Welcome to
Registered Charity SCO52600
Admitted in October 2024, Hercules is a great reminder of why it’s important to keep trying to save a Hedgehog’s life even when it seems futile and they are just not responding as well as expected to the treatment plan provided.
Hercules was a tiny 69g on admission and suffering from what appeared to be some kind of developmental challenge. In his time at Hogwatch he also suffered from ringworm, issues with his teeth and a 3cm abscess under his left armpit. While his progress was slow – he was touch and go for a while – his determination to survive was clear and we were ecstatic when he finally reached a healthy release weight of 900g.
Prior to release, he was acclimated to outdoor temperatures in foster care then moved to one of our secure gardens so that we could monitor that he had got the jist of ‘how to Hedgehog’ before fully releasing him. Once we were comfprtable that he was showing all the behaviours we would expect of an adult male hedgehog it would have been inhumane to keep him in rescue any longer.
Hercules was released in April 2025 and serves as a wonderful reminder to keep going even when things are difficult.
Harvey (our most expensive patient yet!) arrived with us in May 2023 weighing 622 grams after his finders noticed him limping on the camera in their garden and contacted us.
He was admitted with what appeared to be a broken leg and was taken to the vets where he was X-Rayed which showed a complete break of his tibia and fibula of his rear left leg. The vet was prepared to amputate the leg if we felt he could survive in the wild, otherwise the outcome would be euthanasia.
On receipt of Harvey’s X-Ray Dawn spoke to another Hedgehog rescue colleague who had been doing a lot of work with their vets to reset broken legs with great success for a few years. From this conversation and studies to date, it was suggested that a special bandage which our vet had not used before, could be used to hold the leg in position whilst it reset.
As our vet didn’t have this bandage Dawn purchased it, it arrived two days later and the vet agreed to proceed. Harvey’s leg was straightened out and the bandage was put in place – basically it was a wee stookie.
There are a lot of challenges in putting a plaster on a Hedgehog leg due to their propensity to curl up and also the need to have it tight enough not to fall off yet slack enough to allow this young hedgehog to grow.
Harvey was given a gentle exercise regime and a special diet for the ten days that the stookie was holding his leg in the correct position – he was also given calcium with vitamin D3 to help the bone repair. The wee soul struggled a bit with the stookie on but was well behaved through it all, albeit very displeased.
After a couple of weeks the bandage was removed and happily the leg had healed really well.
Harvey’s next stage to recovery was hydrotherapy, which was basically at first walking in water as it took his weight, progressing on to him actually swimming – he wasn’t keen on this but it was our only option to strengthen his leg.
Harvey was doing really well so to exercise his muscles he was put overnight in the greenhouse and brought him back in the early hours of the morning before the sun was up and back into his hutch to rest for the day, watching him on the camera as he shuffled about, it was clear to see him gaining the use of his leg and getting stronger every day.
Harvey spent 8 weeks and 2 days at the rescue, though when collected for release he sneezed quite a lot as he was going into the transport container, this made everyone laugh as we figured he didn’t want to go yet and was hamming it up!
Harvey was released in August 2023 and is a great example of why it’s worth putting time and money into even the most difficult seeming rescues.
Found on a concrete stable yard floor in Hillend, Edinburgh over 65 miles from us, these four little hoglets were a mere 6 days old and weighed between 45g and 55g.
The vigilant finder had contacted two separate animal rescue services, one gave advice to monitor for Mum to return, and when she didn’t return and they called back, said they couldn’t take the hoglets. The other offered to euthanise as they had no capacity to deal with them. By the time we got the call, the hoglets had been alone for over 8 hours and stood little chance of survival. Cold, dehydration and lack of nutrition are swift killers to such little bodies.
Their eyes and ears were closed, feet were little buds with no nails yet, no teeth, no fur on their face or any other part of their body and white spines still apparent but growing out – totally dependent on Mum at this stage and unable to self thermoregulate so had to stay in an incubator. Raising hoglets at any age is a specialised task requiring knowledge, experience and equipment.
We named the hoglets Faith, Fortune, Charity and Chance and fed them a quarter of their body weight in ml, feeding every two hours both day and night time and manually stimulated them to urinate and defecate like their mum would.
Going from hand feeding to learning how to eat by themselves the hoglets gained an average 12g a day each, with all 4 hoglets reaching around 700g after 9 weeks in rescue.
Hogwatch Dumbarton Hedgehog Rescue is a charitable organisation (SCO52600) based in the heart of Dumbarton, Scotland.
We are a rescue and rehabilitation centre dedicated specifically to the care of European Hedgehogs. The centre is run entirely by volunteers and aims to return all Hedgehogs back to the wild, to the area they came from wherever possible.
Founders Dawn and Alex started Hogwatch Dumbarton Hedgehog Rescue in 2021 after years of supporting the local hedgehog population. An injured hedgehog appearing in their garden alerted them to the need for a local hedgehog rescue and the rest is history! The rescue has gone from strength to strength, having helped hundreds of hedgehogs in the following years.
As well as rescue and rehabilitation, we believe education is crucial to supporting hedgehogs and offer a number of courses on how private individuals and professionals can offer care and support.
We are also passionate about creating hedgehog and wildlife friendly spaces and are happy to advise those managing public grounds, householders and builders alike to manage areas of land sympathetic to the needs of wildlife in general, which in turn enhances the environment and ecosystem for hedgehogs.
Please reach out for any help or advice as to how best to encourage Hedgehogs into your garden, how to help those currently visiting, advice on any plans to disturb ground such as new buildings, removing sheds or decking areas etc
We are also proud British Wildlife Rehabilitation Council members and founding members of the Scottish Hedgehog Rescue Alliance (SHeRA), a collaboration of hedgehog rescue and rehabillitation organisations to ensure that hedgehogs in need always have a space in rescue.
If you have any questions about the rescue or how to support hedgehogs, please contact us. If it is an emergency, please phone us on 07598 060 192.
Please follow us on Facebook for the most up to date information on the day to day running of the rescue and our patients
Dumbarton, Scotland, United Kingdom
info@hogwatchdumbarton.co.uk
