Rescue Journal

what a nice barn evening tonight.

Alison  ·  Oct. 7, 2006

jean came and helped me soak spritely's leg (mo, i wrapped it in warm wet towels instead of the bucket, that gross water from her dirty hoof was just too much for me today, that just screams against clean technique!) Spritely was wonderful, i think she was happy that there was no needle poking going on tonight (she is finished with the lasix) the vet is coming early tomorrow morning and is going to try injecting antibiotics straight into the vessels in her leg. he told me tonight on the phone that if we cannot get this worked out soon, that foot will be lost and so will she. normally she is a bit of a prima donna, a tiny bit pushy and self centered. these last couple of days, i am sure she knows how hard we are trying to help her and she is being soo good and cooperative to make it as easy as possible. what a lovely, lovely girl.

petunia sat up and patiently waited for her melba toasts tonight, she seems so content with how things have turned around in her life. even when i was pushing her a little bit to let me touch her and brush her (she was really just interested in her evening toast, not warm and fuzzy moments) she barely mumbled her disgruntled complaints. and this afternoon she actually rolled over onto her side and let me gently brush her belly. i think tunie is going to do really well here once we can get her up and walking better. janice is coming on monday to shave some more off those feet. bet she gets lot's of melba toast on monday!

carl decided to be stubborn about bed tonight and made jean and i wait for like 10 minutes before he sauntered into the barn. lately he has been taking carrots from my fingers and i was happy to see him take one from jean tonight too.

for those of you who have never had a chance to spend a part of an evening in a happy barn with everyone tucked into bed for the night...if you ever get the chance, grab it. the barn animals are so different our usual assorted animal companion friends and yet, there is a peace and tranquility around them when they are well cared for and content.

even with the current worry about spritely and her leg, i find it fascinating and incredibly touching that spritely is not worried, she is at peace and she trusts us to take care of her no matter what. it was a very nice evening in the barn tonight, i think i want to move out there and live with them. now i know why farm hands lived in the barn in the olden days, it was a nice place to live.

Comments

Carol

ok why didn't i think of washing it off first??!! is being incredibly stupid with the simplist of problems a sign of early alzheimers or dementia? good lord, you guys may be soon babysitting me and feeding me cookies/pizza while i happily fall off a cliff or into a pond and need someone to pull me out.
of course the question is really, will you like me as much as jack and let me stay here and pee on the bed once in awhile like she does...hmm? more deep thoughts to worry about. or maybe this is another scarlett ohara tomorrow worry.

Karen

Hi Carol, we just went thru a hoof abcess with Rupert our donkey, and had to do the epsom salts soak thing. We soaked his hoof/leg clean in a bucket of warm water with liquid Dial soap and then did the epsom salts bucket. As long as we fed him a constant supply of apple slices while he was soaking, he'd stand forever. Hope all will be well with Spritely soon.

Jean

LOL - okay, now I get it! See, you really do have to spell it out for me, step by step. (And don't forget to write out the new instructions for the animals' feed/meds for tomorrow night).
I'll try not to get myself trampled to death by over-zealous donkeys and horses. You have enough messes to clean up around there without adding my blood and guts to it.

Carol

nooooooooo...don't put food down until AFTER the horses and donkeys are shut in their stalls!! holy smoke you will have a free for all and i will find you either trampled to death or hanging from the rafters upside down and permanently damaged beyond repair!
horses and donkeys shut and locked in their stalls first, ignore the sheep...THEN once the trouble makers are safely stashed...get the sheep food and they will happily all follow you to bed. wow, don't scare me like that! sheesh.

Jean

Oh, I agree Carol! The barn is the most peaceful, warm, wonderful place to be especially at night with the darkness outside and the soft snuffling of the animals inside.

However, I'm glad Carol wasn't there to see me trying to get the animals into the barn in the first place - she would have had another good laugh at my expence. I guess I haven't quite got the role of traffic cop (and the trick with the stall doors) down pat yet. Spritely decided to follow Winston into the donkey stall, which left no room for Jenny who looked quite indignent and after a moment's confusion decided to go into Spritely's stall. Meanwhile, sheep number one went into the sheep stall and while I was trying to get sheep numbers two and three in, number one popped back out and ran down to visit Petunia, which did not impress Princess Piggy. As I quickly moved to coax number one away from the piggy, numbers two and three ran back out......and on it went.

Carol told me afterward that I should have put their food down first, but the last time I did that the darn donkeys tried to eat everybody's feed but their own!

Eventually everyone was in the correct stall, and more quickly than the last time I put them to bed so I guess I'm getting the hang of it. And the animals were really very nice about my incompetence - I'm quite sure they were playing a game with me.

One other thing: my arrival at SAINTS this evening was heralded by...silence...ominous silence. The donkeys were in the backyard again, busy trashing the place. We really must get a padlock for that gate!