ETC

    Roper came in a little over a week ago.  We took him to the Equine Clinic up in Gilbert today to have a tumor on his cheek removed.  They will do the surgery tomorrow morning and we will find out if it is cancer or not.  We're hoping for the best, he's really a nice donkey in the time he has been here he has shown himself to be alert, curious and very easy to work with. 

    They are also going to look at his eyes.  He acts like he doesn't see well when going from light to dark, etc.  His eyes are bright and shiny, so while he's  asleep they will take that opportunity to get a better look.  That easy to work with, doesn't mean he was happy to stand still while they shined lights in his eyes and tried to get a good look.  

    They will also x-ray his hips while he's "resting".  His tail is lower than normal on a donkey and we want to know why.  It doesn't seem to bother him and he moves good but this will be a good opportunity to find out if there is something out of whack.  Since he is named Roper there's a good chance he's been roped, we don't know for sure.  Or he might have been born that way, hopefully an x-ray will help identify if there is a problem.  

 

        We also took BlackJack up to the clinic to see why he is cranky when he's groomed.  They poked and prodded him, and of course he didn't try to bite them, like he's been doing everyone that tries to brush him lately.  He had blood drawn a few weeks ago and it was pretty normal.  Drew it again and it was OK except for a slight elevation of liver numbers.  Nothing really to worry about Dr. Howard said.  

    I am going to start him on some milk thistle which is really good for "man and beast" if there might be liver problems.  Who knows maybe it will improve his disposition.......!!! LOL

    When we brought BlackJack into the clinic, first thing Dr. Howard zeroed in on was "is his hair always this long?"  He thought BlackJack might have Cushings disease   I explained that BJ probably has some French Poitou in his bloodline.  

    We brought BlackJack home and will go back up to get Roper when they call us after the surgery.  Dr. Howard is going to put chemo drugs in the surgical area, in case it is cancerous, we want Roper to have the best chance for a good outcome as medical science can give him.  

    Over the last few days, we have taken in 2 new guys overweight with neglected feet and some fly damage.  They had been in the same home for 18 years, weren't named and we were told about them by renters that were getting ready to move and were worried about the boys.  They had been trying to take care of them and talked the owner into turning them over to us.  

        John and Suzanne were moving bunks around in the mare motel and came up with the names Kris Kristofferson, and Waylon Jennings, to go with Willie Nelson that came down here from Colorado a few weeks ago.  All we need is a Johnny Cash and we will have the complete Highwaymen quartet. I guess we could incorporate John into the group..........LOL

    

This is Waylon he is the friendliest one, but I don't think his ears are as long as they look in this picture Suzanne took right after they got here.  Kris is going to take some time, but I'm sure he will settle in once he figures out, we love donkeys.