feel like a murderer :(

[lucy devine]

Heya,
This may sound so stupid but I'm feeling really anxious over it and I can't stop thinking about it...
I've just got back from taking my dogs out onto the park on my own...we were happily walking round when i came accross a hedgehog laying in the grass...I am an absolute animal lover and the hedgehog looked ill/ most likely dead but I couldn't know for certain...I managed to get two of my dogs on the lead but one of them went and almost touched the hedgehog with his nose, I am really worried as I know hedgehogs carry diseases and fleas and I am worried now that my dog will have it...when i came home, I cleaned his head with a dog cleaning wipe but I'm worried that isn't enough and that he will have some sort of disease now, will he be ok? also, I didn't want to touch the hedgehog for the reason of it carrying disease and such so i was unable to check whether it was still alive...it looked dead and had blue bottle flies on it but there may of been a slight possibility that it was alive?? I didn't know what to do so I went looking for help and found another dog walker...they said that the hedgehog was probably dead and that I wasn't to touch it and just leave it...I've come home really upset as I feel like I haven't done enough for the hedgehog and if it was still alive, I may of just left it in the field to die...does this mean I am a really bad person?
I feel terrible and can't stop thinking about it :/ I know this may seem stupid to some but it really is worrying me
please reply
lucy
xx

[mikewales]

Your dog should be fine, unless it ate the hedgehog it is very unlikely it would pick up anything from it, even if it got some fleas these arent anything to worry about. Just keep an eye on your dog for the next couple of days and make sure it is eating and drinking ok, and that its poo is normal and that it isnt very quiet or acting out of character.

As for the hedgehog, thats nature, it may well have been fine, or could be dying of old age. Remember millions of animals die in nature every day, and you dont see them, so dont worry that you didnt interfere

[saro]

Hey,

I hope when u give him a bath it will ease your mind abit. Try not to worry about diseases, he didnt touch the hedgehog so he couldnt have physically passed anything to him.

xx

[Elen]

Lucy you and your dog will be fine.

Chances are if there were bluebottles on the hedgehog that it was already well and truly dead, so there was nothing that you could have done for it.

Don't worry honey and don't start obsessing over it.

See you later

Elen

[macc noodle]

Lucy

Elen is right ! An injured hog would dehydrate really quickly in this heat and the bluebottles confirm it would be long dead.

Your dogs will be fine - just think how many dead things they sniff that you do not notice!! Please don't worry xxx

Give them a nice bath if it will put your mind at rest hunxxxx

Speak to you later

Jan
xx

[lucy devine]

i was scared of touching spencer who had almost sniffed it, i couldn't get him on the lead in time but i've give him a bath and brushed his teeth etc etc so he is all clean, will that be enough?
xxx

[KayleighJane]

Sounds all good lucy, Like everyone has said you and your doggy will be absolutely fine :) Its great that you are so caring towards animals such as hedgehogs, not many people are these days and don't usually give them a second glance. :)

[mikewales]

Your dog should be fine Lucy. Remember how nature works, when the hedgehog dies, it will become food for other animals, even if it is just flies and worms, but then these are eaten by other bigger animals ( in fact hedgehogs eat worms ) so it is all one big circle.

[skipadee]

Nope your not a bad person,your a very good person and you care about others.im the same.i have 2 cats that bring birds back still alive and "play" with them.it really hurts me watching it but sadly its a way of life.just means your a decent human being!

[KayleighJane]

Nope your not a bad person,your a very good person and you care about others.im the same.i have 2 cats that bring birds back still alive and "play" with them.it really hurts me watching it but sadly its a way of life.just means your a decent human being!

our cats do the same its heartbreaking, a couple of times we have rescued birds and mice and popped them to the vets and they have done ok and been released but others are not so lucky, especially when the cat doesnt want to let go!

[Liliana83]

I'm pretty certain your dog is fine..he didn't ingest it or licked at it. Rest your mind..

[Anxious_gal]

hey Lucy, it's very rare for animal disease to infect animals of a different species or humans.
That's why bird and pig flu was such a big deal, it almost never happens.
If your dog ate it then maybe it could have gotten ill but it only sniffed it!
The hedgehog would have been dead if it had blue bottles on it, the blue bottles leave lava on dead animals that eat it and then turn into more blue bottles, so I would say it was 100% dead and dead by at least 24 hours.
Try not to feel too bad, you couldn't have done anything more x x

[Tyke]

Sounds like the hedgehog was already gone, so you couldn't have done anything. Your dog will be absolutely fine. I often feel saddened by the amount of roadkill that is all around us, but there's nothing at all I can do about it apart from not adding to it. It's just the way things are.

Tyke :)