Kellie and Ginny, Forrest’s baby

Hedgehogs are so ke-yute! thought Kellie Warren as a child. She thought there could be no better pet. Click on the link to see a short clip about Emilie and her hedgehog Humphrey, the TV program that introduced Kellie to hedgehogs and planted the desire to have one of her own when she was only about 6 or 8 years old.

But she had to wait until she was grown with teenagers before she had the opportunity to help rescue Forrest, her first hedgehog. As cute as hedgehogs are, they don’t always make the best pets. Many end up needing to be rescued because they didn’t work out for the family that adopted them.

Forrest, Kellie’s first hedgehog

God was in the matchmaking business when he put Forrest and Kellie together. Kellie was struggling with brokenness and depression at the same time Forrest had been passed from one family to another and had not worked out with any of them. When Kellie realized that Forrest had needs much like her own, her life began to improve as she took the focus off herself and poured her energies into helping Forrest feel wanted and safe in her new home.

Hedgehogs have special needs different from most pets. It is especially important to handle them often. Their spiney fur is prickly but is not barbed like the porcupine. If hedgehogs are not handled frequently when they are young they develop anti-social behaviors that may never be changed. Then nobody wants them and they get passed from one family to another. They have to be kept warm or they will die. They need fleece for nesting material, not wood chips which can give them mites; and they must have a wheel to run inside for exercise and a sense of direction. Otherwise they will climb up the sides of their cage and possibly fall and get injured.

Charlie – hedgehog wounds & infection

When Kellie got Charlie he had an infection which required medication plus an hour of attention cleaning the wounds every day for a month before he was well again. Charlie is now well and doing fine, though he is still fussy and not fully socialized. Being a male, he has to be kept in a separate cage across the room from the females to keep them from going into heat.

There is a Hedgehog Welfare Society that helps people find suitable homes for hedgehogs that need a new home. The following post appeared on the Society’s facebook page while I was writing this blog post.

Please meet Brillo, one of our most recent rescues. Brillo’s first home abused her terribly by pulling out and cutting off her quills. She lived with a young lady that rescued her for 2 years, until health issues required her to contact us. Since Brillo is not only 3 years old, but also still traumatized, she will be a permanent family member here. We’ve already discovered her love of mealworms and are using it to gain her trust.

Some hedgehog rescues like Brillo are too traumatized to ever be adopted out into a family setting. These are lovingly cared for in permanent facilities that rescue hedgehogs. This is a very costly public service, so the Hedgehog Welfare Society accepts donations for the care of these orphans.

Kellie does not operate a rescue facility, but she is actively working for hedgehog welfare. She and her husband Jeff have opened a business called Life on the Hedge which is a new company that sells clothing, mugs, and other items which feature special designs of hedgehogs. Ten percent of all sales from this business is donated to hedgehog welfare facilities to help defer the expenses of taking care of these orphans, and another ten percent goes to her church. Both Kellie and Jeff have other full-time jobs and operate this business on a part-time basis, so they are not dependent on it for making a profit. They are currently putting the other 80% of their sales income back into the business to purchase more inventory.

I applaud Kellie and the many other caring individuals who take up their time and energy to care for these amazing animals from God’s creation.