Hedgehog near drowning: the swimming myth and the days after

Quick answer

Hedgehogs can paddle. That is not the same as being able to swim, and it is nothing like being able to get out again.

A hedgehog in a smooth sided bath, sink, pond or pool paddles until it is exhausted and then goes under. The videos that circulate showing hedgehogs apparently enjoying a swim are one of the more dangerous pieces of pet content online, and they cause real deaths.

After any water incident the priorities are draining, drying, warming and getting to a vet. In that order.

• Never put a hedgehog into water deeper than its own legs, and never leave one in water unattended.
• Lift a hedgehog out with the head slightly lower than the body so water drains out. Never swing, shake or squeeze it.
• A wet hedgehog chills fast, and cold can trigger an attempted hibernation that it cannot survive.
• Inhaled water causes lung inflammation that develops over the following one to three days, so a hedgehog that seems fine still needs veterinary assessment.
• Shallow warm foot soaks are a legitimate part of hedgehog care. Swimming is not.

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Never swing a hedgehog, hold it upside down and shake it, or squeeze its chest to expel water.

These manoeuvres are copied from outdated human first aid and they cause serious injury. Swinging a small animal by the body risks spinal and internal damage, and squeezing the chest of an animal that is already struggling to breathe makes it worse.

The correct action is to lift the hedgehog with its head slightly lower than its hindquarters and let gravity drain water passively from the mouth and nose for a few seconds, then dry it and get it warm.

Do not attempt chest compressions unless you have been trained. A hedgehog in distress balls up, which makes the chest inaccessible, and attempting it delays the journey to a vet, which is what actually helps.
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Decide in 60 seconds

Why hedgehogs drown

The coat works against them.

Quills are modified hairs and they hold water. A hedgehog in water is carrying that weight, and the more it struggles the more waterlogged it becomes.

Their defence is useless in water.

A frightened hedgehog contracts the muscle that pulls the skin over its body and forms a ball. In water that is exactly the wrong response, and a balled hedgehog sinks.

They cannot get out of smooth sides.

This is the killer. A hedgehog can paddle for a while, but a bath, a sink, a bucket, a water butt, a garden pond with vertical edges or a swimming pool offers nothing to climb. The animal circles until it is exhausted.

They are small and they chill fast.

Even a brief immersion drops body temperature significantly, and the consequences of that in this species are described below.

The scenarios that recur are a hedgehog put in a bath or sink to be washed, a hedgehog placed in water for a video, a hedgehog that escapes and falls into a garden pond or an uncovered water butt, and a hedgehog dropped into a paddling pool in warm weather.

The first ten minutes

Towels and a lined carrier ready before anything else. Warmth and stillness are the whole of the home treatment.

Lift it out and drain passively.

Support the whole body and hold the hedgehog so the head is slightly lower than the hindquarters for a few seconds. Water in the mouth and nose runs out under gravity. That is all the draining that is safe to do.

Dry it thoroughly.

Towels, pressing rather than rubbing, working the towel between the quills. A wet hedgehog continues to lose heat as the water evaporates, so drying is a warming measure as much as a comfort one.

Warm it gradually.

A warm room, a towel lined container, and a wrapped warm item beside the animal that it can move away from. Not a hairdryer, not a radiator, not direct heat against the skin, and not immersion in warm water.

Keep it quiet and contained.

A small carrier or box with a towel. Handling adds stress and stress increases oxygen demand in an animal whose lungs may already be compromised.

Do not offer fluids by mouth.

An animal that has inhaled water is at risk of inhaling anything else you put in its mouth.

Phone a vet who sees hedgehogs.

Every water immersion warrants a call, regardless of how well the animal seems.

Note the details.

How long it was in the water, whether it went under, what kind of water it was, and what you did. Chlorinated pool water, soapy bath water and pond water all cause different degrees of lung irritation and the vet will want to know which.

The two clocks

Hypothermia, in the first hour.

Small mammals lose heat very quickly when wet. In an African pygmy hedgehog, cold does something specific. The species originates from a warm climate and does not truly hibernate, but a cold hedgehog attempts to, becoming sluggish, cold to the touch, wobbly, and eventually unresponsive.

An attempted hibernation in a pet hedgehog is an emergency in its own right. The animal cannot sustain it, it does not have the physiology to arouse from it reliably, and it deteriorates. A hedgehog that is cold and wobbly after a water incident needs gradual warming and a vet, not a nap.

Warm gradually rather than rapidly. Sudden rewarming of a chilled animal causes its own problems.

Lung injury, over the next one to three days.

This is the clock people miss. Water in the airway damages the lining of the lungs and interferes with the surfactant that keeps the small airways open. Inflammation and fluid accumulation follow, and they develop over hours to days rather than immediately.

The result is an animal that comes out of the water, dries off, eats supper, and is in genuine respiratory trouble the following evening.

What to watch for over three days:

Breathing rate at rest. Count the rises of the flank over a minute, while the hedgehog is asleep or resting, and do it at the same time each day. An upward trend is the earliest measurable sign.

Breathing effort. Visible movement of the whole body with each breath, flaring nostrils, or breathing with the neck extended.

Sound. Clicking, crackling, wheezing or bubbling. Hedgehogs huff and puff normally when defensive, so listen when the animal is calm.

Colour. Any blue or grey tinge around the mouth or on the belly skin.

Appetite and weight. A hedgehog that goes off food after a water incident is not sulking.

Activity. Reduced wheel use overnight is a reliable indicator in this species.

The differentials worth knowing

Not every breathing problem after a swim is caused by the swim.

Existing heart disease. Dilated cardiomyopathy is common in pet hedgehogs. A hedgehog with early heart disease may have been coping until the effort and stress of a struggle in water pushed it over. The signs overlap almost completely with lung injury, and the distinction is made on examination and imaging.

Respiratory infection. Common in hedgehogs, often driven by dusty bedding and cool enclosures, and it can be brewing before the incident.

Obesity. A very overweight hedgehog breathes with more effort at baseline, which makes any additional insult more serious.

Wobbly hedgehog syndrome. Produces unsteadiness and eventually paralysis, and owners occasionally attribute the first wobble to a fall or a swim. It is progressive and not related.

Simple exhaustion and cold. Real, and it should improve steadily with warmth over an hour or two. Improvement that stalls or reverses is not exhaustion.

Foot soaks, which are different

Plain materials and a calm check. A hedgehog that is dry, warm and breathing quietly is what you are aiming for.

Shallow warm water has a legitimate place in hedgehog care, and it is worth separating clearly from swimming.

A foot soak means a shallow depth of comfortably warm water in a container with a non slip base, deep enough to cover the feet and no more, with the hedgehog able to stand comfortably and the person present throughout. It is used to clean soiled feet and legs, which happens routinely because hedgehogs run on their wheels and walk through their own droppings.

The rules that make it safe are the depth, the temperature, the supervision, the non slip base, and thorough drying in a warm room afterwards.

A hedgehog should never be left in water, never be placed in water deeper than its legs, and never be put into water to swim.

Full baths, when genuinely needed for a heavily soiled animal or as part of a prescribed treatment, are done shallow, quickly, with the head kept clear, and with warming and drying planned in advance.

Prevention

Never leave a hedgehog unattended in or near water, including during a foot soak.

Cover water butts, buckets and containers in any garden or outbuilding an escaped hedgehog could reach.

Give garden ponds a sloped exit or a ramp, which also matters for wild hedgehogs and other wildlife.

Fence or cover swimming pools and paddling pools.

Keep the enclosure secure. Most household water incidents follow an escape, so escape proofing is water safety.

Use a heavy shallow water dish rather than a deep one, and check it is not tipping.

Keep the room warm. A warm hedgehog handles an accident far better than a cold one, and a cool enclosure is the underlying problem in many hedgehog emergencies.

Do not copy content that shows hedgehogs swimming. The animal in the video is usually frightened, and the ones that drown are not filmed.

What never to do

Do not swing, shake or hold a hedgehog upside down.

Do not squeeze the chest to expel water.

Do not use a hairdryer, a radiator or direct heat.

Do not immerse a cold hedgehog in warm water to rewarm it.

Do not put fluids or food into the mouth of an animal that has inhaled water.

Do not assume a hedgehog that is running around normally an hour later is out of danger.

Do not leave a hedgehog to sleep off a chill. An attempted hibernation looks like sleep.

Do not delay to attempt resuscitation you have not been trained in.

When to get help

Contact a vet who sees hedgehogs immediately after any immersion, and go straight in for an animal that is limp, cold, unresponsive, gasping, or breathing with effort.

Contact them again urgently if, over the following three days, the breathing rate rises, breathing becomes effortful or noisy, the hedgehog goes off food, stops using the wheel, or becomes quiet.

Recovery is a hedgehog that is warm, dry, eating, back on its wheel and breathing quietly at its usual rate.

Bring the details: how long it was in the water, whether it went under, what kind of water, the room temperature, what you did, the weight, and the resting breathing rate before and after. That history is what separates a case that needs monitoring from one that needs treatment now.