Hedgehog

BrianD3

There's a small hedgehog in our garden that i'm feeding, he appears out of a hedge at dusk for a big feast of cat food

I'm wondering though is he in danger from being attacked by our cat? Hedgehog is young, I'd say around 1/3 the size of an adult and maybe 5-6 weeks old. The cat is usually inside when the hedgehog appears but has seen him though the window and was very interested.

Alun

We had a hedgehog in a previous house we lived in, and our cat would occasionally approach it if he saw it. The hedgehog would promptly curl up in a ball, and the cat would sit there looking at it for ages, occasionally giving it a bit of a pat with his paw and when it got no reaction from the hedgehog at all, he'd just give up and leave it in peace. Once the hedgehog thought the coast was clear, he'd unroll himself and scarper off. Ours was an adult though.

morgana

In my experience, cats will give them a sniff and a few curious glances but seem to be pretty sure hedgehogs are not prey or playtime stuff :-). After a while they just ignored it.

doctor evil

Don`t give it bread and milk!.

Any pics?, haven`t seen a hedgehog in our garden in years. I hope they are there as it is a tad bit over grown.

netman

We've had loads of them at home, and I assure you cats are not a problem for a hedgehog

Even a young hedgehog will instinctively roll up into a ball at a sign of danger.

They'd go mad for cat food (I doubt this was appreciated by our cat), and I often found them eating slugs from the garden. That makes them good in my book!

The only problem was that these fellas were absolutely ridden with fleas, and as you can imagine they can't scratch themselves like a cat So make sure your cat gets the flea & tick treatment regularly.

BrianD3

I read somewhere that hedgehog fleas do not cross to cats. Not sure about ticks though.

Will get a pic up ASAP!

BrianD3

Here's the little fella. The saucer in the 2nd pic gives an idea how big he is

bushy...

I think most flea powders are toxic to them , you can put stuff intended for birds on them though.

doctor evil

Yaye!.

netman

Aww, bless him he's so small

Real cute!

As for the flea powder/spray, I'd ask a vet before putting anything on the hedgehog.. My suggestion was for the cat, to use frontline or similar

altered121

Hi We keep a number of cats some inside and more outside house,
they will ignore the hedgie after a while, hedgehogs can live on cat food and water, again cow milk is not good for then ( causes runs and de-hydration )
if they are feeding on the cat food on a regular basis they can become dependant on it please also leave water in bowl. good luck with them they are very interesting to watch..

Sigma Force

I think petshoponline do hedgehog food if you want to go all out. Aovid milk as said a shallow bowl of water is fine. As said cats usually can't do anything about a hedgie with all the spikes. If you can dig up a section of garden an unearth some insects for him he can help himself. Your so lucky to have a hedgehog we've been here years and have kepts a lot of the native hedgerows and the garden is wild atm and still no sign of a hedgehog.

BrianD3

This little hedgehog has a huge appetite for the size of him. Every evening he's eating about 75-100 g of wet cat food plus some dry stuff too. I'm leaving out water for him too. He will lick food off my hand but is timid and nervous at the same time. Sometimes when approached he shakes as if nervous

I think it is a good idea to feed him as our garden, while quite big is surrounded by high walls on three sides so it's probabaly difficult for him to go foraging in other gardens. I've read that hedghogs can travel a mile or two each night foraging through different gardens

cooper_man

BrianD3 wrote:

There's a small hedgehog in our garden that i'm feeding, he appears out of a hedge at dusk for a big feast of cat food

I'm wondering though is he in danger from being attacked by our cat? Hedgehog is young, I'd say around 1/3 the size of an adult and maybe 5-6 weeks old. The cat is usually inside when the hedgehog appears but has seen him though the window and was very interested.

We have one in the back of our garden. He is only back a few months and was away through the winter hibernating.

I got hedgehog food in B&Q, very sad I know, but he was causing awful trouble coming up the garden to eat the dog food. The dog would wake us in the middle of the night barking. I just scatter some of this pellet food at the far end of the garden and here nothing.

I wouldnt have any concern with the cat to be honest, our dog is well able to take care of him self but he still cant hurt the hedgehog!

BrianD3

Having done a bit more reading in this I might be giving him the wrong stuff. Apparently the cat food in jelly or gravy that I have been giving him is not great, Whiskas "supermeat" is what should be given.

Will check out the hedgehog food in B+Q also

Laura~

We have a huge hedgehog living in our garden. The only time my cat encounters it is when hubby takes her out in his arms after dark for a quick go round the garden.

Anytime he sees the hedgehog he puts the cat down beside it - she is not the least bit interested in the hedgehog nor the hedgehog in her. As he is large he possibly doesnt see her as a threat. Cannot explain why she is not interested in him as he moves and she normally loves things that move - fascinated to either watch them, play with them or chase them, but not so the hedgehog. So there you are.

Buttons_sb

We had 2 hedgehogs in our back yard, the cat just looked at them and ignored them.
But it got out onto the road late one night and 4 teenage boys stoned it to death. Now the other one is gone. So id say its more in danger of uneducated stupid teenage boys then it is of cats.