NOT A GOOD DAY.............!!!

It started out great......!!!!    Georgette came out for a visit with her "god-son" Sha'ba.  The sack she is holding has ginger snaps in it, & she made sure he had his share.  Georgette is also fostering Remington & Hanna.  She says wherever Hanna goes, Remington is right behind her, so I guess they bonded like we hoped they would.  Now if we can just find them a good home, hopefully before Georgette gets too attached........!!

Tonight when John was rounding up, I heard him yell for me & something about Quilla.  I took off in the general direction & by yelling thru the mesquite trees, I finally found them.  He had been snakebit on the left side of his mouth by a pretty big rattlesnake.  It had been awhile, the blood from the bite was dried, & his head was swelled on the left side.  He also couldn't close his mouth because of the swelling.  

The first thing to worry about is can they breathe, since equines can't breathe thru their mouth.  Thank goodness it is just on one side, so although the other side has some swelling he was breathing just fine over there.  John got a piece of hose to put in the left side, which wasn't swelled shut but it was getting pretty tight to stick a finger in there.

I called the vet & we decided that it probably wasn't an emergency, but he did need a shot of Dex, which I didn't have.  The vet was willing to meet me on the road between us & where she lives, which was great.  Came home, gave him a shot, which he didn't appreciate.  She said by morning the swelling should be going down, I hope she's right.  He still can't close his mouth, & of course he can't eat or drink.  If the swelling goes down & he can at least drink, we'll probably give him Dex for a few days & consider him very lucky.  If he can't drink by morning the vet will have to come out & start him on IV's so he doesn't dehydrate.  His lips feel like a piece of wood, they are so swollen. 

That is our 2nd rattlesnake bite, which actually is pretty good considering how many donkeys are roaming around on the property.  Sha'ba got hit on the front of his cannon bone years ago, the snake struck twice, but the fangs hit the bone & didn't inject venom I guess.  At first I thought he had gotten stuck on cactus or something, until the flesh started sloughing off.  It never swelled or anything & I just treated it like any other sore.