Operation "Make Poggles Eat"

Poggles had a rough day yesterday.  I think his tongue hurt a lot so he wasn't eating very much at all.

 I tried to feed him with a syringe, but he hated it.  I think I got maybe only 2 ml of Ensure/powdered lizard food into him.  Most of it ended up all over his mouth since he clamped his mouth shut towards the end. 

It seemed like the best way to make him eat was to offer him tempting foods in small quantities throughout the day.  I tried soft cooked egg yolk mixed into a custard with water, lizard food mixed with water, lizard food mixed with milk, Ensure, cow's milk, cheese mixed with milk, tiny bits of cheese, mashed up kibble with water... basically anything that I thought he might like to eat. 

 The most appealing food to him was cow's milk.  I know he's lactose intolerant, but the vet said to just feed him whatever he will eat since he will probably starve otherwise.  He would take the occasional few sips.  Better than nothing I figured.  He also put in a good effort trying to eat the egg yolk, but died out after a few attempts.

 The good thing is that he seems to like the chlorhexidine antiseptic mouthwash.  Maybe it feels minty good?  He doesn't like being fed it on his back, but he sort of smacks his lips like it's tasty afterwards.

 This is the sad, sad looking hedgehog in his clean litter pan.  Poor Poggles.

You can see the mouthwash in this picture and the syringe in it's protective casing.  I wash his bowls and spoons throughout the day as I keep changing the foods out for new ones.  Most of the time, I am offering him foods by spoon.

 Here is Poggles ignoring me.  When he doesn't like something that I offer him, he pushes the spoon away from underneath, turns away, or pretends to sleep.

 He puts his head down a lot like he is sad.  I feel bad for him.

 He likes the camera though.

 He is always curious about it and tries to come closer to explore it before licking my hands.

He was very dirty today.  There was food all over his chin and some poop smears on his tummy.  He isn't actually pooping or peeing much.  I found maybe only two very small dark green poops in his litter pan.  Since he is nosing around the litter pan a lot, I changed the litter and washed the pan anyways.

Poggy looked cute peeking out from under his towel.  He was hiding there while I was attempting to blow dry him after his bath.

Ah!  You discovered my hiding place!

 He is sitting there watching my camera again.

Here he is coming towards me.

Ah!  Cute little feet!

 The reflection from the sink makes for some good lighting. 

 I thought this was a lovely photo of Poggles.

 

 Cutie pie.

You can see how many spoons get piled up around him as he dries under a lamp on my desk.  I gotta try everything!  Right now, I have discovered that he will eat Chinese egg tarts.  He especially likes a tiny bit of the buttery crumbly crust with the egg.  I am pinching off bits and feeding it to him.  It makes me happy that I have finally found something he is eating lots of.  It makes me feel warm inside that he seems to prefer the bits I give him by hand instead of the larger amount on the spoon.  I think he likes me  :)

Have a happy day!