Wildlife casualties: We often get injured wildlife brought into VetCare, usually birds and rats and mice that have been caught by cats and injured. Often they are too shocked and badly injured to survive so we can at least alleviate their suffering. That’s why it was especially nice to be able to help this little hedgehog we called Hank.

Hank was bought in by a concerned member of the public as he was wandering around during the day and didn’t curl up into a protective ball when approached. On examination we noticed he had a wound on one of his legs but were unable to look at it properly until we had given him a light anaesthetic. Once he relaxed and was pain free we were horrified to see that his left front foot had been completely cut off and he only had 1 toe left, the wound looked a couple of days old and was obviously infected and dirty. Dr Anu Murthy decided that she would have a go at fixing his leg as he seemed a healthy little guy other than this major problem.

We got him completely asleep and then debrided his wound (cleaned out the dirt and damaged tissue) and formed a little stump for him to walk on then sutured the skin over top of the stump.

He also had some antibiotics, some pain relief, and fluid therapy as he was dehydrated from blood loss and being out in the sun all day. We treated his internal and external parasites (many hedgehogs carry fleas, lice, and ticks and live with them) with a special dose of revolution.

He was woken up and put in a box with some shredded paper and a bowl of cat food and a bowl of water. We were delighted to see him eating hungrily about a hour after his surgery. He went home for the weekend with Henna one of our very caring nurses who regularly takes home injured and orphaned animals (despite her boyfriends and flat-mates disgruntlement!) and as we speak seems to be recovering well.

Once he has finished his antibiotics and has had his stitches out he will be released into the park again, so keep an eye out for Hank the 3 legged hedgehog coming into your garden soon!