This is what my husband said after the events of this morning. First he discovered Cally, our oldest goat, underneath the hay elevator. This elevator had been laying on its side and somehow she ended up with it on top of her. This morning she was shivering, had a damaged eye, and couldn’t walk. Tom carried her into the feed shed where I have been trying to warm and feed her as well as placing antibiotic eye ointment over her injured eye.
Then I discovered one of our rabbits Beavis has what appears to be a skin infection on the side of his face. It was obscured until today when the hair came off. So I placed antibiotic ointment over this.
Then I notice Wink again. I was worrying about her yesterday because she was not eating and had a slightly hunched look. Today she looked more hunch-backed so with Tom’s help we caught her (she can still run!) and put her in the pen with the skinny old sheep where it is warmer, and there is some grain supplementation. I am hoping that is just that she got chilled since she was sheared last month and she is older than some of the other sheep (that were also sheared at the same time). She is expecting so I do not wish to have anything happen to her or her lambs.
Then I noticed our guard llama Fancy’s eyes seem to be goopy again. She has been prone to eye infections that seem to come and go. At this point we chose not to catch her and administer antibiotic eye ointment. This would be a tremendous struggle so I am hoping it will just settle down on its own again.
So once again I was feeling like things were in control just to find out that they are not. Such is farming.
ANIMAL INJURY/ILLNESS UPDATE: This afternoon Cally is standing, eating, peeing and pooping. She is still shivering so will remain in the feed shed with some heat for the night. Wink is nibbling at food and seems less hunched. No changes to Fancy or Beavis as yet.
HUMAN INJURY/ILLNESS UPDATE: This is a belated entry to my own injury/illness issues that I had blogged about in the past. People occasional ask how I am doing so I thought I would do an update. As far as my “severe degenerative disc disease” goes I am still having pretty bad back pain. It seems to be worse when I have been laying down or standing still. I am also continuing to have daily intermittent severe foot pain, usually when I am sitting or bending forward. Some specialists have diagnosed me with neuropathy based on signs of axonal injury (i.e. nerve death) on my conduction studies whereas others will feel it is a radiculopathy from my back problems. Apparently nothing much can be done about any of this which is why I have not been updating much since there is not much new to report. Just trying to live with it as best I can. Aging kind of sucks.
It is amazing that people could keep their livestock alive back in the “old days” before modern medicine and ointments. Snake oil must have been a staple of the 1800’s!
Good point! A lot more animals probably suffered and died earlier then.
That DOES sound like a rough day! I hope tomorrow is better…
Thanks Nancy! Rougher for the animals affected than us. Especially Cally. I hope today is better too!
I agree Donna…aging does suck in both animals and humans.
I watch Kathy (who owns Hubbert Farms where our sheep live) take care of 40 Alpacas, horses, llama, donkeys , LGDs and the sheep. She hobbles around with her bad knee and lugs hay with her bad back. She uses her machinery alot to get around and do chores but still I don’t know how she manages. I don’t have too many problems with my back or knees and I still find it hard work!!
I think woman like you and Kathy are amazing 🙂
Amazing or stupid! I am just kidding. It sounds like Kathy is a lot tougher than I am. I still find the farm chores therapeutic though. The worst thing I can do for my health is be inactive.
Thanks for the update on how you are doing Donna. I’ve been wondering how your back was. Bad backs are the pits! I live with chronic pain too, but am fortunate to have teenagers and a husband who do the stuff I can’t do.
sorry to hear about your animal ailments. Sometimes things happen all at once. I know it does at our place. Hang in there.
Jackie
Thanks Jackie! I wasn’t sure if folks would want an update or if it seems like whining. I know a lot of people have health problems much worse than mine, but I am just trying to learn to live with what I have right now. It is funny how all the animal things happen at once. Maybe there will be a healthy animal spell for a while now?
Glad to have the update. I agree that staying active even with pain is better than just sitting. Sorry things have been rough with the animals. It really does seem like there’s always something going on with the animals. Hope everyone gets to feeling better.
Thanks Teresa! The animal stuff comes with the terrotory but does not need to come all at once. We had the vet come look at Cally. We think she cut the inside of her eye lid, and it got badly infected. It is starting to look a little better now with antibiotics injected into her eye lid and into her muscle. Beavis, Fancy and Wink all seem to be improving and no more illnesses/injuries!