Did you know that alcohol is harmful for your pet? Yeah. What about donuts?
Before we start this video, let's talk about my shoes.
Look at these. They're crazy. Don't know why I bought them. I just really I wanted them.
This video is not one I really ever hope to make, to be quite honest.
I was always okay with making a video and teaching y'all guys about this stuff, but I always hoped
it wasn't because I was in the situation myself, but no um
Bad luck has hit me again
so let's back it up um
Hedgehogs - this video is obviously about hedgehogs if you can't read the title which is fine
If you can't read um I'm talking so you don't have to read. Hedgehogs can get anything from minor colds
the mites
to brain cancer
arthritis
ETC. They are
Susceptible to it all. Hedgehogs naturally have a very short lifespan,
Typically, it's like four years max, but sometimes they do live longer
Sometimes they live [shorter] two to four years
It's normal So very short life
So on top of that they also have a lot of health issues that make it even harder for them to live their full life
so
My hedgehog Nala, who was my very first hedgehog who was like she was internet famous my hedgehog
She had all she was a cool kid. She came down with cancer when she was two and a half years old
She got cancer in her kidneys. It was really really sad
And I had to make the choice to basically I had to euthanize her. Letting her live through that was just it was
She wasn't there anymore. It was just
suffering there wasn't any
Happiness in her anything like that. She was in pain way more often than she was not in pain. It was like constant
She couldn't eat or drink. She couldn't walk, so
I had to put her down at 2 and a half.
When I finally was ready to get another hedgehog I got a hedgehog from a local breeder
Who said hey she's already eight months old but we heard about Nala's passing and we'd love for you to come look at our
available little Hedgehog she's eight months old and
We can't use her for breeding because her - there's a gnat in here - because um
Her like somewhere in her family tree and her lineage
Someone had wobbly hedgehog syndrome at one point so they didn't want to breed her because they didn't want to breed those bad genes.
Wobbly hedgehog syndrome is basically
a disease that only hedgehogs can get which is why it's called wobbly Hedgehog syndrome, not wobbly syndrome
But it's very very similar to a lot of other illnesses that are out there that humans and other animals can get
basically it's a slow progression of
Paralyzed it
Paralyzes yeah, Paralysis. Basically it's
Slowly more and more. It's not only it's a neurology [I]
I can't talk
Neurological
It's a neurological disorder that slowly gets worse and worse and worse once it starts the hedgehog slowly becomes paralyzed
can't move, can't function
Can't eat
Can't drink and then dies. Some hedgehogs can live a long time
With wobbly Hedgehog syndrome because it just affects their mobility to the slightest
but others
It's a lot more severe when it gets to as severe as it gets like when it hits its max
You just have to put the hedgehog down
There's nothing you can do just either watch it die or put it out of its misery
um so over the last few months my hedgehog that I purchased once I was ready or
adopted or whatever once I was ready to
Have a hedgehog again over the last few monitoring her name's Solara and over the last few months
She has lost the ability to run. She can't run at all
I haven't seen her run on her wheel in about six months. Me being in denial decides
She's just getting older
So she doesn't want to run as much. Then she stopped taking food out of my hand
She just could not, if I put food she didn't know where, she was just completely confused.
She ate less she lost a ton of weight, and then I got to the point where she could barely walk
I'm gonna try to get through this video without crying because that's not my style here.
Keeping it real here. Whatever happens happens. She can move, I'm not saying that she's incapable of dragging her body around, but it's very wobbly
She runs into things, she falls completely over, she flips onto her back sometimes
Like she will slide completely and just fall and I you know finally kind of got out of the denial phase and decided I needed
to see a vet
Yep, she always does
Okay, yeah, okay. Now, we're looking from the side. See, that's it. Yeah.
This other joint,
It's not horrible, but we can see some breakage in the cartilage here.
I can't tell you 100%, okay.
Yeah
It's not like it. So now we see the vertebrae are way closer, next to each other [hmM]. That's not easy
- [The] kidneys are so big.
- Yeah.
- now one of them big, it's likely that something
-What is one bugs could be involved in disease.
-okay.
Guess I was still kind of in denial because I was expecting the vet to just tell me she's old.
[you know] oh, she's getting older
It's normal cause she's two and a half so same age as Nala. Next thing he tells me is
Cause I was mentioning that she doesn't take food out of my hand, she has a hard time getting around.
First thing he figures out is that she's blind. So that's why she can't take food from my hand anymore
That's why if you put - if you quickly go at her face or like flick at her, [she has] no reaction
She does not get scared or startled
She just blank
Blankly stares. That alone made me really sad cause hedgehogs already have a hard enough time
They don't have good vision to begin with so now to be completely blind
It's just I can't imagine what that - probably scary.
You know you don't know any like there's stay of super sensitive hearing
Every little noise that year can startle them to death like not literally, but you know
It's probably really scary or maybe I'm just putting my human emotions, you know, projecting that onto her and maybe she's just fine
Maybe she doesn't care that she's blind. And then he decided you know I need to do x-rays on her and all that fun stuff
So he did x-rays and he came back, and he told me there's a lot of things wrong. First thing he said was,
okay. she has arthritis.
Her back is just in her spine is not looking good her joints are not looking good
Her bones are just her bones are not in good shape. Next thing
He said is but that's not all she also has wobbly hedgehog syndrome
She has the onset of that, which is why she keeps falling over when she walks
Which is why she could barely get to her food bowl some days
That she has a
Disease that is going to kill her. Next thing he said is that he found two masses in
One in each kidney. This is exactly what happened to Nala she had
Cancer in her kidneys. Now, Solara has masses in her kidneys, but we don't know that it's cancer
But there's masses in her kidneys, and they are very large. Out of all these things that she has, not one thing is
there medicine to cure. You know like all he can do is - the doctor or the vet.
The vet prescribed me - or Solara pain meds, and they said give this to her every night. He showed me how to dose it and everything
he said give it to her every night and
Hopefully that that makes her more comfortable, and then he just said basically he gave me some formula
it's like this food mix that I can mix together and
Inject into her mouth if she stops completely eating because it's gonna happen eventually she's gonna stop eating
I tube fed Nala for about two weeks before I decided to put her down cause it just got worse and worse and I kept
thinking, you know, she's gonna get through it, but she didn't. He basically told me you know you're gonna know when it's time.
Look at this
um he said you're gonna just you're gonna know when
When she's ready to go
You know if y'all guys aren't really - you don't get attached to animals other than like dogs and stuff, y'all probably gonna think this girls crying
Over like a freaking gerbil or something, but even a gerbil, I would cry if it was a gerbil
I would cry over but um Solara was the first animal I got after Nala died so it's - she was so sweet
She was so sweet from the beginning. Solara has always been. So I want to raise attention to this that um
This is very very very common for Hedgehogs
I know so many people, so many people who have had to put their hedgehogs down because of wobbly Hedgehog syndrome at about this age
but even um
My cousin at one point had to put her hedgehog down after just having him for a few weeks because he had gotten it
So young. This is not cheap.
I spent about a thousand dollars when it was time to put Nala down,
on treatments and everything and then ultimately to put her to sleep and so far for Solara, [I] spent like 300
No animal is cheap. I said this before, but I'm just gonna say it again
No matter how cute an animal is or you know "oh,
I just want to hold it and own it", and you like hedgehogs are only like $100 120 bucks
So yeah, you could save up the money and go buy the hedgehog, but are you ready for
Everything that's gonna come. You know? It could get sick you could have to go through this and just you know two and a half
Years or less and this is not at all to scare people away from getting them
I think they're wonderful animals and I love them, but I just want people to realize that it's not all just fun
There's some serious side effects
to owning
animals and the main thing is
They don't live anywhere near as long as you do unless you get like a bird or a tortoise
But I've read this somewhere, and it's Gonna sound so stupid
But all those they are just a part of your life like you know oh
I had that fish for a few months
And that was a good fish, you were their whole life like
The things that you do for them is all they got to experience the world you make for them is their life
That's really you want to give them that the best life you can during that time you don't want to
deprive them of
Giving them the best they can have for the time
They're here because you chose to take that animal in. You chose to make it yours so now it's time for you to
Give them the best life you can I'm kind of rambling now, but um basically every night now. I give Solara some meloxicam
She's not to the point yet where I want to separate her from Piper because they are very close
They sleep together every night. Piper sleeps right pressed against Solara, and they just curl up and they sleep every night
I don't want to take Solara away from that. I don't want to take Piper away from that
They're both very attached to each other. Solara can still move around a little bit
The other night I saw her come out and get food
These are the moments I'm happy though
See this is why I don't put her down
She still has life in her. She's drinking so much water.
A minute ago, I didn't really get it on film, but she was eating too.
I'm amazed she even is doing this. I haven't seen her drink at her own water bowl and so much like it's been so long
Since I've seen her drink. That's why I've been having to
Make her have water because she normally won't drink. I'm having to put tubes of water down her throat
She can still move around.
So I'm not gonna separate her and put her in her own cage yet.
Closing comments on this sad emo video. A lot of people have already asked me why I haven't put her down yet
Because you know she can barely walk. She's blind she has arthritis and masses in her kidneys
I'm not gonna put her down until I don't see life in her anymore. I saw her come out and eat
I see her explore or you know try to explore when I take her out
She likes you know finding her way under my arm and sleeping there. I still see life in her eyes
I don't see a lifeless suffering creature
But if it gets to that point, I know you know, I'm not gonna make her just to stay on this stay here suffering
I'm gonna go get her out. Solara.
See how she can still push her way through my hands
I'm not gonna put her down unless she loses all life in her, like she's not
Completely suffering right now. She has a lot of things she's struggling with but she's still here. You know
Thank y'all guys so much for watching and you guys all for subscribing and supporting me
I appreciate all of it so much, like you don't understand how much I love doing this stuff
It's a huge huge passion of mine
Probably my biggest ever. Thank you for subscribing, and I'll see you next time or you'll see me next time. You say bye Solara?
I love you so much