After the crisis seemed to be over for Garnet and he was on the road to recovery, something new cropped up. He had three large whelps the size of hot dogs come up on the back of his right hind leg above the hock. They finally busted open and produced a lot of yellow pus. He had been on Penicillin at the time this happened, so I switched him to SMZ Tablets.
I am grinding the tablets with the bute and putting the powder in pancake syrup then syringing it into his mouth. He is still taking his medicine very well and is still tolerating the fly spray but he doesn't like it when I treat his sores. He did let me treat him this morning without any problems because I caught him when he was lying down and he didn't want to bother with getting up. I treated the sores on his body then lifted each leg and treated them on both sides. I just couldn't get to the other side of his body, so it will have to wait until later.
Showing posts with label garnet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label garnet. Show all posts
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Nerve Damage?
As you may have noticed, I have not been faithful to my everyday blog lately. We have had some extra stress in our lives lately that I haven't written about here because it was just too sad and painful.
Garnet, one of our weanlings came down with either some kind of sickness or an injury, we are not sure what happened. We suspect some kind of nerve damage. It started out with him just not being able to stay with the foals. He is the oldest and had always been their leader and led them in running and playing. He would nicker at them but was reluctant to move and when he did move he took baby steps and acted as if every one was painful.
He had swelling on both sides of his neck like hard ridges, and one shoulder blade was much lower then the other. He acted as if all four feet were sore. We put him in a stall and started him on Banamine every four hours. He would not lay down, he didn't lay down for several days.
After awhile the ridges on his neck finally disappeared and his shoulder blades started looking normal again. He was able to flex his neck and lay down. Then his hind ankles started swelling, then it moved from his ankles to his right hind hock and his left hind thigh. His left hind thigh became so swollen that we were afraid that the skin would bust open.
He continued to eat grain well but he was losing a lot of weight. He was lying down most of the time and we couldn't get him up but he would occasionally get up on his own after he had banamine. His left hind leg, under the swelling was as cold as ice to touch and he drag that leg when he walked.
I talked to our Vet, who said to switch him to Bute because it is cheaper and might help more with the swelling. We switched and did see some improvement with the swelling. He also told me to start him on antibiotics, so we went from sticking him with a needle several times a day to just once. I crush his bute tablets and put them in applesauce, then syringe them into his mouth, he tolerates it and doesn't spit it out, so I guess it doesn't taste too bad.
He was really having a struggle getting to his feet and he was beating himself all up trying to get up in the stall, so we moved him back out to the pasture. The Vet had told me that there was hope as long as he could still get to his feet with the help of painkillers. But he said that if he got to the point that he could no longer get up, we would probably need to put him down.
This went on for a week and a half and on Wednesday morning, he couldn't get up. My DH was working that day and it was suppose to be sunny and hot. I had made up my mind to put him down that evening if he didn't get up that day. I continued his bute, carrying him water, applying fly spray and blue lotion on his many sores. He is covered in sores from both banging into things trying to get up and from just lying around so much.
But he did finally get up and walked a little bit, so we waited. He has been getting better ever since. He is well on the road to recovery now, he is still walking slow but he is staying with the others and is getting a little ornery about taking his medicine which is a good thing. I can, however, spray him with fly spray and blue medicine anywhere, anytime and he likes being brushed and having his throat scratched. So this horrible experience has been a benefit to a colt who would not let you touch him before he got sick.
Garnet, one of our weanlings came down with either some kind of sickness or an injury, we are not sure what happened. We suspect some kind of nerve damage. It started out with him just not being able to stay with the foals. He is the oldest and had always been their leader and led them in running and playing. He would nicker at them but was reluctant to move and when he did move he took baby steps and acted as if every one was painful.
He had swelling on both sides of his neck like hard ridges, and one shoulder blade was much lower then the other. He acted as if all four feet were sore. We put him in a stall and started him on Banamine every four hours. He would not lay down, he didn't lay down for several days.
After awhile the ridges on his neck finally disappeared and his shoulder blades started looking normal again. He was able to flex his neck and lay down. Then his hind ankles started swelling, then it moved from his ankles to his right hind hock and his left hind thigh. His left hind thigh became so swollen that we were afraid that the skin would bust open.
He continued to eat grain well but he was losing a lot of weight. He was lying down most of the time and we couldn't get him up but he would occasionally get up on his own after he had banamine. His left hind leg, under the swelling was as cold as ice to touch and he drag that leg when he walked.
I talked to our Vet, who said to switch him to Bute because it is cheaper and might help more with the swelling. We switched and did see some improvement with the swelling. He also told me to start him on antibiotics, so we went from sticking him with a needle several times a day to just once. I crush his bute tablets and put them in applesauce, then syringe them into his mouth, he tolerates it and doesn't spit it out, so I guess it doesn't taste too bad.
He was really having a struggle getting to his feet and he was beating himself all up trying to get up in the stall, so we moved him back out to the pasture. The Vet had told me that there was hope as long as he could still get to his feet with the help of painkillers. But he said that if he got to the point that he could no longer get up, we would probably need to put him down.
This went on for a week and a half and on Wednesday morning, he couldn't get up. My DH was working that day and it was suppose to be sunny and hot. I had made up my mind to put him down that evening if he didn't get up that day. I continued his bute, carrying him water, applying fly spray and blue lotion on his many sores. He is covered in sores from both banging into things trying to get up and from just lying around so much.
But he did finally get up and walked a little bit, so we waited. He has been getting better ever since. He is well on the road to recovery now, he is still walking slow but he is staying with the others and is getting a little ornery about taking his medicine which is a good thing. I can, however, spray him with fly spray and blue medicine anywhere, anytime and he likes being brushed and having his throat scratched. So this horrible experience has been a benefit to a colt who would not let you touch him before he got sick.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Wasps
Monday was weaning day because we always try to wean in the sign. The goat kids were permanently separated from Calico on Monday. This meant that I had to start milking her twice per day just like Cinder, her Mother.
We also weaned Garnet, our Walkaloosa colt. The way we weaned him was to load his mother up and take her to a friend's place. That left him with the other foals and their mothers. He hardly even missed her until this morning.
My poor Husband had gotten stung by a bumble bee the other day while pulling up a fence post that had a nest in it. He was fortunate that he was only stung once. He had a reaction to a red wasp sting many years ago after getting stung several times by bumble bees, so I am always a little nervous when he gets stung by anything.
On Monday while we were hooking up the horse trailer to take Garnet's mother away, I cranked the trailer up and gave direction, while he backed the truck up. As soon as he was in position, I left to do something else and he hooked the trailer up.
He soon found out that there was a wasp nest in the trailer hitch and barely escaped an attack. I gave him some wasp spray and went into the trailer to make sure that there were no nests inside. I looked very carefully and cautiously. I then proclaimed it to be safe and again walked away to do something else.
The next thing I know, he is unlatching the slant gate inside the trailer and he comes dancing out, complaining about getting stung. I believe he also mentioned something about making me an appointment with the eye doctor, he has brought this up several times lately. He thinks that I need new glasses.
I went inside, grabbed a penny and slapped it on the sting site on his arm. I had gained this priceless piece of first-aid information from a forwarded e-mail, so it had to work, right? He kept the penny in place for awhile then we put a baking soda and water paste on it and wrapped it up, so that he could keep working. I took that extra precaution of making him take an antihistamine.
While loading the two horses that we were taking to the friend's house, he discovered yet another large wasp nest inside the trailer that had to be dealt with. Somehow no one got stung that time. I don't think that he will ever trust me again.
This morning I went out to bring the goats up to the barn/house to be milked. I was trying to open the gates without all of the goats escaping, which is no small task, when I noticed that Calico's kids who were in a large dog kennel right behind me were trying their level best to escape too.
They were crying and jumping against the gate of the kennel and all of the sudden there was just this swarm of red wasps that came out of the kennel framework. They were stinging those poor kids and they were everywhere. The kids were running all around trying to get away from them but there was no place to go.
I dropped what I was doing and dove for the gate. Somehow I got it open and was out of there and back to the barn/house in a flash. I only looked back long enough to see the kids tear out of that gate and though the other gates, back to their mother. So, now they are unweaned.
We did get Zinc delivered to his new home today. We had promised to deliver him as soon as he was weaned. So he got to spend most of his last day here with his mother and got his belly full of milk for the road trip.
We also weaned Garnet, our Walkaloosa colt. The way we weaned him was to load his mother up and take her to a friend's place. That left him with the other foals and their mothers. He hardly even missed her until this morning.
My poor Husband had gotten stung by a bumble bee the other day while pulling up a fence post that had a nest in it. He was fortunate that he was only stung once. He had a reaction to a red wasp sting many years ago after getting stung several times by bumble bees, so I am always a little nervous when he gets stung by anything.
On Monday while we were hooking up the horse trailer to take Garnet's mother away, I cranked the trailer up and gave direction, while he backed the truck up. As soon as he was in position, I left to do something else and he hooked the trailer up.
He soon found out that there was a wasp nest in the trailer hitch and barely escaped an attack. I gave him some wasp spray and went into the trailer to make sure that there were no nests inside. I looked very carefully and cautiously. I then proclaimed it to be safe and again walked away to do something else.
The next thing I know, he is unlatching the slant gate inside the trailer and he comes dancing out, complaining about getting stung. I believe he also mentioned something about making me an appointment with the eye doctor, he has brought this up several times lately. He thinks that I need new glasses.
I went inside, grabbed a penny and slapped it on the sting site on his arm. I had gained this priceless piece of first-aid information from a forwarded e-mail, so it had to work, right? He kept the penny in place for awhile then we put a baking soda and water paste on it and wrapped it up, so that he could keep working. I took that extra precaution of making him take an antihistamine.
While loading the two horses that we were taking to the friend's house, he discovered yet another large wasp nest inside the trailer that had to be dealt with. Somehow no one got stung that time. I don't think that he will ever trust me again.
This morning I went out to bring the goats up to the barn/house to be milked. I was trying to open the gates without all of the goats escaping, which is no small task, when I noticed that Calico's kids who were in a large dog kennel right behind me were trying their level best to escape too.
They were crying and jumping against the gate of the kennel and all of the sudden there was just this swarm of red wasps that came out of the kennel framework. They were stinging those poor kids and they were everywhere. The kids were running all around trying to get away from them but there was no place to go.
I dropped what I was doing and dove for the gate. Somehow I got it open and was out of there and back to the barn/house in a flash. I only looked back long enough to see the kids tear out of that gate and though the other gates, back to their mother. So, now they are unweaned.
We did get Zinc delivered to his new home today. We had promised to deliver him as soon as he was weaned. So he got to spend most of his last day here with his mother and got his belly full of milk for the road trip.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Changing Colors
Sapphire, our little black twin filly that survived, changed from black to brown and is now changing to blue roan. So, her name will fit her now.
Garnet, our sorrel blanketed colt is changing to either blue roan or gray, so his name will not fit him anymore.
Zircon, our little crooked legged sorrel leopard isn't changing colors but he is growing and his legs look much better, he also thinks that he is king of the world.
Garnet, our sorrel blanketed colt is changing to either blue roan or gray, so his name will not fit him anymore.
Zircon, our little crooked legged sorrel leopard isn't changing colors but he is growing and his legs look much better, he also thinks that he is king of the world.
Monday, March 31, 2008
New Names
Having lots of babies from year to year for many years has made it difficult to come up with new names for everyone. So I have decided to go with a theme again this year. I have done this in the past and used a Car/Truck theme, our babies that year were: Rio, Ranger, El Camino (Ellie), Breeze, Trooper, Nash and Spider.
This year and perhaps next year, since we are not expecting very many babies, we are going to use Jewels, Gems, Precious Stones, Minerals or Metals. So, to get this party started we have decided to call our new sorrel Walkaloosa colt "Garnet", since he is very red.
This year and perhaps next year, since we are not expecting very many babies, we are going to use Jewels, Gems, Precious Stones, Minerals or Metals. So, to get this party started we have decided to call our new sorrel Walkaloosa colt "Garnet", since he is very red.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)