LOOKS LIKE I'M GOOFING OFF........!!

It's been a week since I updated the blog, I think that is a record, don't think I've ever done that before except if I was gone someplace and usually I'm not gone that long.  

There really hasn't been that much to write about.  It's cooling off, which means less doctoring for skin conditions, which is really great.  Last night John took off the fly masks for the night.  Usually in the summer during fly season, we just leave them on, because the flies get up before we do. 

We had to take Anubis the dog, back to the vet again.  She was in awhile back for being lethargic and as the x-ray showed, full of, well let's just say she hadn't been going "regularly" for some reason.  Got that all taken care of and she started limping around 3 legged lame.  My "expert" opinion was hip, but Nancy said it's her knee.  I have been giving her Previcox until I could get her in and she's almost back to normal.  According to Nancy, Previcox is one of the great inventions in the world, for man or beast.  Hmmm......maybe I'll trade my Aleve for Previcox.  Anyway, while there they said they'd clip her nails and break off some teeth plaque.  In the process of teeth cleaning we found out she has one tooth that is loose and another one that has shrunken gums, exposing part of the root.  So now she gets to go back in next Monday for a snooze and removal of 2 teeth.

I'm giving a couple of the donkeys Previcox and it has really made a difference in their ability to walk around comfortable, old Pepper for one.  Nancy said that equine assimilate it differently and while dogs can take 227 mg or more, equine are much more sensitive and only should have 57mg or even half of that.  Who would ever think that equine should have much less of a type of medication than dogs?

The picture above is Boaz's knee, I took the picture to show Nancy that it is "finally" healed.  I think she was as excited as I was, 3 surgeries, lots of doctoring and wrapping over almost 3 years.  That little spot at the top, seems to be where he puts pressure when he lays down.  It hasn't been open in quite awhile, but I keep an eye on it.  I'm just glad I don't have to keep the knee wrapped all the time.

I told her about the problem with trying to get Pepsi to take the cancer medicine Neoplasene.  She said to mix it up with a double handful of grain.............YIKES....!!!  I can't imagine what he would look like after 3 months of that diet twice a day, the Goodyear blimp comes to mind.  This morning we separated him from Lynn and Justin and I gave him 1/2 cup of oats, with 1/2 cup of senior feed.  I added a teaspoon of molasses with a "dab" (do you know how small a dab it?) of the offending medicine.  NOPE...!!!  He did eat hay out of the other end of the bunk, but that's as close as he would come to it.  So tonight I'm going to see if I can get him to eat the oats and senior feed without anything added.  I'm sure he will think that is just fine, then maybe I can add molasses and that will probably be OK too.  After that I'm sure when I add a "dab" of you know what, I will get the judgemental look as he stands there and everyone else is eating.  SIGH!  She said she had never had one refuse it.  John said the owners probably told her they were feeding it, but weren't.....!!! LOL

We are not going to do the Cascabel Christmas Fair this year.  I think we've done it 6 or 7 years and it's a lot of fun.  Even though we don't have much to do, to get ready it's still a lot of work.  I'm sure there will be some disappointed people, every year we had people come that had been here before.  What I found interesting is the kids that remembered certain donkeys or mules, especially if they weren't still here.  A lot of people remembered Sha'ba, I guess because his ears had been cut off and most people had a hard time accepting the fact that there are people in the world capable of such cruelty.

 

RIP, SHA'BA.......he still loved people 

PEPSI HAD SURGERY

 Pepsi contemplating whether it's worth it to come into the courtyard of the house..!

  

Not what he had planned for the day.  When we took him and Rosie to the vet Tuesday, I must say, for a little guy he can be a real handful.  Nine months in a home that let him get away with whatever, has turned him into a real brat.  I thought we were going to have to rope him, which would have been a whole lot of adventure I'm sure.  But John managed to get a lead rope around his neck and I got a halter on his squirmy little head.  Next problem trailer loading...........jeeesh!  He just wasn't going to make any of it easy.

Rosie was reluctant but not as much trouble as the little guy.  Got to the vet decided to check Rosie's belly spots in the trailer.  No sense in asking for problems, Nancy knows our animals are not always polite and cooperative..........LOL  Nancy thinks it might be a worm like neck worms i.e. thread worms, since I've spent the entire summer, clearing it up and it coming back.  So she will get wormed weekly until cold weather and I'll continue doctoring the 3 areas on her belly.  I told them when we went in I didn't want to hear any remarks about her weight.............LOL  She's lost about 60 pounds, needs to lose another 100 probably.  But the mesquite bean season set us back on her "diet".  She is unhappy with the amount of food John gives her and has eaten the door off the well house.  This morning when John went out she had the hinge and a little bit of the attached wood in her mouth, chewing on it.........!!! 

 I wish I had a camera when John took Pepsi out of the trailer to go into...........the big cave that eats little donkeys, or as we refer to it, the large animal part of her clinic.  Actually a video would have been better.  He jumped out of the trailer, looked around and locked all 4 legs, in the "NOPE" position.  It took 4 people, John and a vet tech pulling on the lead, Nancy pushing and shoving along with a guy in to have his 4 alpacas looked at.  Poor Pepsi, I couldn't even get in there to help, he was surrounded by a sea of people, and his little hooves were digging  channels in the dirt, as they literally dragged him about 30 feet.  I'll say one thing he never changed his mind...............LOL

Needless to say his cooperative thoughts were not working, but a happy shot took care of that.  My diagnosis was wrong, it wasn't an encapsulated eye lash, it was a little tumor about the size of a large pea.  Sent it off to see if it is cancer, if so, we'll have to take him back to have chemo shot into the area, in case she missed any cells.  It was loose and didn't have irregular edges, so hopefully it will be OK and if we're lucky it won't be cancer......!!  

Of course there were stitches, seven of them that have to be removed in 10 days.  And in the meantime we have to put salve on the area twice a day.  This means we have to catch the little monster twice a day to put on the salve.  So far he isn't giving up, we have to get a halter on him, put him in the Redneck Squeeze, snub his head to the corral pipe and hope for the best.  You would think he would give up, but so far shows no inkling to do so............. SIGH....!!!  I will remove the stitches, which should really be entertaining, unless he makes up his mind that we are actually not hurting him and that we are going to accomplish the task, with or without his cooperation.  Wish me luck.......!!!!

The race track added us to the 2 day program this week-end at the last minute.  It's going to be non-point races both nights, so I told John we wouldn't go.  But he wants to at least go Friday night.  Our son is racing at the asphalt track Saturday night, so we'll go there, since my races aren't point races.  I tried to talk John into driving my car Friday night, but he said he won't drive it.  I don't know why, if he wrecks it, he has to fix it..........LOL

RUSTY GOES TO THE DOCTOR..........!!!

A

Sunday Rusty started doing his mouth thing again.  He will go along for months and then stop eating, and spend lots of time "adjusting" his mouth from side to side.  I think he's even been to the vet for it before, well now he's been again.  He didn't eat Sunday, Monday or yesterday until suppertime, when he did eat some of his hay.  Also this morning.

I had already made an appointment for today and we decided it wouldn't hurt to have him looked over.  At age 35, he could have teeth falling out, turning sideways, who knows what.  He's really good about letting me prowl around in his mouth, but since I don't know what I'm looking for, I'd rather someone that knows what they are doing look.  

Nancy checked him over, he didn't seem to mind her manipulating his jaw, but she did find a few sharp points on his molars.  She said for his age his teeth are really in pretty good shape.  He's still got all of them and has an inch or so of teeth left so he's luckier than a lot of equine.  

So she ground off the sharp places and we called it done.  When we got home and he got out of the trailer yelling for Reba, and Ruger and Wister were trying their best to get "in" the trailer.  They think it's a big toy to jump in and out of I guess.   

LOOKS LIKE I'M BEHIND..............AGAIN.......!!!

No matter what my good intentions are, it seems like I just get farther and farther behind.  I was shocked when I checked the blog and found out it had been 5 days since I updated.  

Well actually there hasn't been a whole lot going on to write about.  Just the usual, had to take Pepper to the vet yesterday for a choke........again.  This is about the 6th time and we really couldn't tell if he had cleared or not.  In fact the phone calls to the vet were getting silly.  "Can we bring him in", "Don't need to bring him in, he's cleared".  "Maybe not, can we still bring him in?"  Finally I said let's just take him.  Nancy isn't there on Thursdays, and without a mobile vet in the area to cover, we didn't have much choice. 

Of course by the time we got there, he looked like a race horse in the gate ready to run, eyes bright, ears up and trying to knock us down.  Nancy said he looked pretty comfortable to her and we all decided not to tube him.  He has to be drugged and then it's still a wrestling match, none of us wanted to do again, since the last time.......!!! LOL

Gigi is still doing good.  We've been letting them out in the afternoon for a few hours and surprisingly they haven't been a problem to get in at all.  In fact sometimes Rosie is the first one in.  She is one strange gal.  

Our corral panels are finally coming home Friday.  We loaned them out last summer and finally had to borrow panels from some friends.  We didn't even have an extra panel to build a "redneck" squeeze to work with Rosie and Gigi.

When we started the corral shuffle, we put Boaz and Ruthie together to eat.  Almost every feeding John would have to put a halter on her to get her to the pen.  A couple of days ago she went in Frijolita's pen and wouldn't move.  Frijolita didn't seem to care, so we decided to feed Rosie in there.  It's working out just fine, she goes in there and waits for John to come with the cookie.  Probably part of the draw is, Wister and Ruger are in the next pen, at least Wister, she doesn't like him to be out of her sight.  We've got more donkeys eating together than ever before.  We're getting ready to jumble them around again.  Gigi and Rosie can't continue eating together.  When one animal is 200 pounds overweight and the other is almost underweight, it is pretty clear what's going on.  

So Quilla is going to BlackJack's old pen, which is actually an emergency pen, without shelter.  Rosie will move to his pen, and Gigi will have a pen of her own.  Rosie is going to start going out with the rest of the donkeys day and night.  We'll keep Gigi in overnight for awhile, so she can rest if she needs to and have more time to eat.  She's more than willing to move around when the gates are opened.  I hope that means she is more comfortable than she was. 

MOLLY AND JACK WILL BE LEAVING THURSDAY

The woman that came out to see them never got back in touch with me, so I assume she isn't interested.  Thursday we'll haul them to Terry for fostering and possible adoption, IF, they behave themselves.  Actually Terry has told me about some of her other animals and it sounds like they'll fit right in.......!! LOL

Terry use to come out and groom every week, before she got so many animals of her own.  She also took Rusty as a friend for her old mule Zeke.  Zeke hated Rusty guess he saw him as a competitor, so Rusty came back.  She even took Tula one time to see if she could get Tula more people friendly.  Didn't work, and while Tula was there she turned Terry's 2 donkeys wild.  For some reason all the other donkeys see Tula as the head jenny, doesn't matter where she is. 

It will be a great place for Little Jack Horner and Miss Molly Brown and they will get more attention than they would here.  Now if we could just find homes for Ruthie, Wister and Ruger.  They are about the only ones we have adoptable, unless someone might be willing to take on a project.  

This is Boaz's knee as of this morning.

This is Gigi this morning, when we doctored her bed sore.  Tyler thinks she is improving much faster than he expected, especially on the right front, that has the elongated shoe.  Tyler and Nancy were talking about doing a tendonectomy if she couldn't walk on that foot flat.  But she seems to be able to use it very well.  She's spending more time up and less time down, and I am giving her less bute each day.  Once she is off the bute, we will start letting them out of the pen.  Can't wait for the fun of trying to get Rosie back in the pen, she is the "squirrelist" donkey we have ever had, yet she will come up and get right in your face.