Harry Hog

In the summer of 2014 a tiny hedgehog needed to live with us. Here is his story written that winter.

At the bottom of our garden under the shrubbery is a little wooden house covered in logs. It's very frosty now, but inside covered in hay and leaves is Harry Hog lying deep in hibernation. Further along the fence is another little house with Harriet Hog also deep in winter's slumber. Harry arrived at my feet peeping like a smoke alarm one very hot lunchtime in early June. He was so tiny, and should you ever see a hedgehog out in the daytime like this, it means they are in serious trouble. But I didn't know that then, although I could see the little chap was in distress. I put him in a dog crate and fed him water and cat food, knowing just enough never to feed hedgehogs milk or bread, as they are lactose intolerant and it could kill them. Being an endangered species and on the protected wildlife list, I called the RSPCA who said they would send someone round to collect him. In the meantime, the hoglet had squeezed himself in the one inch space between the bars of the crate and was making a choking peeping sound. It turns out that hogs can climb very high and squeeze through very small spaces! Just as the RSPCA arrived he'd managed to wriggle free with a little pulling from me. I was advised to release him at dusk as he must have wandered from his nesting mother, although I'd searched our garden for the nest and possibly other little hoglets. At dusk we released the baby which ran peeping up the path and round the garden in a very defenceless sort of way, but we imagined that baby wild hogs must know their way around and it would be reunited with its mother. The next day, again at lunchtime, the little hog turned up peeping as though his very life depended upon me to do something, which it did. After phoning the local sanctuary, who could not collect him that day, I decided there and then to look after this little orphan myself. Housing him in a hamster cage at first, I did some intensive research on the Internet about hedgehog care, which made me realise how vulnerable these creatures are. But Harry badly wanted to live and I wanted to help him to do just that. After checking him over for worms, fleas, ticks and mites, he was totally clean. It's somewhat a misconception about hedgehogs being full of fleas, and even if they are, the fleas are host specific, which means they cannot live on other animals, or humans. His diet consisted of mashed chicken cat food in jelly, chicken and tripe dog food, chopped boiled egg, a small amount of grated cheese, sultanas as treats, dry kibble kitten food and plenty of water always available. It's recommended that you weigh the hog every day to ensure weight gain, so he was tiny at just 150g. He needed to weigh at least 500g to have a chance of survival and to be released back into the garden.​​

As he grew very quickly, we soon had to purchase a guinea pig hutch for him and increase his diet by adding more of everything, plus introducing Spike's semi moist hedgehog food and mealworms, which hogs love more than anything and can become addicted to them if you're not careful. Every day at dusk we would scruplously clean Harry's hutch and weigh him and this was the only time I handled him since he needed to remain wild and not become a pet. However, I always talked gently to Harry throughout his time with us, and I really think he liked this as he would settle down and listen. Harry thrived, gaining weight very rapidly and exponentially. He was also becoming very active and possibly a little bit distressed at his confinement, but we had to get his weight up first. Hedgehogs are incredibly messy and sometimes you'd wonder how one small hog could completely blitz his hutch, floor to ceiling to sides, with food and poo. If you ever find yourself looking after one, well I just thought I'd better warn you on this. After three months, the day arrived in late August when I popped Harry on the scales and his weight was just over 500g. I was pleased about this because Harry was becoming increasingly agitated and depressed at his confinement and this in itself posed a threat to his welfare. I'd spent two days setting up a special house for him in the garden, together with an adjacent feeding station, and one afternoon I carefully placed Harry inside the house and hoped he would remain there until dusk, which he did. Right on the brink of darkness he emerged, and I will never forget the look on his face. That was one very happy hog! We often see Harry around the garden and from the other five hogs that visit we always know which one Harry is, because he is the only one that stops to listen to me when I talk to them. When he emerges from hibernation he will need fattening up again quickly and he will be ready to find a mate for the first time. We are expecting to see lots of little hoglets next year, hopefully not orphaned.

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