the hog to Luanne at Pet Doctors for de maggoting. Luanne then gave me a call later in the day to say the maggots had been dealt to and I went in to collect the hog.

Oh my! The smell was indescribable ... probably the worst I've encountered so far.

I had a new fosterer lined up to come and see me on Sat so I warned her that she would most likely be leaving with a hog in tow. I asked her to name this hoggie and she called him Conrad.

This wee man was VERY stressed so I settled him in his hospital box, gave him some electrolytes with a little food and left him to it overnight. I didn't like the look of him and the following morning he hadn't improved. He didn't eat or drink at all over night and his breathing was still rapid. I couldn't monitor him closely for most of the day as we had to go to Auckland hospital for a medical appointment but upon getting home later that day the first thing I did was check on Conrad.

Oh lordy, he was simply ALIVE with hundreds of maggots. I had to get over myself and my maggot aversion (instant vomit!!!) which I did pretty quickly once I had lost my lunch and hit the panic button spending the next 2 hours getting the maggots off him. It is imperative with maggots that they be removed ASAP as once they have hatched they instantly begin to eat the hog alive. By the time I had finished, Conrad was obviously in a very bad way. He was unresponsive and I assume, in deep shock.

I tucked him away in his warm bed and waited but I knew in my heart what the outcome was going to be. Checking him 1/2 hourly confirmed he was still totally unresponsive and throughout the evening his breathing got slower and slower until by 11.30pm I was certain he had passed over the Rainbow Bridge.  I waited until the morning to confirm it and my suspicions were correct.

RIP Conrad - may your time over the Rainbow Bridge be free forever from torture and pain.

Freedom, Freddie and Fab Fosterers

Beautiful Kera

A few nights ago I released Kera, almost 8 weeks to the day that she came in to care. On the day of her release Kera weighed a roly poly 1108gms and was beginning to have trouble rolling in to a tight ball.

Let's just say that she had plenty of blubber on board to sustain her over the first few weeks of freedom whilst she found her feet.

Fatty Fatty Bom Bom

Kera was released along with Lucky - another female hog, at Houchens House. This is the same place that Hector and Poe were released a few weeks ago and is a beautiful and special spot located on the fringe of one of Hamilton's southern suburbs. There are acres of formal gardens - all heavily mulched, which will provide provide plenty of forage for the hoggies.

Kera and Lucky's release boxes

A view of some of the garden at Houchens House

Freddie continues to thrive and having finished all of his medication is well and big enough to have graduated to a hutch outside.

He hasn't looked back since his move and at his last weigh in a few days ago he was 902gms. I'm not weighing him every day now as he needs to start getting his wild hog on which he is doing admirably.

In fact, when I last got him up to weigh him he balled and prickled up like an absolute pro. I was so proud of him hehe. He is growing a very impressive amount of fur as well as a good covering of quills and next weekend I will move him into a pen in preparation for release, for which he should hopefully be ready in 2-3 weeks.

Currently our Hamilton foster network is almost full to over flowing; which this early in the season is a bit worrying, as over the past 6-8 weeks we've had a steady stream of severely mangey hogs coming out of hibernation in very poor shape indeed. The situation is exacerbated by the fact that we are temporarily down by two fosterers which equals 4 hoggie placements. That aside though, the hogs that we have in care (all eleven of them!) are doing well, with some coming close to being ready for release.

 I also have to remind myself that this time time last year we had one 'official' fosterer in Hamilton - me, and that coming in to this season we have six super caring souls helping us, with more (hopefully) coming on line soon. Let's just hope that we can get our current inmates well and on their way before the main rescue season hits with a vengenace.

Keep your fingers crossed for us!

Freddie - Words Fail Me!

Well, Freddie simply breaks the cute - o - meter.... He's been with me for 8 days now and is just the cheekiest, wriggliest, happiest, cutest wee hog in the whole world.

Look at that face!!!!!!

So far, Freddie has been in care for 51 days, 42 of which were with Maritha; his and Kera's rescuer, who had done an awesome job to get him this far as he has been every bit as sick as Kera and far from an easy case.
However after struggling with him for 6 weeks, Maritha reached the end of her rope when Freddie's latest poo tests returned (still!!!) positive for Lungworm and also showing a very heavy Capillaria burden. This of course hmeant he needed yet further rounds of medications and when I reported this to poor Maritha; who was also struggling with a teething toddler, her face just fell. I had already made the decision to take Freddie on if Maritha needed to surrender him and when I offered to take him on she accepted immediately, ableit tearfully.

Once I had Freddie settled, I immediately started him on Deprim for the Capillaria and waited for the required gap between his last Profender treatment for Fluke; which had been given on the day he arrived, and starting Panacur - his 4th course!!! There is simply NO way he should still have had Lungworm and hopefully this latest round of Panacur will finally deal to it once and for all.

When Freddie arrived he was still quite skinny and underweight and although he had gained 297gms since admission. He was apparently quite a fussy eater and refused all wet food... Well he's had a change of heart and eats a huge bowl full of Jellimeat (into which I mix Flaxseed Oil and a Magnesium/Zinc/B6 supplement to encourage quill/fur growth) every night. I am very pleased with his progress so far and expect he will simply go from strength to strength for here on out.

In the ensuing 8 days since admission Freddie has gained 215gms and is now a healthy, plump 828gms. He's filled out a lot, has relaxed and is less anxious and frightened. In fact he is just the cheekiest wee thing around. Whenever I open his crate he pops his head out of his blankets and peers up at me to say hello.

Me thinks Young Freddie is going  to need a good long spell in pre release to wild up!

Crazy Busy! INCOMINGS!!!!!!

So, we have -

Rose Nathaniel - another disabled hoggie who has come to live with Sonny in her garden...

Jeffrey - a BIG boy who has come to me from Narelle as she is going away on holiday and suspected he had an infection brewing, which he does so needs medicating for 3 weeks. 

Freddie - rescued a few days before Kera by Maritha who has been working hard to help him but sadly surrendered him to me as she was finding it all a bit much - Freddie has been very sick as was Kera and hasn't been an easy case AT ALL.

Stinky - rescued by Jennifer who is caring for him at this stage.

George - a GORGEOUS wee boy rescued from near the university. He is being cared for by one of my fosterers, Fran - who also has Henry and Lucky outside in my old pen (which I gifted to her) getting ready for release. 

Biddy - in care with my fosterer, Hay.

Arnold - who came in via Pet Doctors. He's been in 'care' with his rescuer (hmmmm, don't get me started) who then surrendered him to PD when he 'went on holiday'. I suspect he had put the hog into the 'too hard' basket. Said hog wasn't in a good way at all when he arrived but he's now thriving in the very capable hands of Hay.

I'm hoping for a quieter day today and will try to get some posts done about the hogs in care here with me... oh, and a Sonny update :)

Baldric's Bolthole

Baldric has been very busy over the last week. He’s eating about ½c of biscuits every night and is continuing to try to build a nest inside the feeder box – I have placed other nest boxes in the fernery for him but he isn’t interested in these to date. Last night he did the reverse though and pulled the lining newspaper out of the box. Funny Boy. 

Keeping him confined in the garden wasn’t an acceptable long or even medium term situation however so after a few days of head scratching I came up with a solution to the conundrum of Baldric being trapped in the garden. I spoke with Donna and we agreed on the best place to make a bolt hole through which Baldric could access the outside world via Donna’s garden.

Ye Olde Bolthole ...

It didn’t take long for me to make it and I blocked it up with bricks until night had fallen - blocking it off prevents Westley going through during the day. That night I made a tunnel out of the bricks to stop mine and Donna’s cat hassling each other through the hole, I installed my IR camera about 1m from the hole and went inside to await the morning when hopefully I'd have some Baldric snaps to views.

Well, he found the tunnel all right and at 4.23am he went though it …. only  to come straight back into the garden at 4.25!   

I left it a few more nights before placing the camera again – which was last night. 

This time he left at 3.24am -

and returned at 4.51am 

 so he’s extended his excursion time but is still basing himself in the garden. He is looking really good and has obviously plumped up which he darn well should have with the amount of food he is eating! 

This is taken a few days later and is absolute proof he knows how to use his tunnel - he hasn't left though!

I’m going to try to get one of my wooden nest boxes sealed and into the garden this weekend to hopefully entice him into build a nest in which would make it much easier to monitor his whereabouts and condition, but he may well not ‘comply’ with my wishes, little brat.