Chow Down Charlie

Charlie came to stay on April the 22nd. He weighed 986gms and had been in care with Narelle since March the 23rd; having been 'admitted' with severe mange and a maggot infested wound in his side, and was in a bad way to say the least.

April 8th

Poor Baldy boy!








However he was soon on the road to recovery and was ready to 'move on' to finishing school so Narelle brought him to me to look after him whilst he regrew his quills as I had a free outside pen available.

April 24th

When he arrived Charlie's new quills were just starting to come through. He proved himself to be a lovely boy, very polite, gentle and a great eater.

April 24th

He quickly settled into his pen and started gaining weight until he soon began to resemble a Sumo Hog! By April the 29th he weighed in at 1264gms and I started reducing his caloric intake, dropping it further after I weighed him on May the 3rd when he weighed 1306gms!

April 29th

 In an effort to speed up Charlie's quill growth I'm giving him a supplement with Magnesium, B6 and Zinc (for fur and quill growth - hair and nail growth in humans!) and Flaxseed oil. I think it is helping and is certainly keeping his skin in top notch condition.

What? Another oil bath? REALLY??? 

So, Chow Down Charlie continues to grow his quills. I'm hoping he'll be ready to go before the urge to hibernate overtakes him. Although if he does hibernate, I'll just tuck him up in the fernery in a snug bedroom - as long as his quills are ready. Otherwise I guess he'll have to hibernate in his pen. Whilst he waits, I've been thinking about ways to enrich his environment. To this end I have put a pile of dirt at one end of his pen to give him something to do at night. Every night he digs all of the dirt into the centre of his pen and the next morning I dig it all back down to the end. This is now a daily ritual. I also scatter his biscuits through the dirt - sometimes burying them, so that he has to 'hunt' for them and once a week I bury dried meal worms in his dirt for a treat. He can't have them too often though as they are a  high calorie food and my Chow Down Charlie doesn't need any help gaining weight!