Snowball the overweight hedgehog is running and swimming his way back to health



With Christmas just around the corner, many of us will pile on a few festive pounds, but it would take a substantial Christmas feast to outdo Snowball the hedgehog.

Too much of a good life eating dog food has taken its toll on the overweight albino hedgehog, whose weight is three times what is normal for his species.

Snowball currently tips the scales at 1.5 kilograms - a normal hedgehog weighs just 500 grams.

Heavyweight hedgehog: Snowball, at 1.5kg, is three times the size of a normal member of his species

Scales don't lie: Snowball has been placed on an intensive swimming and running regime and has lost 38g so far

His eating began to threaten his health, and St Tiggywinkles Wildlife Hospital in Buckinghamshire was called in to help him shed the extra weight.

Staff at St Tiggywinkles have placed him on a diet of low-fat kitten biscuits and are getting his heart pumping through running and swimming sessions.

Only one in 10,000 hedgehogs is born albino, so Snowball was already quite a rare find even before his weight ballooned.

A member of the public took Snowball to the hospital in October.

St Tiggywinkles founder Les Stocker said Snowball was in for a long rehabilitation.

'He has been eating a lot of dog food,' he said. 'People put it out for hedgehogs and given half a chance they just eat and eat and eat.'

Snowball has so far shed 38 grams. He will remain in training at the hospital until the summer, when he will be released into a protected area for other albinos of his breed.

