[Pebbles82]

Charlie had some out of cage time last night. I decided to do one of his old favourite things and have a carrot hay house on the sofa for him - he used to spend ages in that pulling it to pieces inside. The one in his pet carrier had got a bit manky so had a new one arrive recently. I also got a few monkey nuts out. Apparently if they can pick up a monkey nut in their teeth it's a sign their teeth aren't too long.

He is looking very old now. Other half comments on it when he sees him. But then he is very old! I got him out later than usual to see if he was a bit more sprightly late at night. He got quite excited about a piece of chicken and ate that straight away then wandered around in the monkey nuts. He didn't try to pick one up but found a broken one that was already cracked open partly and nibbled at that and pulled a nut out and pouched it. He seemed to doze off a bit sitting on top of the pile of monkey nuts. Then went into the little hay house. He didn't chew anything in there but had a little doze in there too. He does seem like quite a tired little old man and he pants a lot.

Then, as ever, he surprised me. Once I took the hay house away and there was nothing to hide in he wanted to be off! As he seems to still like jumping off things with abandon, I now put two cushions on the floor at the edge of the sofa and he jumps onto the top cushion, then the second cushion and then nips around quite quickly. Last night he sort of rolled onto the floor from the second cushion, but it doesn't seem to bother him and he just gets up and nips around. He had a little bit of investigation near the coal scuttle where some Christmas toys are on the floor, as that was different, and then headed back towards his cage, but then had another little explore on the floor round there rather than sitting looking up at his cage, as he usually does when he wants to go back in. A few changes round there as well after a bit of a clear out and clean up in that area so clearly it needed investigating. Then popped him back in his cage where he found his veg, baby food and science selective, pouched those and had a drink.

When he first went back in his cage he tried to pouch half a cashew nut on his ledge and seemed to be having difficulty with it. I'm not sure if it's because he doesn't use his front paws to pouch sometimes (presumably to keep his balance) or if it's a pouch/oral thing, but he was struggling a bit so I lifted him up a bit to see what's what and try and help. The nut seemed to go in better when he was being held at a slight angle and all I could see was his tongue trying to pouch it.

And I thought at first he had no bottom teeth. All I could see was mouth and tongue. So had a bit of a look a few minutes later - and he does have bottom teeth! It was hard to tell exactly how long they are and I didn't want to frazzle him too much so just popped him back in the cage again.

I think maybe they are getting a bit long at the bottom - with him not picking up a whole monkey nut (but that could have just been tiredness and picking an easy option), and with him having a bit of difficulty pouching the half cashew nut (which isn't very big and not bulky) - but he can eat - he ate the chicken and he nibbled the shell open on the end of the partly cracked nut and got a nut out of it and pouched that.

So I'll see how he goes. He seems so old and frail sometimes I'm not keen on taking him to the vets for a tooth clip - but if he starts to have real difficulty eating I may have to.

Have a little video but haven't uploaded it yet.