the goddess of ignorant bliss.
it doesn't matter what we devote our lives to...the very first steps will be enshrouded in fog.
i remember being a new grad nurse and thinking i knew it all...hey man, i scored almost 600 on my registration exams! 20 years later, i am a much better nurse, now i know that i actually know very little...but i know where to find what i need.
i remember my first steps into rescue...sheesh...i had all the answers. until i learned that the answers, not only are endless but none of them actually apply to current need.
i remember each time i took on a new species...first dogs...then cats (i wasn't kidding when i said that i did not have a clue about FIV or FeLV)...then bunnies, guineas, and our very first sheep. her name was eunice...(i got to learn how to stick my arm thru her chest wall, follow the tract along her ribcage, right up to my elbow and debride the necrotic tissue in there)
next came the first pot belly pig...wilbur. and then the first horse...gideon...then came chickens and ducks, donkeys, llamas, cows, goats and princess farm pigs.
i have worked thru laminitis, colic, lymphodema, heart disease, neurological paralysis, nutrition and crippling arthritis on farm animals and multi-system failures, cancers, thyroid/adrenal/auto-immune disorders/diseases on companion animals too. i can't even count the funky surgeries i nursed these guys thru... i bet i am one of the few people (besides janice ) in local rescue who cradled a post-op and critically ill farm pig thru the night. i can give cats enemas, cut the teeth of malocclusive mouths, i can do laser light accupressure on spinal dogs, dysplagic dogs and dogs with paralysed esophagus's too. i can trim away dead tissue deep inside the cavity wounds, i can do injections now to dogs, cats, rabbits, horses, sheep and pigs and i can sometimes with the ones i do alot, even calculate the dosages. (no llama shots yet tho...i think carl would rather i not learn that) i have bottle fed day old kittens, starving calves and even orphaned raccoons, i can force feed anything, including baby pigeons and i can teach them to fly too, i have fed animals thru feeding tubes and cleaned and dressed the spiked pins and halos surgically holding hips together, and applied collagen to open and exposed ligaments to help them to heal...i even know how to pull a thousand pound cow up to her chest by grabbing her nose and her tail! i have dealt with furry mental illness and animals with personality disorders, eating disorders, drinking disorders, inapppropriate elimination disorders...and just plain disordered disorders.
and what is my point here? well it is two fold. one is to let people know that just because you are new at something, does not mean that you can't learn (and pretty damn quick too) how to build an extensive and practical knowledge base to help you do whatever it is you need to do.
and to share with you the other things i have learned too...
cows only look innocent.
pigs are smarter than most people.
happy sheep are fat.
horses like to trick humans.
goats use their horns like pry bars, they can pull plywood right off the walls.
all animals can and do talk, we just don't know how to listen.
chickens know the difference between their regular food in your right hand and the treat in your left.
dogs are game to try anything that you are...but if it is determined to be to their disadvantage, they'll let you do it alone.
cats want? cats get...cats don't want? watch out for the pissed off cat.
and even sweet little bunnies can kick your ass.