The Junior Chronicles: Part 9

We stopped by the vet clinic to see Junior this afternoon.  He is doing great.

He spiked a fever early this morning, which so far looks like it was just a blip.  He's on IV antibiotics, and his temp came back down.  He's making manure, which is the prettiest poop I've ever seen.  And I've seen a lot. 

His incision site is about 15 inches long, and it's swelling on either side of the stitches.  It will continue to swell and distort his belly profile. 

A closer look at the incision:

A few inches to the left of the edge of the above photo, there is a separate incision site closed with a couple of staples.  That was where the surgeon put a drain for the first day or so after surgery. 

Today, Junior started eating again- he gets two handfuls of special feed four times today.  He is also drinking from his water buckets, an excellent step so early in his recovery.  He gets to graze on green grass at least six times a day for a few minutes each time.  Studies have shown this helps the gut regain normal motility after surgery.

Plus, he likes it.  Food is mood.

I thought many times during his colic I would never see this.

Pet Junior, Beep.  Tell him to keep feeling better.

There is still a real chance for serious complications.  But this is where we are today, and it's a heckuva lot better than where we have been.  He's a fighter and getting better by the hour.  We are so happy!

To celebrate, we all took a 3-hour nap this afternoon.