Hedgehog
Diseases

Hedgehogs suffer many diseases common to mammals, including cancer, fatty liver disease, and cardiovascular disease.

Cancer is very common in hedgehogs. The most common is squamous cell carcinoma, which spreads quickly from bone to the organs, unlike in humans. Surgery to remove the bone tumors is impractical.

Fatty liver and heart disease are believed to be caused by bad diet and obesity. Hedgehogs will eagerly eat foods high in fat and sugar, despite a metabolism adapted for low-fat, protein-rich insects.

Hedgehogs are also highly susceptible to pneumonia, with difficulty breathing and nasal discharge, caused by the bacterium Bordetella bronchiseptica.

Hedgehogs uncommonly transmit a fungal ringworm or dermatophytosis skin infection to human handlers and other hedgehogs, caused by Trichophyton erinacei, a distinct mating group among the Arthroderma benhamiae fungi.

Hedgehogs can suffer from balloon syndrome, a rare condition in which gas is trapped under the skin from injury or infection, causing the animal to inflate. The condition is unique to hedgehogs because their skin is baggy enough to curl up. In 2017 the BBC reported a case of a male hedgehog "almost twice its natural size, literally blown up like a beach ball with incredibly taut skin". At Stapeley 's Wildlife Hospital, vet Bev Panto, said, "I have seen three or four of these cases and they are very strange every time and quite shocking... When you first see them they appear to be very big hedgehogs but when you pick them up they feel so light because they are mostly air". The British Hedgehog Preservation Society advises:

There is no single cause for this condition. The air can be removed by incising or aspirating through the skin over the back. Antibiotic cover should be given. This may be associated with lung/chest wall damage or a small external wound acting like a valve or a clostridium type infection.
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