Please do NOT take hedgehog casualties to a vet. No matter how lovely, UK vets are a business for domesticated animals and their paying owners only, and are NOT trained in the care of wildlife. Two more little hedgehogs lost their lives this week because their trusting owners went to a vet for help. Both hedgehogs found out in the day, one taken to a vet who sprayed him with Frontline for fleas, and told the finder it was fine to release him as he had no injuries. Frontline is harmless to kittens, but toxic to hedgehogs, but the vet wouldn't have known that. By the time it was dark enough to release this poor sick hedgehog he was sneezing blood, as a result of the Frontline poisoning. He died in agony. The second vet told the finder of the out in the day hedgehog that he was fine, just a bit dehydrated, so to take him home and syringe water into his mouth every 3 hours. Without an autopsy I can't say for sure if this poor boy was killed by the hypothermia he was suffering from, the internal parasites he was loaded with, the shock and stress of being handled so much, or by aspiration (the water being syringe down his throat by inexpert hands and into his lungs, instead of his stomach). My bet would be on the aspiration. Both of these tragic victims were out in the day in the sun for one reason only - they were so sick, so near death, that they had become hypothermic. Hypothermia is a result of a dying body's desperate attempt to keep the vital organs alive for as long as possible. It redirects the blood from the extremities into the heart and lungs, to give them as much oxygen and other critical benefits as possible. This leaves the hedgehog's body feeling cold, so he goes out in the day, desperate for the sun's warmth. If these two little hedgehogs were taken straight to a rescue, the ONLY place wildlife can be treated, they would have been been given specialist lifesaving first aid treatment, assessed, samples taken, their sickness diagnosed, and treatment given. Please spread this important information far and wide, to help prevent more needless, tragic deaths. Thank you.