Kenobi's been quarantined!

Monday afternoon while I was out doing my weekly shopping Don called to tell me Kenobi's lump had ruptured. This upset me terribly as I was hoping to get her to the vet and have it lanced before that happened. She's now quarantined in the dog kennel by the house and not very happy about it. I know she misses Obi and Juan, but it's best they be separated for a few days while we care for her wound.

When Don found her he tried to clean up the ruptured abscess as best he could. From what he told me, Kenobi put up a good fight (he chased her around for 30 minutes...usually she's underfoot) and was quite vocal in her protests. This did not sit well with Obi and Juan who began butting Don in the, well, butt. This made any kind of doctoring quite difficult. I have to admit, I wish I'd been home to see it as Don's description gave me the giggles.

Don took Kenobi to the vet where they lanced the abscess and cleaned it out. The vet hasn't done any tests, but says it looks like CL (Caseous Lymphadenitis) a horrid bacterium that has no cure. It affects the lymph system and is highly contagious, hence the necessary quarantine. You can read more about it here: http://www.aces.edu/pubs/docs/U/UNP-0085/ if you'd like.

I am hoping that it isn't CL and is just an abscess due to a small wound or insect bite. Goats are notorious for such abscesses. If it is CL the other goats have already been exposed due to it rupturing in the goat pen. Makes me sick, but there's no sense in beating myself up over it. The vet told me not to bring Kenobi in until the lump softened so I waited...waited until it was to late.

Fortunately, other than the abscess Kenobi got a good bill of health. She's a nice 57 pounds, is clear eyed, eating well, etc. Vet says she'll be fine. I won't be able to breed her or use her as a milk goat, but that's okay. Obi, Juan and Kenobi will just be pets...like dogs with hooves that "baaaaaa" instead of bark!

Poor little girls!

As I mentioned yesterday, we've been having a lot of health issues. I was found to have a dangerously low Vitamin D level and am currently on a once a week mega dose for 10 weeks. I was quite surprised to learn that low levels of Vitamin D will not only cause softening of bone tissue, but also causes depression and anxiety disorders.

On top of dealing with that, I went out on the front porch a couple weeks ago to discover my cat, Siobhan, had lost all the flesh and hair from most of her tail! The vet called it "degloving" and poor Siobhan had to have all but a couple inches of her tail amputated. When she came home the day after surgery she looked like she had a breakfast sausage stuck to her rear end!

The stitches came out on Wednesday and now that the hair is starting to grow back she has less of a sausage tail and more of a bob tail (thank goodness).

We also took our two youngest pets, Aislainn and Possum, to be spayed. We are very strong supporters of spaying/neutering as we know firsthand the problem our country has with excess pets and the issues that go along with that - abandoned/dumped pets and the diseases they carry and spread, etc. So off they went on Tuesday afternoon to get fixed. Poor things had to spend the night at the vet's since he was not able to get to them until Wednesday morning, but both were able to come home that afternoon, albeit a little woozy still.

Little Miss Aislainn (right) put up quite a fuss at the vet's office. We were told that she was even nipping at them (which didn't really surprise us...she likes to get her way) and being quite uncooperative. Aislainn has been a sad little lamb since coming home. She spent Wednesday evening napping on our bed and has been very uncomfortable. I've never seen a dog behave the way she does and think it must be her stitches. She'll get comfy and suddenly jump up like a bee stung her. My guess is that a stitch pokes her or she has a pain. I feel very bad for Aislainn and will be happy when she is back to being perky.

Possum has been quite another story. She was a meek little lamb at the vet's which surprised us because she is the Devil's spawn at home and reverted right back to her evil ways once the drugs wore off. They must have done her surgery after Aislainn's because Possum was still pretty out of it when she got home. In fact, she's still sleeping more than normal (and that's saying a lot for a cat). I don't think she's been off Don's computer chair in two days unless he's home and moves her elsewhere. Poor Possum, we will really miss her antics when she was in heat, which seemed to be every other week!

At least the other critters have been sympathetic, as well they should considering they've all been through the same thing! Last night Possum snuggled with Darcy. I've never seen Possum snuggled up with anyone! Darcy, however, is a different story. She loves to snuggle!

Aislainn decided to snuggle with her big sister Maggie who is an excellent snuggler, by the way. Even I like to snuggle with Maggie!

I'm still keeping an eye on one ailing critter. My goat Kenobi has a golf ball size lump in her throat just below her jaw. Now, I know she didn't swallow a golf ball because Don and I don't play golf. I wanted to take her to the vet when the others went, but decided to call first as I didn't know if the livestock vet would prefer to come out to the house. Kenobi is a great rider, so transporting her wouldn't have been a problem. However, the vet told me to just keep an eye on it and as soon as the golf ball softened up to bring her in and they'll lance it. He said it's a common thing in goats and to not worry.

HA...easier said than done!