Gills logs and blogs.

 Rumi needs a retirement home.

Meet Rumi......

She came into the rescue mid July in a very poor state and went straight into an intensive care incubator where she was warmed and hydrated before being moved to a more spacious hutch. Her name came about because I had no room in the rescue at the time and had to shuffle things about to accommodate her. i said 'I have no roomi' and the name stuck.

Her first poo sample revealed a very heavy burden of roundworm and liver fluke and treatment was commenced with some trepidation as she was so very poorly.

Sometimes as a rescuer you find yourself between a rock and a hard place as the hog is full of things that will kill it if untreated, but they are too weak to cope with the treatment which can be harsh and unforgiving.

The  following day Rumi was found cold,unresponsive and tightly curled  and back into ICU she went.

For the next week I syringe fed her with a mix of a variety of highly nutritious feeds, and whilst she was listless and very poorly she accepted enough feed to sustain her.

I gave her the second dose of her treatment expecting the worst but Rumi hung on in there but to my dismay a poo sample revealed lungworms, and more medication had to be added to her already hefty cocktail.

She declined rapidly and I reverted to injecting fluids until she was strong enough to accept oral feeds again and began with those every four hours to improve her strength.

I then discovered that she rather likes scrambled egg and could add various additional nutritious powders to this to increase its benefit.

Then.....ringworm developed on her nose and abdomen and yet more treatment was required. Poor old Rumi.

Rumi has somehow rather miraculously survived it all and is now up and about, coming to the end of all her treatments.

She has just come off her heat pad and is learning to cope in a big outside hutch .

As I have come to know her quite well I realise that she is an elderly lady and I am sure that if Ester Ranzen knew of her she would give her a medal for her fortitude and remarkable constitution.

However like  many things in their twilight years she needs a little help and i feel would benefit from release to a secure and supported garden where she can continue to gain strength and be cosseted a little.

I will keep her here until she is at least 500g before releasing her.

I am happy to provide a hedgehog house and feeding station.

She just likes a scrambled egg and a few calci worms and access to fresh water and she will potter about at night before returning to a warm bed.

If you think you could provide that, knowing that she is a wild animal and not a pet, you will need

•  A quiet garden that has plenty of shrubs and places that she can explore and root around.
• Be prepared to offer her food each night 365 days a year (she may well hibernate over winter).
• No ponds.
• No nets or wire fences.
• Security, she needs to be able to roam but not leave the garden.
• To treat her like a wild animal, and not a pet. If she requires handling gloves must be worn.
• You should not be immuno suppressed in any way.
• No small children that can disturb her or access her unsupervised.

I will provide a house for her and a feeding station and am here for advice at anytime but it will be your responsibility to support her. She asks for little and you will be able to watch her potter knowing that you have giving this elderly hedgehog the retirement home she deserves..