We leave today on a four day vacation.  Juergen's mom, Else, will look after Edwina.  She is in very good hands.  Else is a big fan of Edwina already and we know Edwina will not lack for anything. 

Edwina has been doing some crazy little things the past few days.  She has been shredding the paper I stick inside of her sleeping room.  She has also been dragging her food dish inside her bedroom.  One morning I went out to clean her box and saw that she had turned over the water bowl on top of her feeding dish.  Not an easy task!  Her water bowl is made out of ceramic!  I am now using a flatter metal tin (cleaned out cat food tin) for her water and I think that is working out better.

Last night, she pulled in the edge of the newspaper just inside of the door to her bedroom, thus creating a paper door!  Like Greta Garbo...."she vants to be alone"...

We have returned from our vacation and Else did just fine with Edwina. 

But, yesterday morning when I weighed her, I found that Edwina had lost weight.  Else said that she was eating very well and she was having to fill her dish twice daily.  As you can see on the graph, she has either maintained or lost in the last week or so and that is not good.  By this time, she should have gained over 220 grams and she has only gained about 109. 

We were supposed to take Edwina back to Frau Kessel's (our hedgehog expert) for a check yesterday and it was good that we did. 

Frau Kessel examined Edwina, rechecked her feces, and found that she has lung worms and another parasite in her intestines.  Both are not uncommon in wild hedgehogs, but in baby hedgehogs who must gain weight for the winter sleep, the timing and their presence can create problems.  They negate the increased intake by feeding off of the extra food that she has been eating.  She explained that the lung worms mostly come from infected snails that the hedgehog eat.  Edwina has also been having a drippy nose, which is another symptom of their presence.

Frau Kessel felt it necessary to give Edwina a series of shots to kill these parasites.  Her husband will adminster the shots which must be done over a 7 or 8 day period.  Sometimes these shots can put the hedgehog under alot of stress especially if we were to drive back home afterwards, so she felt it better that Edwina stay at her home during this time.  She said that sometimes the hedgehogs go into shock and can die.  That scared me and we decided to leave Edwina with Frau Kessel until the shot cycle is finished.  She said that by getting rid of these parasites, Edwina will have a much better appetite, will gain weight, and should be able to come back with us in a few days. 

Of course, I was immediately worried - I guess I have surprised myself on how attached I have become.  She is such an endearing little creature.  I just know that we must do our best to get her back into the garden as quickly as we can to make it in time for winter, otherwise, we must provide a winter sleeping place for her.  The alternative is not a problem for us, but we feel it is better if she can "get back into nature" and lead a normal hedgie life.

We will be checking back with Frau Kessel in the coming days and will post news so you can keep updated with our little guest.