I know he doesn't do it on purpose, but it seems like a lot of our time is spent worrying about the old buzzard.
He's been laying down more often lately, usually on his good side, thank goodness. He's also developed a dry cough, and since I'm the type of person that looks, "for the zebra, rather than the horse" my 1st thought was lung worms. We've never had lung worms that I know of but donkeys are known for being carriers. A lot of horse owners don't want donkeys around for that reason. Ivermectin takes care of lung worms and I'm giving him antibiotics, Tucoprim, just in case it's something else.
I gathered up some foam, vet wrap and duct tape to make a boot for him. I have Soft Rides, but hesitant to put them on him for a couple of reasons. One is, because of his gnarly feet, not sure they would stay on and number 2......... although they are fairly light weight, not sure he could walk with the extra pound or so. By the next morning he was walking a little better and has continued to improve, so hopefully we bit the bullet..........again.
Yesterday morning John noticed Cisco rubbing his ear. He had icky problems in his ears all summer, off and on. I had quit watching him since it got cooler, but sure enough he had some type of slimy, gooey, smelly YUCK in there. Animax i.e. Panalog is what the vet usually uses for ear problems, but I can't remember what she used to clean it out and I'm a little cautious about putting stuff in an ear. Thanks goodness he has "donkey" ears, and I have small hands. I rooted around with a rag to get rid of most of the yuckies and then squirted in the Animax. That bad thing is I got the stuff on my hand and could smell it all afternoon. Hopefully I can get it cleared up, otherwise we'll have to take him to the vet and do a culture I guess.
Everyone else seems to be doing good. I hesitate to say Rosie is losing weight, but she does look less fat. As fat as she was, less fat is a good thing.............LOL Tyler will be coming out Monday to check on Gigi's foot with the shoe. She is walking very good, almost without any limp at all although her shoulders are still deformed because of walking oddly for 11 years. We will have had them a year in January and hopefully one of these days Tyler will be able to take the shoe off and leave it off.
A couple of days ago he was laying down when it was time to come in for feeding. When he got up he could barely walk on his right front, which is the one with a bad knee. I picked the foot up to make sure there wasn't something else going on and noticed his sole is lower than the sidewall. It looks like it's going to slough off, but with him it's hard to tell. He has a lot of rotation and the hoof grows crazy, not to mention we don't know for sure exactly where the end of his coffin bone is. Courtney has kept him going a lot longer than we ever thought possible.
I gathered up some foam, vet wrap and duct tape to make a boot for him. I have Soft Rides, but hesitant to put them on him for a couple of reasons. One is, because of his gnarly feet, not sure they would stay on and number 2......... although they are fairly light weight, not sure he could walk with the extra pound or so. By the next morning he was walking a little better and has continued to improve, so hopefully we bit the bullet..........again.
Yesterday morning John noticed Cisco rubbing his ear. He had icky problems in his ears all summer, off and on. I had quit watching him since it got cooler, but sure enough he had some type of slimy, gooey, smelly YUCK in there. Animax i.e. Panalog is what the vet usually uses for ear problems, but I can't remember what she used to clean it out and I'm a little cautious about putting stuff in an ear. Thanks goodness he has "donkey" ears, and I have small hands. I rooted around with a rag to get rid of most of the yuckies and then squirted in the Animax. That bad thing is I got the stuff on my hand and could smell it all afternoon. Hopefully I can get it cleared up, otherwise we'll have to take him to the vet and do a culture I guess.
Everyone else seems to be doing good. I hesitate to say Rosie is losing weight, but she does look less fat. As fat as she was, less fat is a good thing.............LOL Tyler will be coming out Monday to check on Gigi's foot with the shoe. She is walking very good, almost without any limp at all although her shoulders are still deformed because of walking oddly for 11 years. We will have had them a year in January and hopefully one of these days Tyler will be able to take the shoe off and leave it off.
4 comments:
I Feel for the old guy, I am having some back problems and limp around here like an old women, well I am getting old (69) and starting to feel it. Your blog warms my heart. When I was young my dad had a mule and he liked it sit like a dog. People would stop and look at him because he looked so strange.
I hear you......you should see me get in and out of the race car window opening.........LOL
You just painted a picture for me. :) last week I had injections in my foot and back for pain. I feel for Pepper, I just don't get down and cannot get up, yet.
You're a braver woman than I am, I try to stay away from doctors.
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