After about half an hour of entertaining us, he decided that enough was enough. He let me pick him up and cuddled in against me like the baby he is, and before two minutes had passed, he was fast asleep in my arms.
He barely opened his eyes as I later laid him back into his soft white bunnyrug, tucked his little paws under his chin, and whispered good night to him. Clearly, Forrest is enjoying life with Porscha and responding wonderfully to her love & care, and despite her own workload, she thinks it's such a privilege to be his Stand-in Mum.
Looking at him cuddled up, relaxed and peacefully sleeping, I felt we were all gathered there, a host of Good F-aire-ys to watch over him and keep him safe.
Goodnight, Little Forrest. Sweet dreams.
On Tuesday, 17 May, Sue writes: A tough little Aussie
-------- Little Forrest Wombat, that is.
After all our hopes that no operation would be needed to sort out the source of the infection still lurking in the wound on his back, on Monday Porscha and her treating vet, Dr Chris Andrews of Hurstbridge Veterinary Clinic, made the decision to re-investigate the wound.
As I mentioned in a previous post, Australian native animals are not always the best candidates for full anaesthesia, but in the case of Forrest, a careful weighing of options meant that opening up the wound to its base was the only answer.
With Porscha monitoring every single breath that Forrest took under the gas, Chris carefully worked his way to the base of the wound and found what he was looking for . . . several tiny fragments of bone clumped together, causing the inflammation and infection. In Chris' words, "four chips of bone from (the) dorsal spinous process of one of Forrest's lumbar vertebra".
Dr. Chris, one of Little Forrest's Guardian Angels
Photo by Porscha
Whilst we can only speculate on what actually caused the massive slash in Forrest's vulnerable and unprotected little back, it was sufficiently powerful to cause these splinters from the vertebra. A blow from an adult male wombat's incisor is, in reality, the most likely of several theories.
Even more is it a miracle that Little Forrest survived. The death of his Mama was catastrophe enough; attack by another wombat should surely have finished his chances.
Forty-five minutes of intensive work later, Chris & Porscha heaved sighs of relief as Little Forrest roused from his sleep, none the worse for his "time out". Some hours later, he was pronounced well enough to go home.
Carefully swaddled in his bunnyrug and tucked into his travelling basket, Little Forrest slept as Porscha drove home through the dark forested hills and down into the Yarra Valley. To her great relief and delight, the first thing our boy demanded was dinner! He had necessarily missed his two o'clock feed, and there was no way that he was foregoing another meal, if he had any say in it!
He's got every chance of a good and steady recovery now, with Porscha tending him constantly as she does. In the almost four weeks since we brought this little scrap of brown fur with the bright intelligent button eyes and engaging sooty-pink paws into rescue, he has found his way into what must be hundreds, if not thousands, of hearts around the world.
In a few days, I hope that his report card will show that he is pouncing on Porscha, fanging on the furniture, climbing on the couch and wriggling with delight when his belly is tickled.
Tonight let us give very special thanks to Dr Chris Andrews, whose skill and perception has given Forrest another chance at a full recovery. And we thank him even more for his generosity in waiving any of the considerable costs incurred in all he is doing for the Most Loved Wombat in the World.
Sleep well, Little Forrest - you are one tough little Aussie Airebat.
BobMyBoss writes:
Forrest is so lucky to have Sue, Porscha & now Dr. Chris' Glad to hear that "our" little AireBat is doing well!
Much AireZen
Ellana Livermore writes:
Sending Zen like mad that Forrest bounces back now. What a trooper he is! He must have an inner Airedale, don't you think?
Faye & Kodiak McLeod write:
He has to have some Airedale blood in him some where? Enjoyed hearing the good news.
JoAnn Helm writes:
Here I sit in Calgary biting my nails as I read on and hope that the story will not end. Thank you again so much for writing such a wonderful story. Hopefully the ending will be an ultimate healthy and happy story.
Jackie, Annie & MacIain McGuinness write:
This little guy is meant to live. He must have a guardian angel looking out for him.
Evie Fieseler writes:
Oh wow, that's good that that's over! Thanks for the gripping report, Sue, and please pass on my feelings of gratitude to Porscha, of course, and to Dr. Andrews.
Jeanne Combo writes:
Thank you so much for the update on our dear Little Forrest (and he does belong to the whole world now. I think). I'd been out of town for several days fishing and when I got back didn't see anything on the list that was a recent post from you re: the Wiggly Wombat.
I almost sent you an email then but thought I'd give it a day or two and now you've given us all such exciting news for him. The wombat gods (not to mention Porscha and the docs) certainly have been working overtime helping this little guy back to health; an amazing story really. I suspect he could become a great series of children's books on courage & perseverance (perhaps combined with Airedale antics.)
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