Thursday, August 22, 2013

Warning: Picture Heavy Post

Lots of good pictures these last few days, so I thought I would use a few today, since I did a more serious post yesterday about the "Battle" of Blackjack. 


Here's the henspa, on it's way to being cleaned out and re-bedded. 


Bless you, Keith, for making it so easy to rake everything out onto the ground in the henyard.  Here it will be turned into more compost by the girls and boys. 
The funny thing was... I just missed taking a picture of a large snake who had come out from under the building to inspect the straw I was raking down. 


The girls began picking through the dust and straw as I was raking. 


And then dug into the fresh straw full force! 




The birds outside benefited too, as I made three piles of straw with what was left over from the bale, and they happily tore into it. 


This greeted me in the haybarn yesterday morning when I went to get the straw bale out and load it on the wagon.  Lovely.  Now I have to worry here, too. 


And another in the hay feeder in the goat yard.... lovely. 
It was bigger. 


I am ashamed to tell you I do not know my butterflies, but this beautiful creature was on the buddleia. 

Keith has now seen hummingbirds AT NIGHT 3 times in the last week! 




This amazing autumn clematis is at my neighbor Kathy's, and I took the picture when I left tomatoes there for them last night. 


Someone has been helping her mommy do chores again, and I'm so glad. 


The Khaki Campbell girls have bleached out in the summer sun this summer.  Fawni and Spice are now almost the same light color.  Cinnamon kept her darker coloring, but just barely.  Aflac is still very white, instead of yellowish. 



The Duck Pond Express is now back on the road, as of today, since we have not had rain for two weeks. 

And now, here at the end of this post, I must write about something sad. 

You may have noticed a few pictures this week of Kelly and Kody. 

And wondered where Kaycee was. 


Here is the "Little Black Brother from the Same Mother"... as I always called him, at three weeks, with his frosted ears.  It was my own little joke, because he was the largest of all the goats, and of course, from Sage, the same mother as Kody. 

You may remember that he had a terrible time last Wednesday and we had to take him to Dr. Jeanie, our vet, to have his bladder emptied. 

Thursday and Friday, he was fine, or appeared to be. 


Here he is on Friday evening, about 7:30.  He and Kody and Kelly had been playing on the deck as Keith and I talked.  He loved Keith, and kept jumping up and down off and onto his lap. 

At 10:30, I was getting ready to go to bed, and had turned the air off and opened the windows.  I went into the bathroom to brush my teeth, and heard a scream from the night.  I grabbed my flashlight, put on my shoes, and ran out there.  A shine of the spotlight into the barn showed me that Kaycee was in great distress again.  I got Keith, and we tried to manually express him, as he screamed in pain each time he tried to pee.  We were able to get only a few drops out, and had to leave the poor little thing in the barn.  

He was unable to lay down. 

I had a fitful night, worrying myself sick. 

The next morning, I woke up early and called Dr. Jeanie.  I did not know it at the time, but her phone had malfunctioned, and she only happened to see my call as she got into the shower. 

She told me to come right over. 

When we got there, she examined Kaycee, who by this time, was so full he was dripping. 

He was in pain.  

She offered to show us how to manually relieve him, but we would have had to do this several times a day.  After a discussion about the stones/crystals/urinary calculi, and the offer of contacting another vet to do the very complicated surgery to change his anatomy.... which is only 50% successful in all surgeries... a decision was made by ME to euthanize him.  Keith had already given permission.  
Dr. Jeanie suggested I donate him for her to "practice" the surgery on... but I also knew she was leaving for an overnight horseback camping trip, and could not bear to think of his being in pain all weekend. 
With every movement, his bladder was hurting. 

I stayed there with him... and this was one of the hardest things I have ever done.  I believe firmly if we have pets, we need to be with them to the end.  I just wish this poor little lovely guy had had more than 3 1/2 months.  Life is unfair, sometimes. 

We have changed the way we feed, and we are taking precautions so that neither of the other two wethers are victim to this.  We do not know if, when Kaycee was wethered, his urinary tract was left a little "weird" or if it was wet chicken feed, or genetic.  We just don't know. 

I cried out to several goat owners, including Michaele, his breeder, and Donna at Our Forest Haven, who were both kind enough to give me advice.  It was heartbreaking. 

How we miss his cheery little face! 


19 comments:

  1. Oh, Mary Ann, I am so sad for you and so sad for Kaycee. He was such a darling. I always loved the pictures of him. I know it hurt you both to see him in such pain. I hurt to think of you there with him, holding him until the last. I'll miss him too.

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  2. Oh gosh Mary Ann I didn't know about little Kacey ...what a hard week for everyone. I agree with you about being their in the end for our pets. I know it is not a decision for everyone, but for myself I feel it is right although very very painful. I stayed with Trudie cos I thought I owed her that much considering she never had anyone else love her in her whole wide world until she came to live with us. It about killed me though so I can imagine what you went through also. I hope that you nor I will need to do that for a long long long time.

    I cannot believe all the snakes you have on your farm, I know they help keep the mouse population down for you tho....ewwww....you are so brave.

    I am so glad that the weekend is almost here for both of us!
    Stella Rose's Momma

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  3. Oh, this makes me very sad. So glad you were there with him. He was such a cutie pie!

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  4. This is really sad Mary Ann. I hate that happened. I don't want to see them suffering either. Sometimes we just have to make those hard decisions.

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  5. i am so sorry to hear this. but, you couldn't let him be in pain. so sad! i wouldn't mind if a few of those snakes got urinary tract infections!!!

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  6. So very sorry to hear about Kaycee, you and Keith did the right thing by this little man, the last great service we can do for our animal friends. Sending you hugs of sympathy from across the pond xxx

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  7. I share your pain many times over about loosing pets, both young and old. Are those Milk Snakes?

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  8. Mary Ann,

    It's a very hard decision to make but if it prevents the animal from suffering, it must be made. Especially if there's nothing more that can be done.
    Beautiful pictures and memories.

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  9. I am sorry about Kaycee it is always hard loosing a pet even if they have only been in your life for a short time but you did the right thing......Yikes all those snakes!!

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  10. I am so very sorry Mary Ann. It is terrible, but some things just can't be fixed and when that happens it is up to us to make sure our beloved animals don't suffer. I know you did the right thing, terrible as it is. My prayers are with you and little Kaycee.

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  11. Oh Mary Ann, I am so sorry about Kaycee. These little goats sure get into our hearts. You did the right thing. Poor little guy couldn't be left to suffer. (((HUGS))) to you both.

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  12. You have been incredible stoic to hold this in all week, Mary Ann. I'm sure both your hearts are broken; the high price of loving. (((HUGS)))

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  13. Ohhh Mary Ann! So terribly sorry! You did the right thing - you don't want the animals to suffer any more than our own children. Pain is Pain - whether two legged or four legged. I hope the other goats will be ok!! God Bless!

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  14. ((HUGS)) I am soo sorry to hear about Kaycee. I cried a little for him. I love reading the posts of your goats and the little things they do. I was heartbroken when my Gracie passed, so I understand how you must feel. They might not be human, but our animals are still part of our families and we mourn for them the same

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  15. Oh, no! I am so sorry but all pet owners and farmers know, we do lose a few. It is never easy. All we can do is comfort them in the end. He had a good happy life with you.

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  16. Oh poor little Kaycee. He was the cutest little thing. But at least he is no longer in pain.

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  17. I just love all your animals they are beautiful, Im sorry about the poor little goat.

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  18. So sorry you lost your little goat. I know that must have been hard. I've had to euthanize a few of my pets too. But knowing it was the best thing for them made it some easier.

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  19. You have my love and deepest sympathies... as I said, it just sucks. The girls looking very happy with all their new bedding. Sweet pictures.

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