Update.....!!!

 Cheyenne converting an admirer, thanks Jamie for the picture...!!

Rusty is on the mend, he's been kept in his pen the last few days to not only monitor his intake and out put, but to keep him away from the beans.  

Yesterday morning Rusty had "puddin nose" on one side.  I called Dr. Megan had said call her if there was any changes, so I did even though it was Saturday.  She said start him on Tucoprim, and also said she had thought the "colic" was probably a secondary problem.  She had said his lungs sounded a little noisy, Friday when we took him into the clinic.  

So he's been getting his Tucoprim mixed into applesauce, dumped into his mush.  I was going to just mix the Tucoprim into the mush, but for some reason he isn't eating it very well right now.  Loves his hay, but John had been "chumming" his bermuda hay with a little alfalfa.  Unfortunately the little bit of alfalfa hay we had is now gone, so he'll just have to eat bermuda.  Might let him out for an hour or so before afternoon round-up this afternoon, surely he won't be able to get into too much mischief in an hour.  

Day before yesterday Jill's former Mom called after she got a letter I wrote her, questioning her surrendering Jill to us, without first asking.  I don't think she still sees that asking someone to take care of Jill until they find a new place to board her, and then sending a surrender letter a week later, is a little bit out of the "norm".  She said that when they won the bid for Jill at the local auction, Lisa one of the owners of the auction house came to them and said if they ever wanted to rehome Jill, she would be interested.  I told the woman there wasn't a problem with Jill staying here until we found a home for her, but if she wanted them involved, to have them call me.  

Mike the other owner of Robertson Horse Sales called me and said they had someone that would give her a real good long term home that had been looking for a nice donkey like her.  We talked for awhile and I decided that this would probably be a good home for her, so John hooked up the trailer and we hauled her to them.  I told Mike that we wanted her to come back here if it didn't work out, and he agreed.  So we're again down to only 2 donkeys over our limit.........!!!  

Seems like I spend more and more time every morning doctoring, mostly stable fly damage.  Poor Quilla has polo wraps on all 4 legs as of this morning.  I'd been keeping ahead of the stable flies on his rear legs, but noticed this morning they had battled thru my chemical barriers and drawn blood.  When it's humid it seems like the flies really are bad.  Penny's front legs are bare like Quilla's and at first I thought it was probably fly damage.  But the flies don't bother her at all hardly, although her legs are both scarred.   As "squirrely" as she was with her front legs, when she came, I have a sneaking suspicion someone has roped her front legs, because there are actual wound scars on her legs unlike Quilla's that are just bare.  

Little Jack the mini mule is another one the flies or something seems to love.  He has round swollen places about the size of a dime all over his shoulders, and some on his belly, and of course the usual stable fly bites on his front legs.  Every year I buy 6 jars of Thuja Zinc Oxide to last me thru the summer, but this year I'm going to have to reorder it looks like.  Coquette also has some of the same stuff Jack has, and an added problem that seems to be some sort of skin condition.  It's dry, flaky, and builds up on her neck and behind her shoulders running down into her "armpit".  This morning I combed all the residual build up off and greased her up with zinc oxide.  It doesn't seem to bother her much if at all, but if you run your hands across it, the dry flaky stuff just flies.  Dr. Megan said we could do a scraping to find out what it is, but so far I've been able to keep it under control.  I can use that money to buy more zinc oxide.....!!! LOL  Same thing with whatever Cisco and Boaz  have on their legs.  I'm pretty sure what they have is called jack sores.

Although the experts lump jack sores, summer sores, & habronema all together as one, I'm not really sure they are.  I'm certainly no expert, but I can spot habronema larvae damage at 20 "paces", it looks like it looks.  What Cisco & Boaz have is an area covered with gooey serum, if you pull on the hair it comes right off the skin without leaving an open sore.  It's generally below the knee & above the fetlock, on the outside of the canon bone.  A couple of days of Underwood Horse Medicine and the hair starts coming back in and usually they don't have another break out in that area until the next year.  And what are the little closed circles that Jack the mini mule has?   

Today has been "interesting", so far.  It was 9 degrees this morning, so I guess you could say, we are having a warming trend....!!!  Unfortunately the water buckets didn't reflect this "heat" wave & were iced over with ice thick enough John had a hard time breaking it with his trusty "ice breaker".  

We needed to have Buddy Brat to the vet to have a little probable sarcoid taken off his sheath, by 10:30, so there wasn't a lot of time for John to play with ice.  He made sure Ruthie & the little mules had water & figured the others could get a drink from the 2 heated tanks when they went out after breakfast.

Rusty is almost back to normal, so he didn't have to go see the vet.  He still needed to take some Tucoprim this morning & rather than relax & enjoy it (mixed with applesauce) he tried to throw a mule fit.  Caught John flat footed, & we almost had a train wreck.  One thing about Rusty, when he misbehaves, if you get in his face, he will usually give up gracefully.  So I got in his face, & he decided it wasn't worth the tantrum, except for a little head pulling away.  A couple of jerks on his gums with my thumb & he decided the head pulling wasn't working out so well either, so we managed to get done what needed to be done.  Wish I was bigger or he was littler.  (G)  Can't wait for tomorrow morning for the continuing saga........!!!

Buddy hopped in the trailer & off we went.  Got to the vet, she checked him over & brought out this oversized ball point pen thingie.  I've had things burnt off with liquid nitrogen before, with a thermos & cue tip I think, it's been awhile.  This little thing has a 1 use cartridge of liquid nitrogen in the handle, with a tip that can change size depending on the size of whatever you are freezing.  His little growth wasn't very big, so it didn't take much, which was great.  

While we were there I had her check a little tumor below one of his eyes, that had developed over the last year.  About the size of a pea, seemed loose, like it might be encapsulated, not attached to anything.  Everyone thought it would be a good idea to take it out, since he was already there.  Dr. Megan thought it might be a thorn or something rather than a "real" tumor.  

She cut thru on the bottom & a big mushy thorn materialized.  Pulled it out & there was still something there.  She started pulling on it & this wad of "hair" came out.  As she cleaned it up & sutured it the vet tech cleaned up the wad.

This is the "hair", when the tech stretched it out it was about 10 inches long.  The general consensus is, it's an eye lash that went crazy & continued to grow even though there was no place for it to go.  I guess it got trapped in the wound made by the thorn someway.  Whoever heard of a 10 inch long eyelash............????

There have been larvae in the Rubbermaid water tank & we all had been wondering what they were.  There are some water bugs of some type, look like Daphnia, but who knows, thought it might be some of their "children".  Yesterday John found quite a few mosquito dead in the water.  Not a good time of year to be hatching out & going thru your life cycle if you are a mosquito.  The water was warm, but once they become adult mosquito, it looks like they didn't even make it out of the water.  Too bad.........!!!!! 

When we came home from the vet, all the jennies were running like crazy west of the pens.  When we left this morning Lysa hadn't got here yet to clean the pens.  I guess she left one of the gates open, because Ruthie & Aaron were out in "public".  The jennies weren't trying to hurt him or anything, but Ruthie was really trying to protect him, & everyone was acting like idiots.  John got a treat & Ruthie was more than willing to follow him back to the pens, & of course the mean "wittle" kid trotted along with her.  

He will be 3 weeks old tomorrow, I had said we'd let him out at 4 weeks, but might go ahead & let him out when we are here to make sure there are no problems.  We'll be letting the mini mules out soon too.  Probably won't let everyone out at the same time for the first time, that might get a little exciting.....!!!

Well, the vet just left.  Rusty the mule had been acting a little lethargic the last 3 days or so.  Usually he is a food hog, but the last few days he just picked or didn't bother even eating. 

Tonight when John went out to round everyone up, Rusty was standing in the wash, had heavy "goop" in both eyes, & wasn't interested in moving.  Of course it's Friday, & it was at closing time for the vet, but I called & they were still there &  Dr. Megan said she'd come out.  

She checked him all over & thinks he might pneumonia, at least he had some harsh sounds in his lungs.  Of course at age 34 he could have just about anything.  So he got a shot of Banamine, & also some Tucoprim.  We'll watch him over the week-end & if he isn't getting better, we'll haul him in Monday morning when we take Buddy Brat in for his sarcoid removal on his sheath for blood work & possible IV if he gets dehydrated.  

These guys sure like to keep us on our toes..........!!!

We're going to pick up the 2 mini mules tomorrow, hopefully that will go well.  Boaz has already been moved out of his pen, so they can have it.  It's a larger pen & since there are two of them, we thought they should have it.  Boaz doesn't care, as long as he gets fed. 

We were told the grandkids rode them, but they have halters on, which sounds like they might be hard to catch.  A lot of times kids can do just about anything with equine, but let an adult try to do something with them, & they can be as wild as March hares.  Guess we'll find out.  

Pepper has an appointment to see the vet Friday morning.  Maybe she will have some ideas about what is going on with him.  Maybe not, I'm sure he is well past his "expiration" date by most standards.  At least she can look in his mouth & see how the tumor is doing, & give him a general check-up.  

This is the before & after of Gus' trip to the vet to see what is going on with his leg.  This morning it looks even better, so I assume we are on the right track.  Haven't gotten the results back from the swabs & scrapings yet, but Animax & Naxcel seem to be doing the job.  

The vet was going to have me give him Tucoprim, BUT, Claire had said equine that are Insulin Resistant, shouldn't be given sulfa drugs.  Unfortunately she didn't tell me why, so when the vet asked why, I had no answer.  That happens quite often with me........!!!  At my age my brain is full & there isn't much room for anything else, so I rely on my good friends to "try" to keep me in the loop of knowledge.  (G)

According to Dr. Eleanor Kellon, sulfa drugs can cause an insulin rise in people studies, but is a complete unknown in IR horses.  It's just another piece of information that makes sense although hasn't been proven.  Why take a chance if you don't have to, so no sulfa for IR donkeys around here.  I printed out information to take to my vet when we take Pepper in Friday.  Who knows, it might give her information that will help her be better informed for her patients. 

He's having to stay in the pens because of the bandage & polo wraps, but he doesn't really seem to mind.  It's getting cool enough here at night (52 degrees last night) that we might be able to leave it upwrapped in a few days.  We've already noticed a lot less flies.  He doesn't usually go too far from the pens & the house, but he does like to roam around. 

  

 

We've been calling her Missy, she showed up here last week, hungry & scared.  She looks like a purebred Great Dane.  We've asked around & no one has claimed her.  John's theory is, she's recently had pups, & once the money making puppies were weaned, the owners came out to the first mailboxes on our road & dumped her.  

Our 2 dogs split a can of dog food & each get 1 1/2 cups of dry food a day.  They weigh about 60-75 pounds each.  At first she was eating about 18-20 cups of dry food a day, I need to ask John if he's backed off on the amount yet?  She's very sweet but shy & taller than the minis.  I've been in touch with a Dane rescue in Phoenix, there aren't any Dane rescues in Tucson, to see if they have a place for her.  

DRAMA QUEEN?

John came in this morning & said when the herd came over from Burroland this morning, Jenny was walking pretty good...........until she saw him watching her.  Then she started walking real slow & limping on her hind foot that has open places that are draining.  Hmmmmm....!!!  I have thought for awhile that she was not always favoring the foot that much.  

John is not the most observant  person when it comes to noticing anomalies that might happen around here.  Unless they are 3 legged lame or are covered in dozens of cactus spines, he usually doesn't notice.  So if he noticed her behavior, I'm pretty sure there is something to it. 

She was on Doxycycline for 10 days & is now on Tucoprim for a couple of weeks, so hopefully we can get it cleared up.  When we had her up to Dr. Shamis' her x-rays didn't show anything except an abscess trail running towards the coronet.  Of course as long as it's been going on, she could have bone infection by now.  Hence, the antibiotics.

Have called the clinic every day to see how the great experiment with Tucker is going.  So far I've been a little disappointed, with the results.  He has been on a mush diet for months & I told them it actually wasn't a mush, it was enough water added to the pellets to break them down into a dry fluffy feed.

They are feeding him & Mocha a mush, along with alfalfa hay that has been soaked in water to soften it.................EEEEEKKkkkkkkk!  When I bring up the subject of "DON'T FEED DONKEYS ALFALFA"  I am told it's softer & easier to eat.  Grrrrr...!!!  Softer & easier to eat isn't where we need to be, & that's why we left them up there.  All the while they are "easing" into feeding dry hay, the cash register is "cachinking" away......!!!!   They've always been very fair with us, but that only goes so far, they are a business.

They did get to go out on a small pasture area the clinic has yesterday.  I guess Tucker had a case of the sillies, & ran around entertaining anyone that wanted to watch.  I would imagine Mocha was busy trying to eat what little grass there is.  It stays warm enough up there that the grass goes dormant, but even though it's brown, I'm sure she enjoyed it. 

MOVING DAY FOR RAMBO........!!

We took Rambo to his foster home this afternoon.  He actually loaded pretty well this morning.  I did find out that even with 4 feet in the trailer, & his fanny hanging out, I don't have enough strength, to push him in.  I'm not sure even a big strong cowboy could have shoved him in, he is very strong.  But we worked with him some more & he finally decided to hop back in.  Animal crackers helped the process.

Got to his new home, & he was ready to get out & explore.

He will have 6 geldings, 2 mares & of course Gus that was adopted from us a couple of years ago.  Gus is a quirky donkey, Amy, Joe & their daughter Morgan are the perfect "foils" for his mischief.  He loves to open gates & let the others out, which I would imagine can get pretty exciting.  They just laugh & enjoy telling about his exploits.

I don't know if Rambo's mind works like Gus', but I do know he will probably give them a few more stories to tell, before it's over.......!!!! 

Ruth is on the left & Boaz is on the right.  I couldn't get him to stand still, so I could get a picture of his knee, maybe tomorrow.  The swelling on his belly seemed a little larger & he was acting lethargic, it's only been a little over a week since he was gelded.  I called the vet & picked up some Tucoprim on our way out this morning.  He should feel better pretty quick, Tucoprim is usually pretty good stuff.

I've been trying to figure out a plan of attack on his sarcoid.  Figure a few more days of not treating it won't hurt, although the owner had treated it a few times he said.  Went on the internet to look around & came across this interesting idea.

http://horsekeepingbycherryhill.wordpress.com/2010/12/09/a-simple-equine-sarcoid-treatment-anecdotal/

Years ago I tried toothpaste on a small one on Buster's cheek.  It did get smaller, but they sometimes disappear on their own, so who knows.  We were taking someone else up to the clinic at Gilbert, so we had them remove it, & it never came back.