Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Numo's Oomph
I hate to say it, but tonight's the night I notice that Numo has lost his "oomph." Rather than nosy about, he curls up to sleep:


On his back, he quickly goes into snooze mode. Tonight I noticed snot bubbles, that led me to believe there's still the fluid in his lungs. Only a guess. Numo's my first hedgie and my first sick hedgie. I just spend lots of time with the Little Man.

Here he just looks peeved.

Dude, that's not a cat bed!

Gunther has taken residence in Numo's old cage. I let him be. He's comfy there, and it doesn't look like Numo will be moving back.

Monday, July 30, 2007

Hangin' Tough
Numo is hanging in there. He's not getting better, not worse. He's definitely lost all feeling in his back legs. That makes it easy to hold him on his back like this:




Gunther has been a very good nursing supervisor:

He likes to be close by, but doesn't get in the way.

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Progress Report
Here's Numo getting his Ensure/medication:


And just a sweet pic:

He does have his tired eyes.

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Nurse Brandy and Patient Numo
On Dr. Horton's orders, I moved Numo out of his two-story cage with wheel to a cushy, single level:


Here's the stuff I use to attend to Numo:

I fold a paper towel in half to prep the meds in their syringes. Three are in syringes. The fourth is just .02 CC and I put a drop of it on a worm. Numo chomps it down. After I few days of Numo wearing much of his medication, I began mixing it with Ensure. It helps a lot. The blue fleece is to hold him. A wet washcloth helps blot pee and mop up Ensure and liquid medications off of him. The purple container holds his treats. Toilet paper to catch the turds. All the medications and the food need to be refrigerated, so the plastic tray lives in the fridge.

His Medications, plus Ensure and baby food to help the meds tastier:


This is a cute pic, but it is a symptom of the problem:

Those sweet feets poking out of his igloo after he crawls in his his front paws.

Last night was the worst! I've been holding it together pretty well. Last night my mind was filled with the picture of the xray and thoughts about all the tough stuff going on in Numo's tiny body. It's good to know and hard to know. Late night worrying about my quilly loved one.

Monday, July 23, 2007

Friday, July 20, 2007

How's the Little Guy Doing?
You can see that this end is alert:


But this end isnt:


His legs shouldn't be dragging like that. He doesn't respond to me pinching them and they are cool to the touch. Despite that, he's bookin' around with his front legs. Just dragging the back.

Kinda obvious, but this is very worrisome. And being worried and sad makes me tired! But I let Numo push around in my quilt, which he loves. And keep that keen eye on him.

Thursday, July 19, 2007

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Monday, July 16, 2007

Coexisting
The most common question I get is, "How do Numo and Gunther get along?" This is a good image to show you. Gunther's a good kitty. 98% of the time that he's perch near Numo's play area, he sits intently watched. Very occasionally he paws at Numo or Numo's tube. Very gently. Numo huffs, and then Numo relaxes as if to say, "Oh, it's you."