WHO WOULD EVER THINK THIS WOULD HAPPEN.....!!

I got a phone call a couple of days ago from a woman that had to put her horse down the night before and the molly mule they had gotten as a companion for him a few years ago, when they had to put their other horse down, was very upset.  In fact her husband was sitting out in the pen with the mule, so she wouldn't be alone.  We talked for awhile and she sounded like my kind of person.  I told her we don't send donkeys out as companions, and actually donkeys and mules don't naturally bond.  In all the years we've had both, the closest they have come is Reba will sometimes go with the jenny herd for an hour or so.  Other than that, they could be on different planets.  

I half way seriously threw out the fact that I have 2 old mules, but they would have to stay together.  She said no problem, she came out yesterday and  I was even more impressed than I was on the phone.  So Kris is going to foster Rusty and Reba and we will be delivering them today, so her husband can get some rest.  She has 20 acres of grassland and also has a dry lot if the mesquite beans become a problem.  I hope it works out, she wondered if they might team up against Ruthie her mule.  I doubt it, the females usually bond and Rusty thinks of himself as a "lady's man", so it shouldn't be a problem.  Glad he's over whatever was wrong with him the other day.

So wish us luck on this new adventure.  I think it will be a wonderful home, she even has a 4 stall barn.

Of course that isn't the only thing going on.  Yesterday morning I noticed Anubis the dog was having trouble urinating.  She has spaying incontinence and is on medication to help keep her from dribbling.  I was afraid it was working too well and she couldn't go.  Called Adobe Vet Clinic in Tucson and they said bring her in.  I can't keep up with when the local vet is available or not, so am starting to just bypass her altogether.  We've had Anubis at Adobe a couple of times before.  Without an MRI it's hard to tell.  She is very wobbly, and the SWAG (Scientific Wild Ass Guess) is she is having strokes or has a tumor probably at the base of her brain.  The vet seemed to think the problem urinating is caused from the Predizone she is on right now.  She's only got 3 more doses, so hopefully she'll be as well as can be expected after that for awhile.  She is also drinking massive amounts of water which hopefully is because of the Predizone and not kidney problems.

So we get home from that, just in time to feed and find Penny laying down...............again.  She has been laying down more than normal the last 3 or 4 days and getting less and less interested in eating or treats.  Wouldn't even take an animal cracker, which is her absolute favorite.  She will usually run John down for a cracker.  I have thought that her lack of interest in eating is because she is filling up with grass and mesquite beans, which her poo looked like.  Of course it's after hours going into a week-end, typical timing for an emergency.  

At bedtime when John went out to let everyone out, she was still laying down in the same place, but got up when she thought the gate was going to be open.  WHAT TO DO, WHAT TO DO........!!!  I really hate to be in charge of these guys, and not know more than I do.  I keep telling myself that even though vets go to school and have a lot of experience, even with them it's somewhat of a guessing game sometimes.  I finally decided to try to put some Kayo syrup down her in case she wasn't eating and might be going into hyperlipidemia, even if she isn't fat.  John got her in the redneck squeeze and she wasn't having any of that syrup, or anything else I might want to put in her mouth.  John thought her mouth smelled bad.  Of course I couldn't get my fingers in her mouth anymore than I could get the syringe of syrup  She is really adamant about not having her face and mouth touched.  She's had a broken jaw, which probably has something to do with it.  I thought the smell on John's hand smelled like rotten food caught in her teeth, rather than infection or something like that.

Well since I couldn't get the syrup down her I thought I'd give her a shot of banamine, just for S and G's, she didn't mind that..........!!!!  GRRRR........!!!  Of course I worried most of the night about her.  When I went out this morning I saw her following right in John's hip pocket on their way to her pen.  She hasn't laid down and was eating her breakfast, so I assume she's feeling better.  I'm still not sure it wasn't mesquite beans.  We left quite a few of the fatties in the pens yesterday and she stayed in with Coquette, so didn't have access to beans for the day.  Who knows, I know I sure don't.............LOL

The Adobe Vet Clinic is right up the road from where Ruger and Wister are staying, so of course we drove by.  They were out eating grass and looked good, so I guess everything is OK.  I haven't heard from Sarah in a couple of weeks. 

IT'S NOT PRETTY.....!!!

But we're already getting our ducks lined up to try to help her.  On the way home from picking them up we stopped by Tyler's house.  He's real lucky, we drive by his house every time we go someplace...!! LOL  

The plan of attack is to get her back in the trailer this Friday.  Should be "interesting", she had never been out of the pen she was born in 11 years ago, and with these feet loading was difficult.  It actually went much better than we expected, but once she was in the trailer, she couldn't hardly stand up on the mats, because of walking on slick hoof material, rather than sole and frog.

John drove very slow all the way home and I'm sure she was having to fight to stand, but she never lost her balance.  

Friday we will haul her into Dr. Nancy, this is when a mobile vet would REALLY be nice to have.  SIGH!  Tyler will be there, and she'll take x-rays so he has an idea of what he's dealing with.  Then he'll get out the sawz-all and start removing as much of the extra growth as he can. With horses they usually gnaw the excess off a little at a time, over time.  With donkeys they usually just take it all off at once, which really freaks out horse people.  But in the long run the quicker you get it off, hopefully the less internal damage. 

She moves around, is alert and if we can give her some quality of life, that's what we'll do.  

I was so interested in getting pictures of these feet I didn't get a picture of the older over weight jenny.  Just take my word for it, she's fat, lots of large pones and a pretty good size bubble butt.  Hopefully we can get some of the weight off her.  The owner had 3 bales of alfalfa, and we brought it home to transition them from alfalfa to bermuda hay over the next few weeks.  She's fat enough she probably has fatty liver disease, and if we tried to stop feeding alfalfa all at once, chances are she would develop hyperlipidemia which can be fatal.    You haven't lived until a vet comes out with a tube of blood, reaches down into it with a paper clip and draws out a glob of yellow fat, as big around as the tube and over an inch long.   Looked like a big fat grub worm...........UGH!

The older jenny was named Jenny and the one with the feet was Betty.  We've already had a Jenny and have a good friend named Betty, so we're going to give them different names.  I went thru a lot of different names, so far the front runner is, Kia for the older jenny and Sephia for the younger one.  My race car is a Kia Sephia.......!!! John just shook his head.  It's not final, so if anyone has some good names for these girls, let me know.  

Speaking of the race car, the next 2 weeks are going to be murder.  This time of year in sunny Arizona is when our track has a big race program for Late Models and Modifieds that usually run in Canada, and the east.  Needless to say their weather isn't conducive to racing now.  That's all fine and dandy, but they've decided to add some of the local classes to the program, so the "big" boys have time to work on their cars between races.  We are suppose to run 6 programs in 9 days....!!!  I think they are trying to kill off all the old people out there.....!!!  They are paying extra and also we will get back our entry fee if we make the main event, so now John is going to take the Toyota and race it too............  At least that's what he says now, we'll see if that sounds like fun, after the first couple of races, he might change his mind.  LOL 

I've found someone to take care of Mother, which is a load off my mind.  Anna lives on the next road north of us, so the 2am drive home won't be as big a problem as driving back to Benson would be.  I was afraid Mother would get feisty about having someone stay with her, but she seems to be fine with it........  Whew...!!!