Overdue update on the pets!

Been a while since I posted here with plenty having been going on in recently both with the pets and without; and it is lovely to be back to this, reading through updates from the other pets and lives I love to follow and gathering thoughts on our little ones (and big one!) too. All are doing very well: Harvey and Ty having been living off their love of cultivating empty Easter Egg boxes into ramshackle rat homes one by one (finding them replaced with another one once they are suitably demolished!), Rosie as ever pootling around and doing fine – and Charmer doing amazingly well now, having had a tough month.

On Easter Monday had the vet out to see him just for a quick check over as he had been a bit off-colour for a few days. He seemed in fine health at his exam but had some blood tests run to be sure and was diagnosed the same day with hepatitis – thankfully mild, but something he suffered from suddenly and acutely a couple of years back and which that time around took about 4-5 months to recover from, slowly and with a few dips so low we were very afraid of losing him. Hearing he had this back was pretty daunting given how hard the illness hit him last time, and quite a shock too as the cause remains a mystery, with biopsies last time around showing no cause or damage and having been well for almost two years, very strange to see a return. Over the next three weeks he was on an intense course of medication three times a day, a new routine for extra stabling and extra hay and feed, and plenty of fuss and attention, as well as excellent support from our vets, before being blood-tested again last week; when I was absolutely delighted to hear that he is back on the mend, his liver enzymes which had been very high almost entirely back to normal. This had gone hand in hand as well with having seemed in himself, after a worrying fortnight or so of being a bit dull, to be 100% back to his usual cheeky self again over the past couple of weeks, so very glad to see an improvement all-round!

His clean bill of health was well-timed at only a couple of days before his 20th birthday, and were able to celebrate him entering his third decade with no health worries hanging over us – this weekend has been one of wonderful weather and after birthday treats on Saturday had a lovely family walk to the sea yesterday, all enjoying the sun and Charm with his usual enthusiasm for life and sense of adventure fully returned!

Look forward to getting back to writing regularly, and to catching up with everyone else’s stories too. A few photos of the motley crew over the last few weeks…

Charmer’s medication begins…