Hedgehog Cabin

When you see a hedgehog out in the day time please remember he's been sick for a long time before taking this last desperate step.
He's dying.
IT'S AN EMERGENCY.
Take him indoors in the warmth and ring a rescue IMMEDIATELY.
Find your nearest rescue here: helpwildlife.co.uk

Just a nice little feel-good story for #caturday.
Being a hedgehog hospital with lots of food around, I get plenty of cats.😋
Some chancers, some genuine strays.
This big old bruiser is Soggy.
He's been knocking around for a couple of years, one of those old cats with a big head still, but skinny pointy hips, shrunken and atrophied with age.
I don't know what was done to him, but it must have been something really terrible as he won't let me near him.
I have cat beds all round, some with electric heat pads under them, all under cover.
He doesn't go near them.
He won't even get inside a cardboard box.
He eats well, but won't go into the cat feeding area. He eats outside in the rain, from the fox food bowl (hence Soggy).😊
He sleeps up on the roof of one of the hospital buildings.
I've sneaked cosy cat beds up there, put nice insulated boxes, but he's too wary of them.
Yesterday, as the night temperature forecast was -4°C, I put out one of the hedgehog's vet bed blankets, in the hope that Soggy would trust it, as it wasn't enclosed in any way.
He was nervous at first, but then the softness and warmth got to him.
Just look at this big old baby, paddling like a little kitten!
Isn't it a lovely sight?
I just love that this poor old boy has at last found some comfort.❤️

It's not normal for an owl to use a bird bath to bathe.
But she's desperate.
See how nervous she is?
She wouldn't naturally take such a risk, in such a small space.
But despite some rain and much lower temperatures our soil is still parched, and our ponds and streams and lakes are still dry.
So please keep providing water dishes for our struggling wildlife.
Many people see the birds in the day and provide for them, but our nocturnal animals - the hedgehogs, foxes, badgers, bats and owls - are unseen: their needs unconsidered.
This water tub sits on the bed of a dried out stream, which won't recover from the extended hot weather and drought of the summer for a long time yet.
When the ground becomes this parched, most rain is absorbed by dry earth rather than reaching or refilling ponds, streams, and underground aquifers.
So until our natural water resources recover, please be a life saver and provide clean water each night.

Every day now is filled with phone calls from finders of out-in-the-day hedgehogs. And they are all saying the same thing: "We brought him in, put him in a box and gave him food, he was starving."
They don't realise, but these sweet kind people have just sealed this hedgehog's fate.
Please NEVER feed a daytime wildlife casualty.
I know, it's so hard not to.
When we see a suffering animal we feel a strong, innate impulse to help, and a desire to provide immediate tangible comfort; equating food with survival and care.
Feeding feels like a direct, immediate and nurturing action to alleviate suffering.
Yet it is the most catastrophically harmful thing you could ever do.
Especially hedgehogs out in the day, who will be hypothermic.
It takes a lot of energy to digest food, energy these compromised animals just don't have spare.
Every last bit of their energy is being used to maintain vital bodily functions - to keep the heart beating, to oxygenate the organs.
Forcing energy away from these critical functions for something as non-critical as digesting food will be a death sentence.
It won't be immediate, it may take hours, or a couple of days, but eventually, no matter what the experienced rescue you later take them to tries, the animal is already on the unstoppable journey into shock, organ failure and death.
It's tragic for the casualty and heartbreaking for the rescues.
So please help in the right way.
An out-in-the-day hedgehog needs *contact* warmth, a safe indoor space away from flies, and cover to reduce their stress (please see advice below).
They are not going to die of starvation in the couple of hours between you finding them, and getting them to a rescue.😊
And please remember - any website that gives you DIY information on caring for or feeding injured or orphaned wildlife is, by default, wrong.
The ONLY right action is to get them to a good rescue (never a vet) where their complex needs can be met.
Even if you have seen this vital information before and understand it, feeding wildlife casualties is a powerful compulsion because it directly activates human instincts of empathy and compassion, often overriding the scientific advice against it.
So please remember this warning and spread it as far as you can.
Helping a wildlife casualty get to the expert treatment they need is an incredibly kind, altruistic act of great humanity.
Just remember to provide them with what they need, not what you need.🥰

🔥If your bonfire wasn't built today - then please MOVE IT NOW.‼️
It won't take nearly as long as you think, and then you can relax and enjoy it tonight.
I've seen the face of someone handing me a hedgehog smelling like a barbecue and screaming.
You never want to be that person.