Monday, September 13, 2010

QUILLA NEWS

Yesterday when we went out, he was just about the same, hadn't drank any water, & his muzzle was still swollen.  And he had 3 hot feet, about 15-20 degrees warmer than anyone else's.   We had talked about taking him up to the Equine Center in Gilbert Monday (today) if he wasn't getting any better.  We decided to call & see what they thought.  We told the vet what we had been doing & what was going on, & he said there was a lot going on & that we should probably go ahead & bring him in.  So we rushed around, got chores done, & headed north.  That is after we got him loaded.  He might not feel good, but going in a trailer wasn't what he had planned for the day.  We were both wore out by the time he finally gave up.  

Got up there & Dr. Moore checked him all over, did x-rays on his feet so if he is foundering we would have a baseline of information to start with.  His feet don't look as bad inside as I thought they would.  He has a little dissolving (demineralizing) of the point of one coffin bone, but everything else looked pretty good.  He also ran blood & found out Quilla's liver numbers are really high.  I had read that equine that are sun sensitive sometimes also have liver  problems.  Not sure it has anything to do with his snakebite, but he's in the best place to have the problem worked with.  His glucose was also high, so I guess I was giving him more than enough dextrose.  

Since Quilla has to be protected from the sun & was going to have to continue the IV's, he got to go into an inside box stall in the barn.  I thought it was pretty neat, Quilla...........not so much.  He wouldn't even go in the barn, until Dr. Moore opened the door at the other end, so it didn't look so much like a cave.  I asked which stall to put him in & Dr. Moore said to let him pick it out.  So we wandered around a little bit until he found the one he liked.  

HOME SWEET HOME, FOR A FEW DAYS

It had nice deep bedding, in case his feet are sore, lots of room for a little donkey.  It's big enough that a large draft horse would have plenty of room.  The vet brought over some hay, & Quilla really was trying to eat it, but his face is just too swollen, for him to be able to get ahold of anything.  


When we left he was still trying to pick up hay, & the vet was getting ready to hang an IV.  One of the vets just called, & she said he is actually drinking a little from the automatic waterer.  I don't know if he's ever even seen one before.  They checked his heart, & did a sonogram on his liver.  She said his liver isn't exactly shaped right, which could mean fatty liver disease.  Since his glucose is so high, they have started icing his feet, to hopefully keep him from foundering.  I wonder if they use IV bags to soak feet?  I always wanted some, & now after running all those IV's thru Quilla I have a good supply, hopefully I'll never need them.

I hope his liver problems are just temporary, it will probably take a day or two to get him stabilized & actually figure out what's going on with him.  But he is in about the best place he could be I think.  He'll get much better care than we were giving him, at least they know what they are doing......!!!!  (G)

Didn't get home until about 8pm.  There wasn't a donkey in sight when we drove in, but by the time we carried stuff in the house, & changed our shoes, between the house & the feed room was a mass of donkeys.  They were really in a hurry to get in their pens, & get fed.  Wish they were like that all the time, instead of making us go out & find them.  It's really irritating when you do find one & they just look at you like, "what do you want".  Judging from their attitude last night, I know they can tell time & should be able to show up & go in their pens at feeding time.  The 4 minis think it's a game.   They will stand around the feed room, while we round up others, waiting for one of us, to yell at them & flail our arms around at them.  Then they take off running & bucking like little wild animals, & head straight for their pen.  BRATS.........!!!!

2 comments:

the7msn said...

Bless you for all that you're doing for Quilla. I've been following his snakebite saga and can only hope I never have to deal with one here.

Tish said...

We've been lucky to have only one bite before this one.

He's in the best place for him right now, this clinic is one of the best.

Hope your guys are well.