Friday 2 October 2009

Hedgehog X-Ray

Have a nice x-ray of a hedgehog. Thought l would share it here. You can see the spines along the side of the hoglet like a halo.

Hoggie came in collapsed, the vet x-rayed to check for anything obvious. Nothing was earth shakingly showing and he made it through his problem and went to wildlife rehab, many don't. They get poisoned, hit by cars and sliced up by strimmers.
Worse case l saw was a hedgehog that had 2 long red stalks with black tops on sticking out of a hollow cavity. We think a tractor pulling a hedge cutter that was working the area had cut the top of his head off and scooped much of his brain out. We all leapt for the pentobarb unable to believe that what we were seeing was still alive. The soggy noises as it tried to breath and the waving stalks that were his eyes confirmed it was.

4 comments:

Fi from Four Paws and Whiskers said...

OMG - stalks... how awful!

Interesting I have never x-rayed a hedgehog... thanks :)

Love the word verification waiting for me to fill in - "thspesil"... pretty much how I feel this lazy Sunday morning in New Zealand.

Roses said...

Eeeewwww!

That poor hedghog. That's awful.

I feel queasy just reading about it. The poor love.

Thank goodness this little piggy is doing fine.

aromatic said...

Great result for the first little hog.. but as for the other well that is just gruesume... and sorry now I need to faint!!!
Love Jane xxxx

cambstreasurer said...

Loses breakfast onto keyboard!

(For anyone who is haunted by this, I would imagine the injured HHog was actually unconscious and the movement was reflex from the remaining brain stem).

And thanks to everyone at your practice for taking so much trouble over a hedgehog.