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 

RATTLESNAKE BITE?

A few days ago, I noticed Boaz had a "wound" right below his naked knee of scar tissue.  It didn't look like a cut or anything normal, so my first thought was snakebite.  We've had 3 bitten in the past, one a little lower on Sha'ba's leg years ago.  It didn't even swell, probably was a dry bite, because of the close proximity of the canon bone to the skin and very little tissue in between. 

About 4 years ago Quilla got bitten on his muzzle and we almost lost him.  After 2 weeks we had to take him to the vet clinic up in Gilbert because he was crashing and beginning to founder.  Usually on large animals, their bodies will process the venom, although a lot of time they have to have support treatment, lots of IV's, etc.  In Quilla's case, they did a sonogram of his innerds and discovered he had fatty liver disease.  The liver couldn't process the venom.  He's fine now and the weight loss was good for him.

A few weeks after Quilla, we noticed a bloody blob hanging from underneath Daisy's jaw.  I didn't even call the vet that time, she never acted like it bothered her, kept eating, so I just treated it with a penicillin wash and it healed up nicely.  The first few days I was afraid it would break thru into her mouth, but thank goodness it didn't.

Daisy's jaw

Boaz's wound, was gooey and odd looking like the flesh was dissolving, so I put Animax on it and kept it wrapped.  I did call the vet Wednesday but she wasn't going to be available until Monday.  So I guess I saved myself a vet bill, because this morning it was well on it's way to healing.  

I don't remember what time of year Sha'ba's bite was, but the other 3 have been this time of year.  I think the snakes are moving around trying to get fat for hibernation and maybe get caught out more than they usually would. 

Pepper is getting down more and more, but he is still Mr. Perky, wants to go out, although his legs don't work too well.  If his mind was in charge he'd have no problem, but the body won't allow that.  I know most people wait too long in these situations, I know I have.  That will be a terrible appointment to make, I'm preparing John, large animals just can't function if the legs won't hold them up.  So far he is only going down when he tries to lay down in a dusting area.  If we find him where he has fallen, then it will be time for sure.  Hopefully it won't be on a holiday or week-end.