14/08/2026
Ah Gideon...... I haven't introduced him to you although he has been with me for a few weeks now. Quite honestly when he came in I thought I would be calling the vet to put him to sleep straight away. He was an absolute mess. Half of his face was covered in deep deep flystrike...literally packed from his skin to ends of his fur. There were maggots on his face where the eggs had begun to hatch and they were eating away through a hole in his nose, both eyes were closed and covered in fly eggs ......but that was nothing towards the state of the rest of his nose. A strimmer had literally ripped through his nose, removing a portion of the end of it. He also had a wound on his back right heel but in all honesty that was the least of the issues.
I took him inside and started a full examination. He had fluids and pain relief before anything else. I was still thinking I would need to take him to the surgery. And yet, I knew this little guy was a fighter, you could see it in him. I could feel it as I worked on him. I started to remove the maggots and fly eggs..... it took hours and yet he lay there in my hands and let me do it. Bit by bit I got it all removed and cleaned him up as best as I could. Both eyes had maggots inside so I wasn't surprised he wasn't ready for opening them just yet.
Once we had him comfortable and relatively stable I offered him some food.......and he wolfed it down. Syringe after syringe.....at that point my decision was made. I would give him every chance to improve and recover, whilst keeping a very close eye on him of course. A trip to the vet saw him being gassed down and the wound on his nose cleaned and flushed fully. My vet agreed that it was OK to give him a chance.
Bit by bit, day by day, he has improved. By day 2 his right eye was open and he was taking food from a fork or spoon (he still couldn't see and his nose injury was affecting his smell). From there he started to feel for the tray and the meat with his front feet and slowly began to feed himself again (with a little help and a LOT of mess!). About a week later his left eye fully opened. His wound on his nose that had the maggots has finally started to dry up and heal from infection this week. The wound on his heel has become more troublesome this last week too and so I have been wrapping it and treating manuka honey. What looked like dry dead skin is now looking far better and he can walk on it when it is wrapped. I don't know whether it will full heal or not ....time will tell.
So that's the story of Gideon. He is one of the most amazing hogs I have worked with.....and I've worked so closely one to one with him that he has a really special place in my heart. I can't promise you he will make it. He won't be able to be released into the wild but he could have a wonderful live in one of the large enclosed gardens that we have connected to the rescue. We are a way off that yet though. For now, we continue to take it from day to day..... his nose seems to be healing little by little. Thankfully he has always maintained his nostrils and has been able to breathe through both.....he was very wheezy but that has gone now. He had internal parasites too but has taken all his treatment in his stride. One day at a time Gideon, one day at a time......
Thank you so much to the supporters on here and on Patreon who continue to help even though we are not actively taking hedgehogs in at the moment. It's lives like Gideon's that you are saving with your donations. I couldn't do it without you. Thank you from me and from Gideon.
