Hi NG
You are lucky to find a hedgehog in your garden! Well done for giving it some cat treats and water. It isn’t so easy for them to find some of their normal food in this hot dry weather and especially water. Either cat/dog food or hedgehog food is ideal to give them as some supplementary food. The hog was obviously hungry if it was eating what the birds left.
Your questions:
1. My feeling is that the hog would be better off staying where it is and where it knows. If it was released in an area that it didn’t know, it would be just as likely to end up crossing the nearest road anyway. Sometimes a busier road is less dangerous than a quieter one, as they may be more likely to avoid it. They may cross a quieter one because they get a false sense of security. Sadly there are dangers for hedgehogs wherever they are.
2. Hogs can get under quite low obstacles as long as they can stretch out sideways, although they usually recommend a cd sized hole. A very large hog or a pregnant female might find it more difficult and you may like to make it a bit easier. Is it at all possible to make a hole in the wall anywhere? That would be the ideal thing, so that your garden could become part of a hedgehog highway. If the hedgehogs are able to move easily from garden to garden, they have less reason to go anywhere near the road. So they have increased habitat and are, hopefully, safer. If you could encourage any neighbours to do likewise, it would be good for the hedgehogs.
3. Fleas. There are apparently loads of different types of flea, some of which are host specific, including hedgehog fleas. Compare spiney hedgehog to fluffy furry cat. If a hedgehog flea found itself on a cat it probably wouldn’t stay long – the habitat would be totally unsuitable for it. My feeling is that it would be unlikely for your cat to pick up fleas unless it was in close proximity to a hedgehog and possibly a dead hedgehog at that, otherwise why would the fleas choose to leave their host species. In the unlikely event that they did pick any up, they probably wouldn’t hang around for long.
Hope that helps and that the hedgehog continues to visit.
