Just had a happy event: he took food voluntarily today
I had diluted Herp-a-Vite (which includes Mutton Bird Oil) ready to go with a tube, but yesterday he was fairly lively and looked like he was looking for food, so I decided to try something solid first. I don't want to add problems by loading his guts, so I offered him chicken hearts, which are small and soft, and I'm hoping will be pretty much 100% digested.
To try and get some oil down his digestive tract I put a fish oil capsule into the chicken heart (pharmacies here do theoretically stock Flax Seed Oil, but we are only getting irregular shipping deliveries due to Covid-related restrictions, so I haven't actually found any yet). I know it's likely that this will be digested before it gets down to the rectum, but I figured it was worth a go.
Anyway, he took the first heart, and I followed it with a second as he was swallowing, so he's had two oil capsules encased in heart muscle and fat. Then, for good measure, he took a small portion of chicken wing - not the drumstick with the large bone, the middle portion with the two small bones which are usually easily digested.
This is the first meal he's taken since July last year, and he still has some impaction in his rectum, so I don't want to overload his system, but I'm very happy he has some food inside him.
My plan now is to wait 4 or 5 days to see if he manages to defecate (or regurgitates) and then to go back to the vet for another X ray before I try to feed him again.
So, today it's hopeful, I'll be coming back with defecation news if and when.
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