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This interview originally ran last year, but were republishing it ahead of the release of thenew-and-improvedSonic the Hedgehogmovie.
As most devoted children of the 1990s already know, the trailer for the upcomingSonic the Hedgehogmoviedropped.
Someone made the awful decision to give Sonic (clearly ahedgehog) human teeth.
Its terrifying, and we hate it.
What were your initial thoughts on the new Sonic the Hedgehog image I sent you?It was adorable.
I mean, I love hedgehogs.
You know, its a cute picture.
It doesnt look like a real hedgehog looks obviously.
Its got a different color, little prickly things, you know.
Their gums actually grow up over their teeth and obscure their teeth or make them look actually smaller.
So theyre definitely not large or, like, canine-looking teeth.
They get a lot of tumors in their mouths.
Are hedgehogs your primary patient types?I dont think they are any one persons primary patient types.
Im an exotic-animal vet, so I dont treat cats or dogs.
I treat quite a few hedgehogs.
I dont think any one veterinarian could survive on seeing just hedgehogs because I dont think theyrethatpopular as pets.
Theyre definitely popular; theyre definitely fun.
I definitely see more hedgehogs than anybody in the New York area.
Approximately how many hedgehogs mouths have you worked on?It comes in spurts.
In the course of the week, we might see two to three hedgehogs a week.
I examine every one of their mouths.
Dental problems and mouth problems are a really big part of what we see.
They literally ball into a big prickly ball.
They have strong muscles along their back that enable them to completely hide their face.
They dont love to stand in water, so they do kind of stretch out.
Its a pretty common obstacle that people with hedgehogs have to overcome.
Its the balling up.
Have you ever been bitten during a procedure?Ive been bitten by everything.
Have I been nipped by hedgehogs?
With hedgehogs, theyre really shy and theyre not aggressive.
The balling up thing enables them to hide their mouths from me and avoid their whole interaction.
Thats kind of their defense mechanism.
Would you say their bites are painful?Its a nip.
Its not like daggers or anything.
Theyll typically venture to curl up.
Have you ever tried to floss a hedgehogs teeth?Its really hard.
Theyre called finger brushes and they fit over the tip of your pointer finger.
They actually come with meat-flavored toothpaste.
[Hedgehogs] eat insects and things like that, but they have chicken toothpaste.
I will have owners venture to brush their hedgehogs teeth.
Most adult hedgehogs just wont let you start doing that.
Flossing is not really an option.
I get why everyone is freaking out about how Sonic looks in the trailer.
It’s because his teeth are not accurate to real hedgehogs.I fixed it.
We have little mouth speculums that open their mouths.
It kind of looks like a clamshell, but instead of up and down it opens side to side.
Theres a little light and we just put it in their mouths.
Theyre not really aggressive.
Theyre active animals; theyre not aggressive animals.
A lot of them can be really friendly and open to strangers.
Unfortunately, most people dont do that, so [their hedgehogs] get really scared and ball up.
The part thats all spiky and prickly, thats called the mantle on a normal hedgehog.
They do have a soft area underneath the prickly part on their back.
you’re able to kind of see the little quills on the back.
The nose is similar.
There are two main types of hedgehogs.
Theres the European hedgehog.
Theyre the ones that I see.
I would say [Sonic is] a stuffed-animal version of what a hedgehog would look like.
Their teeth match their size.
Maybe thats why people dont think big teeth match the tiny, cute hedgehog.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
