Last Sunday I went to the barn and realized quickly that something wasn’t quite right with Keil Bay, so I called the vet and as I had feared, he was having a choke episode. I’ve been through one sedated tubing through the nose to clear the blockage with our sweet old mare Salina years back. Hers was in the middle of the night and seems surreal in my memory at this point.
Keil is 29 and I’ve only ever had to call the vet a few times for him. Twice for corneal scratches, once when he embedded a small twig under the skin on his neck, and once for a very small cut on a hind leg. I was very stressed. Initially he presented with a cough but between the time I called the vet and she arrived 40 minutes later he had become agitated, was coughing much more frequently, and clearly wanted me to Do Something Now.
My daughter noted when she got home and came to join me at the barn that the blockage was visible on the exterior of his neck. She gently massaged him until the vet arrived and that helped him settle down.
The tubing was nightmarish. The first attempt was difficult and his nose started bleeding copious amounts of blood. I went from almost in tears to my “emergency in progress, go into robotic calm mode” status and between me, by daughter, the vet, and sedation, got the block cleared. In the midst of it, with all of us covered in blood, Keil turned and gave me the stink eye. I think that’s when I realized he was going to be just fine.
He’s on two weeks of SMZs and is doing fine. The first 24 hours after the choke he got many soupy meal tubs and no hay, but was allowed to graze with his herd. He has since moved on to regular tubs with an extra meal mid-day and his regular hay (but we’re wetting it down). All is well, and he’s got a regular check up in another week so the vet can go over him generally and just make sure everything is okay.
Otherwise, we had half an inch of rain this week, nicely supplementing my hand-watering of the beds, and now we’re back to sunny and cooler weather, which is wonderful. I harrowed the arena today, did some work in the back field, and got up a lot of acorns. It’s time to spread lime pellets and overseed in the next couple of weeks.
Life has been busy and a little stressful, partly due to Keil’s choke and partly due to the goings-on in DC. What a week.
billie hinton’s camera-obscura:
life and lessons on November Hill Farm
4 comments:
I’m happy to hear that Keil is going to be fine. It’s scary and stressful when there’s something wrong and you don’t know how everything is going to turn out. It has been a stressful week otherwise too. I’m sure they’ll find a way to get him pushed through to foul the court up for decades to come. On a better note good to hear the weather is cooperating for all the farm projects.
Thanks. I had flashes of the bloody mess half the night that night. And right before bed when I was drinking my usual glass of water I CHOKED on it!
Ugh, the court and him on it. I watched some of his hearing in the barn while mucking and Keil came and planted his big face in front of my phone, ears pricked, and watched too. I still can’t believe that man’s demeanor answering questions. He shouldn’t even be an appellate judge, much less a SC one.
I.agree. By the time the republicans got done catering to him and their base you’d think he was Mother Teresa. Nobody’s asked the question...why would she lie when she has nothing to gain? Anyway, I could go on but in the interest of my sanity I’ll stop and try to realize the swamp will be gaining one more slug to pollute the D.C. mess.
My new motto is: we women need to take over and take names. NOW.
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