Teddy the hedgehog has had a rough run, and now he is on a careful diet.

Bryony Farmer, 57, from Lower Hacheston, near Wickham Market in Suffolk, rescued Teddy in April after he was found with his eyes pecked out. At the time, he weighed 1.77 kilograms. A weight of 1.2 kilograms is considered heavy for a hedgehog, depending on the time of year.

Farmer said she had managed to get Teddy down to 1.36 kilograms and was “really happy” with his progress, although his weight loss had slightly plateaued.

“He hasn’t lost all that much, but he hasn’t put on any, well done Teddy,” she said.

She added, “Any improvement is good. He is a very old hedgehog. He’s not going to be racing around losing loads of calories, so I think a steady weight loss is good.”

Farmer said she had been giving Teddy small quantities of chicken-based cat food, and he lived in an enclosure with plenty of space for him to exercise.

She has also been keeping her Instagram followers up to date with his weight loss.

“He’s completely won my heart, as well as a lot of Instagram followers,” she said.

“I’ve had a huge response.

“Currently, my initial post of him now has 855,000 views when I would probably on a good day get 80 with my other posts.

“I’m getting so many messages and people are comparing their own weight loss journeys to Ted.

“It’s very heart-warming and I’m hoping that I’m educating more people in general hedgehog awareness.”

Farmer has five other hedgehogs in her care. One of them, Kestrel, was two weeks old and weighed just 63 grams when Farmer found her on 27 May.

Hedgehogs are in decline in Europe, with a 2022 report estimating that in the UK their numbers had fallen by up to 75 percent in rural areas since 2000.

Farmer added, “There’s nothing better than getting them up to weight and returning them to the garden they were found and releasing them back into the wild.”

“It’s extremely rewarding because they’re really important animals.”

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