Prevention and Treatment of Intestinal Bloat in Hedgehog Farming

1) Causes: When hedgehogs consume large amounts of moldy feed, bloat-prone feed (soybean dregs), and various rotten, spoiled, mildewed feed and silage, or when there is a sudden change in feed composition, or when they consume too much highly palatable feed at one time, they can all develop bloat.

2) Symptoms: Complete loss of appetite, abdomen gradually distends, palpation of the stomach reveals it is full of food and gas. The intestines are filled with gas, with borborygmus and abdominal pain. Difficulty breathing, unwillingness to move, accelerated heartbeat, visible mucous membranes flushed or even cyanotic.

3) Prevention and treatment: Keep the sick hedgehog fasting for 1-2 days, then choose one of the following treatments.

(1) Administer 50 mL of vegetable oil orally.

(2) Administer 6 g of mashed garlic + 15-30 mL of vinegar orally.

(3) Administer 30-60 mL of rice vinegar orally.

(4) Administer 0.3 g of phenyl salicylate orally.

(5) Administer 2 mL of ginger tincture + 1 mL of rhubarb tincture + a small amount of warm boiled water orally.

(6) 3-5 drops of Shidishui, taken with warm boiled water.

(7) While administering oral medication, inject 0.5 mL of 10% caffeine sodium benzoate intramuscularly.

(8) Oral Chinese herbal medicine: Acorus gramineus 6 g, Aristolochia debilis 6 g, wild hawthorn 6 g, tangerine peel 10 g, one piece of Shenqu, decocted in water.