Remember Gabe?

Gabe's people sent me a couple of photos of him last week.  He is still doing well there and is much loved.  He is also sleek, fit and gorgeous.

And since he no longer has any opportunity to play Donkey Bowling, he mostly stays out of trouble.

Looking good Big Guy!

In the Woods

Good News/Inconclusive News

The vet was out this afternoon to see Ramsey.  The good news is that we couldn't find any sign of life-threatening problems.  The coffin bone shows no signs of reinfection or fracture. The coffin bone that he does have is in great shape.  The dark blotches that are visible on the right, near the hoof wall are the areas of poor wall connection that I have pared out trying to drain this abscess.  The 'bite' taken out of the coffin bone is what was removed at Cornell when he had surgery.

The vet was very happy with how I am trimming his foot.  Her words were "an absolutely amazing job", which was nice to hear.  Up until this week, I had been feeling very good about how his feet look these days.

The one thing we did not find is a clear area of infection or an easy fix.  There is no track that we can follow to drain the abscess.  I am generally adamantly opposed to draining abscesses from the bottom of the hoof, but with the missing coffin bone and poor wall connection in that area, Ramsey is always at a much higher risk of a repeated bone infection, which would likely be the end of him.  If we could have isolated the infection, we could have tried draining it.  I know that it is in his heel and I think that is why it just won't rupture.  It is hiding out, deep in the soft tissue at the back of the foot and because the tissue is so soft in that area it just "makes room" for the abscess rather that forcing it to find a way out and finally heal.  I think that the shadow I've outlined below may be the infection, hiding in amongst the most vital and sensitive of tissues.  That is definitely the area where all the pain is.

The only thing to do is to keep trying to draw it out.  I've changed my approach to that today.  I have been soaking, wrapping and using Magic Cushion.  Tonight, I packed the foot with a sugar-dine poultice instead.  That is just a mixture of sugar and betadine mixed together to form a paste.  It is a strong antiseptic that will also draw moisture out of the foot, hopefully bringing the abscess with it.

On another positive note....Since she was here with the x-ray machine, I had her take a new film of the fetlock.  I wrote here in some detail about what Ramsey's foot looked like at this time last year and the arthritis he had developed at that time.  We didn't see any sign of arthritic changes today however and the sesamoid bone (that knob on the right) is much smoother looking.  Goes to show that, if caught early and treated right, arthritis can heal.

Now, if we can just this this darned abscess to pop without causing any other damage, he'll be in good shape.

Nothing Simple

On Monday, Ramsey came up lame on his bad foot.  He presented with all the classic signs of a hoof abscess and that is what I am still hoping it ends up being.  However, this is Ramsey and this is Ramsey's bad foot - there is no such thing as a "simple" abscess given his history, missing coffin bone and anatomical issues resulting from it. 

Most abscesses resolve themselves in 3-5 days.  Tomorrow will be day 6 and, unless there is dramatic improvement overnight, the vet will be here in the afternoon to take x-rays. 

I have been checking Ramsey's temperature multiple times per day.  Normal for him is 98.7 - 99.9.  When his temp edged up to 100.5 (which is still within 'normal' range) I put him on antibiotics.  He was back to 99.7 as of ten minutes ago.  Possibly paranoid, but I'm not willing to take the chance and I know what normal is for Ramsey.  If it is the beginnings of a fever, the earlier I start the antibiotics, the more likely they are to work.  "Within Normal Range" is just that, a range, which is why it is so important to go out and take your critter's temperature when it is healthy and happy. 

Ramsey is bright eyed, not terribly depressed and has a good appetite so I am still hoping that I will go out in the morning and find some sign that this abscess is going to rupture on its own.  I will let you all know what happens.

This Again

I'll let you all know how we make out.  For now....

.....pardon me while I go find a big tree to bang my head against. 

Rotten Little Thief

Donkeys may be big and tough, but Border Collies are sneaky, patient little thieves. 

They think and plan and plot and scheme.

And at just the right moment, when no one is looking, they sneak in and steal the prize.  Oh, the delight of stolen treasures!

A stolen prize is so much more fun than one given freely.

Once stolen, the rotten little thief will spend the rest of his days guarding the treasure and defending his hoard.  It will take a mighty knight to wrest this gem away from the dragon now.

"Mine!"

Through a Different Lens

These are some of the photos that TheCrazySheepLady took when she was here a couple of weeks ago.  She has a really good camera and a good eye to go with it, she takes some great photos.

Little Connor is growing so fast that these already look like 'baby' pictures.

The most interesting thing for me is seeing everyone through someone else's lens.

We managed a very short donkey walk with the most last-minute-cobbled-together hunting wear contraption I've ever inflicted on my poor donkeys.  Every year, I swear I'm going to be prepared and make them some proper safety wear and every year I find myself tying scraps of blaze orange onto lung suffering critters with baling twine.

They put up with it with fairly good grace.  Emma and Ramsey were a bit unsure about it all at first, which surprised me a little until I realized that this was the first time they had ever gone out with a new person and a strange dog.  Just about the time we had to head home, they all settled down and relaxed.  A few nibbles of yummy rotted stump certainly helped.

Thanks for the photos Sara, hopefully we'll get a chance to go out for a real donkey walk sometime.