It seems our favorite little monkey has gotten himself into some tummy trouble for the third time. On Sunday morning Baxter went to the emergency vet and was rushed into surgery to fix an intestinal blockage. As many of you know, this is an unfortunately familiar situation for Mr. Baxter.

When I first brought Baxter home to foster – actually just about one year ago today – I was warned that he was a foreign object eater. While unsupervised at the rescue farm, he had gotten access to a leash and consumed it. He went through surgery to remove it, but while recovering at the vet’s office he ate part of a towel that he pulled into his cage, and he had to go under a second time to have it removed. He healed up from both surgeries, but has severe scarring on his intestines.

At my house we were diligent about picking up anything he could eat or leaving him in his crate if we weren’t home. Even then he still managed to find a leash, pull it off our kitchen table, and eat half of it in the five minutes we weren’t watching him. Luckily he passed that one though. We’ve never been able to figure out what causes his urge to eat these things. Our best guess was anxiety, which made sense because for the last eight months he’s been completely fine in his new home since he is always with his siblings. Until now.

His family rushed him to the vet Sunday morning after he was lethargic and couldn’t go to the bathroom. X-rays were inconclusive, so they decided on exploratory surgery and their worst fears were confirmed: they found a towel wrapped around his intestines, beginning to cut into them. It seems they caught it in the nick of time. The vet made it clear that while Baxter made it out of surgery okay, he is not out of the woods yet. Because this was the third time his intestines have had to endure this, there is severe damage and we’re not sure how he’ll heal up. They gave him the prognosis of a 75% chance of full recovery.

For now, we’re all just waiting and sending lots and lots of good vibes to his parents, who are worried sick. He hasn’t been released from the hospital yet, so every day is a waiting game to hear reports from the vet. Please keep Baxter and his family in your thoughts and prayers! He has been through so much and I’m sure he will bounce back from this too, but he needs all the positive thoughts he can get right now.