Monday, December 12, 2016

Legs and Whiskers

Chili is in there on the far left.  There are actually three horses in this photo.









Taking care of Donni's leg has still been a daily task.  My work schedule has shifted around this week so instead of working 2nd shift, I am starting out the week at 7 which isn't too bad, except my drive is taking about an hour and a half due to snowy conditions.  See above.  ;)

The past day or so, my cat Squeaky has not been her usual squeaky self.  She does have periods of eating inappropriate items and then cyclic vomiting, when usually resulted in a dehydrated cat, which I typically solved by running subcutaneous fluids.  Probably not the most elegant ways of handling things, but it was OK and we got things done.


I'm just breaking up the texts with a Chili video from the other night

Well, Squeaky has been off and just lethargic.  No obnoxious cat just constantly squeaking each time I was in the kitchen, or the bathroom, or just standing around in general.  She just mostly lay on the back of the couch.  I had been making a wet food slurry to coax her to eat, bringing it to her perch princess style.



After talking to my husband while I was at work, I was disappointed to hear that Squeaky had not perked up.  Her historic bouts of feeling ill in the past were typically short lived, so then I decided to see if I could get an appointment squeezed in after work.

The clinic I used is still fairly new to me, so I think the poor tech was probably taken aback on how direct I was in that I thought she probably needed an appointment sooner than later and that I wanted a complete blood count and a chemistry panel run, in addition to whatever the vet's line of reasoning was.

So, I managed to leave work a little bit early, scooped up the cat, and off we went.  He doesn't think it's a foreign body as she's just lethargic and not vomiting at this point and time.  His line is thought is tracking more some kind of respiratory thing.  She has a borderline high temp 102.5.  For this cat, yes, that is high. 

I haven't met this veterinarian before and he was fine. Very cursory, not very appreciative of any of my input, but then again, it's so much like dating to gain any kind of working relationship with a medical professional.  I love some of the trust and give and take with my equine veterinarians. 

Short plan is CBC & Chemistry panels drawn and results should be back tomorrow.  Injectable antibiotics apparently because he believes that all patient compliance is quite low.  Sure, in a typical situation, but good grief, my compliance is 100% given that used to be my job.  ;) 

But we are back home and Squeaky is a little perkier so that's a plus.

Then I turned around and went out to the barn to take care of Donni...



I ended up emailing back and forth with that veterinarian today, since it can sometimes be hard to get on the phone while actually at work.  Donni has been dragging her toe on the injured leg which was concerning.  The last wrap change was on Saturday morning and the leg was bleeding again and had some drainage. 

It's hard not to go from 0 to 100% panic at times, even though I really know better.  So I took some photos, which I suppose I won't share because leg injuries are kind of gross, but it's good for following progress. 

Current new plan with the vet is more stall rest, back on bute to reduce inflammation to hopefully stop the toe dragging, keep checking drainage to see if it's purulent discharge, and to continue the antibiotics. 

Poor horse.  Good thing is maybe she won't mind being inside a while longer while it's artic subzero temperatures for the rest of the week.

I did end up trying out the new equi flexsleeves tonight.  She is starting to stock up quite a bit from having been inside a week now.  Let's see how the socks work.  They are quite simple and easy to put on, so I'm hopeful.  Theoretically they can go over an injury as well, so maybe after Donni grows some hair back and stops bleeding each time her wraps get changed, we can just use the sleeves instead of layers and layers of wrap materials. 

But I'm about due for a change of luck...I hope.  A few too many bills in a short period of time, especially during this time of year. 


1 comment:

  1. I'm glad that Squeaky perked up and I hope the socks help with Donni's stocking up and that she's starting to heal up nicely.

    ReplyDelete

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