This morning, for the very first time, miracle boy Owen gained weight!🥳
As you can see, he's much livelier and his breathing has improved greatly.
He's still snotty from all the mucus produced from the heavy burden of lungworm he suffered, and his breathing is still a little laboured when stressed.
But once he is calm his breathing is quiet - evidence his lungs are healing.
The fact he's managed to gain weight means his villi are also healing.
Villi are the tiny finger-like projections that line the inside wall of the small intestine, and absorb nutrients from digested food.
The massive burden of internal parasites Owen carried destroyed all his villi, so it didn't matter what he ate he would still die of malnutrition.
It takes a LOT of medications and intensive nursing to keep a casualty like Owen alive long enough for this critical recovery.
This is so important to understand, and so difficult to communicate to otherwise good kind people who mistakenly think keeping a starved hedgehog and feeding him will make him better.
Darling Owen is still my worry child, and will be for some time.
But I am overjoyed to see these small forward steps.