Majestic Diary

April 24, 2013

I know... I know... I've been away from the diary pages for a while, but in my defense Young Jeffrey prolapsed again and Tricia has been very ill.

Every morning and every evening Young Jeffrey gets Vaseline to help and occasionally if it lasts more than two days, he gets a Rimadyl to help reduce any swelling. He also spends an occasional day or two in quarantine away from all those beautiful ladies of his who are causing all the excitement. I made him a special hay nest and he has his kiddie pool. I visit him throughout the day, so he's not lonely and we talk about all sorts of things like rain and puddles and the worms that can be found in them. He's also having a lot of trouble with his hip arthritis, so he's back on his weekly injections of Adequan. This weekend was his third dose and I'm starting to see some improvement, thank heavens.

And then there's Tricia. A couple weeks ago on a Friday Isabel noticed she didn't want to be petted, which is not like Tricia, but I figured she was probably upset because she stopped laying eggs that week and wasn't allowed to have a baby. But the next day she wouldn't eat her lettuce treats, which is not like her at all, so I started her on antibiotics and brought her to the vet as soon as they opened. Her blood work showed a slightly elevated white cell count, but aside from that, all looked well. When the vet palpated her tummy, she was clearly upset and uncomfortable. Our suspicion is that she ate something that disagreed with her--possibly algae bloom. Our stream is a watershed that comes down through multiple ponds above us. We can't control what might come down stream into our pens, so we always have to be watchful.

We gave her three treatments of activated charcoal for three days and switched her over to a stronger antibiotic (Clavamox). I also began syringe feeding her since she stopped eating. This time our vet had us use Iams High Calorie wet kitty food instead of A/D mixed with Ensure, Critical Care and a healthy dose of probiotics (Manna Feast in the a.m. / Avi-Culture in the p.m.). Every night at bedtime I gave her a pain pill to help her sleep--a vital part of her recovery is REST.

She went back for a check up after two weeks because while I felt she was improving, I was worried that she hadn't recovered fully yet. But... the vet checked her out and she didn't mind him touching her belly this time, so he prescribed more antibiotics. Thankfully, she's finally eating again and getting towards normal--although not entirely. She's getting there though. She has another day or two on meds and then we'll stop.

And here she is on the pond today looking pretty bright eyed. She's swimming with the others again (rather than standing on shore all day or hiding in her duck house).

I love her in this photo with Miss Sunny the koi fish... both sharing some Mazuri pellets for lunch.

Billy-cha opted for a swim today!

While Bella watched from Benny's Beach Cottage...

Meanwhile in the other pens... Bonnie Bonster was bug hunting:

While Piper-doo cautiously followed Mercy-lulu out the door with me for some chaperoned foraging in the grass (perfect for Mercy's diet).

And Laddy and WeeBit hang around their pond...

And Rilo relaxes...

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