So I started my morning by feeding 15 horses. That's right, 15. My two, the farm I am pet sitting at (6) and Dr. Wiles' 6 horses- whew! We got out on the road around nine thirty for appointments, starting to the North of the office and moving steadily South throughout the day. We began by heading up to littlestown for a re-check on a foot abscess for a donkey. Now we always call people and give them at least a half hour notice- the reasoning being that they can catch the animal and have it secured and waiting when we get there. This actually happens about half the time... the rest of the time we get there and have to wait for the owners to find the animal, chase the animal, maybe catch the animal and drag it to us. This is why vets always run late! This was the case today- The two donkeys did not want to be caught, especially the one with the foot abscess. He had been having his bandage redone every couple of days by the owner and he was not having any of it. So Doc, Ms. S and I stood in the corner waiting while the 50 year old man and his 20 something son chased around two miniature donkeys, while their australian sheep dog chased the donkeys (and was chased by the donkeys in turn) in the opposite direction. 15 minutes later they finally dragged him to us, one man on the head, the other pushing from behind. Not the most graceful entry.
Upon re-examining the foot, Doc found yet another abscess developing on the opposite corner of the hoof than the one currently being treated. Hoof abscesses are basically little pockets of bacteria that normally get jammed up right inside the hoof wall,whether due to founder issues, bad cracks or sharp objects, and the pocket continues to grow and smell and ooze, becoming very painful and tender. Sometimes they will come out the top of the horses hoof around the coronary band before an owner notices them; sometimes they will be really shallow and just forming and the horse will be dead lame. It all depends on the horse's sensitivity. Doc excavates them with a bone curette, cleans them out, and bandages the hoof to prevent more bacteria and dirt from getting in.
Once we finished with the donkey, we headed back to the farm with the foal to give it another dose of oxytetracycline. It seemed to be doing fine, with no bad side effects, though we took some blood to make sure all it's levels were stable. Our next appointment was two really nice older women who have a barn together, and a total of 4 horses. They all just needed routine floats, sheath cleanings and vaccinations, so we took care of that. The women were a hoot and kept all of us laughing with their ribald comments and amusing notes about their horses and each other. They are definitely the best of friends with a shared passion for riding. That was the longest chunk of our time, taking about 2.5 hours total to get the four of them done.
Finally we headed to do a re-check on a horse that had been put on a long-term painkiller, Previcox. She has very bad arthritis and is almost always lame and stiff, just from old age and the fact that she had been worked hard in her early days. After about a week on the Previcox she looked like an entirely different horse, moving much better with the stress and worry taken from her face (yes, horses show stress and worry on their faces). One of the things you have to be careful with with Previcox is that it is made for dogs, but since it is much less expensive than Equiox (made for horses), many people choose it. A big side effect is liver failure, and Doc informed me that an easy way to tell if a horse is having liver problems, especially a paint horse, is that they will burn in the sun and their white spots will become pinkish. Photosensitivity. Cool, huh?
Three eggs consistently now!
~Rich With Life~
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