Sunday, June 1, 2014

I should have been a vet!

Here at Triple K, we have 3 different vets. First, we have our small animal vet, that takes care of our dogs & cats. Then we have our large animal vet, that cares for all the farm animals except  horses. Which means I have a horse vet.  

A few months ago I had J.D fixed and completed all his puppy shots. While he was there they noticed he had an ear infection. That met that 2 x a day I had to put drops in his ears.  J.D. was not a fan of this. I got to wrestle with the 65 lb puppy (who knew that the cute little 4 lb pup that I rescued last fall was going to be such a big boy) twice a day. Then it was time for Carter & Miley to have their spring shots and  Ryder our cat also need shots. An office visit is $35 per animal, even if you bring them together. Plus shots, plus flea/tick meds, and  then of course the dogs need heartworm meds.  J.D still had ear problems so he had to go back in. This time I had to clean his ears once a day, wait an hour after cleaning,  than apply different ear drops 2 x a day. Now, we get to wrestle 3 times a day for ten days! Let's just say I have spent a small fortune on these pets this spring. Good thing I love them.

Now, let's talk about my large animal vet. They have a call charge of $40 plus they charge by the minute. For example I will get charged 20 minutes of professional time, plus a call charge, plus supplies. S'more my goat has a skin condition that my vet has looked at several times. Our best guess is it's a vitamin deficiency that was brought on by pregnancy, because she is getting better now that she had the kids. If he is here for any reason he checks  on S'more. I've  had a lamb with a sore leg. She has an abscess that I was cleaning twice a day. It's been a month, it's all healed, and we don't know what else to do or why she is limping.  Kent (vet) joked that he never knows what he's going to find to challenge him at Triple K (he researched skin conditions in goats trying to come up with a diagnose). I told him, he should be paying me for the education. These guys are great. I can call & they will give me advice over the phone with no charge. I've had them swing in to drop off something, quickly look at my animal on their way home, or on a Saturday. As I said, they don't do horses. Glen (vet) was here a few weeks ago (dehorning goat kids) & I begged him to check my pony (more on that next paragraph). I promised she wouldn't kick or bite, and he did. They really are nice guys!

Keely is my horse vet. I've had her as long as I've had horses. She treated our old horse Dee when she had Potomac horse fever. Dee should have went to the animal hospital but I couldn't afford it, so Keely helped me treat her at home, and she survived.  I love Keely. Now, here's my pony story. The ponies  had been out to pasture for 3 days. I saw them every day, everyone looked good. When I brought them in I noticed Nancy had something on her leg (6 pm on a Friday! Think emergency call charge). When I bent down to look, I noticed she had a huge nasty cut. It was on her belly right where her leg connects (think armpit). It looked awful, infected, and a few days old, but she wasn't even limping. I called Keely and she told me to send her a picture (gotta love technology). Then she called me back & told me how to clean/care for it and to put her on penicillin for a few days. Then we made an appointment for her to come a week later & do spring shots. All the horses needed spring shots, but we definitely wanted to give Nancy  an updated tetanus. Her cut was 6 inches long with a huge chunk of hanging skin, and at least an inch deep. I have pics, but will spare you! Happy to report Nancy is all healed & doing great.

Let's just re-cap what my days looked like, because yes, this was all at once! Go to barn and catch lamb to flush her leg with an iodine solution. They catch Nancy who is 33 inches tall. Get on all fours & crawl under her to flush her wound,  spray with a antibacterial spray, and lastly a special fly spray for wounds. Go home to clean J.D.'s ears...wait an hour than put in his drops. Repeat again at night.

Once again, we are Livin' the Dream here @ Triple K ...and several hundred dollars poorer! 

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