09/03/2026
Among our usual day-to-day family/zoo chaos, the last three months we've been carefully working with a special rescue hedgie on an unexpected hind foot amputation recovery. I'm so proud of how he's healing and handling the whole ordeal, and wanted to share how he looks! I'm including a photo collage showing his progress in the comments: please note it does show a dead, necrotic foot. It's not horrifying, just black - but view at your discretion.
Spike was surrendered as a young and healthy rescue to us and we found after a foot bath, to our surprise and horror, that what appeared to be a weird solid "p**p boot" was in fact his dead foot: with nails, foot pads, and all still attached. A hair or string of some kind got wrapped around it, and while the tourniquet had come off at some point, his foot tissue had already died.
As a digit amputee myself and with experience in veterinary rehabilitation, Spike landed in the perfect place! With our amazing exotics veterinarian Dr. Merkwan, we've assessed and monitored his foot for conservative treatment rather than a more invasive surgical procedure. We wanted to retain as much of the limb as possible so Spike could still realistically bear weight after the stump healed. It took about a month and a half before the last of the dead bone could be removed. Then was the long progress of not only growing brand new skin over the stump, but new skin that needs to become durable enough to function as a foot pad for bearing weight.
Healing was slow going for the new pad of his "foot" until our vet suggested we try a wound care product (RediHeal) which has been astonishingly effective. In two weeks, Spike has been able to grow new skin over almost the whole open area on his stump. Ordinarily a wound like this would be bandaged for protection, but there isn't a realistic way of safely keeping a bandage or cover on his stump.
Spike has been an incredibly tolerant, brave hedgie patient through this process and my hope is he'll be able to live a relatively normal life from here on out. His foot still has a teeny bit of healing to go, but at this point I think we can call this a success! 🎉
