Morning update for Big D!
Delegate is still much the same this morning. He has no desire to eat anything that is soaked and even turned his nose up to just plain old senior feed. All he wants is hay.
Which I have given him.
He's chewing and swallowing. If he was still actively choking, the vet would have found it and he wouldn't be swallowing hay. If he has a partial blockage, the hay will show us quickly and we'll take further vet action.
But if he's just not feeling quite right or if he's dealing with some end of life slowdown ... well, I'd rather he have what he wants than make it worse by not letting him eat.
One of our previous vets would often say "It's up to him now - either he gets better or he doesn't" and I gotta say - I HATED that. Maybe it was her tone of voice, maybe it was because sometimes it was truly something that needed assistance ... but if I'm honest, a lot of the time she was right.
I found myself saying that about Big D this morning. It's up to him now.
He's under vet care, he's on preventative antibiotics for potential aspiration which means if he has a small bug it'll help with that, he's had banamine.
We've had a couple random runny noses over the last few months. The weather is up and down, hot then cold, and it's spring ... some flu like illness is to be expected. Perhaps that's all this is. He was chilled this morning, but it was in the forties and rained all night. He was happy to have his blanket and already has perked up a bit.
So long story short. .. it's up to him, as frustrating as this is. We're supporting him if it's just a cold ... and if it's end of life issues, we'll support that too. The past year has been tough on him and while 23 doesn't seem old when his stall mates are in their upper 30s ... it is a decent age for an OTTB. But right now, we're just doing what we can, and reminding him regularly that he's very very loved.