| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| cajungal |
Posted - Jan 14 2010 : 5:37:35 PM
As I was sharing on another topic about how a lot of farmers have to do their own vet care of their animals, it made me wonder what all y'all have done yourselves?
I actually have a story from today..... A hawk tried to take off with one of my hens and the dogs thwarted the hawk's whole plan. But, the hen has some puncture wounds (easy enough to put antibiotic on) and a five inch long slice in her skin across her back. So, today I did chicken skin stitches for the first time!
So, what things have you done yourself?
One of the best compliments from one of my daughters: "Moma, you smell good...like dirt." |
| 22 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| kristin sherrill |
Posted - Mar 19 2010 : 07:14:26 AM
Oh my goodness Catherine. How sad. I don't know if I could have done that. You are a true farmgirl! I'm so sorry you lost the doe though. But that was good of the other rabbit to take those two. That's kind of the way I feel. What's 2 more anyway? Good for her.
Kris
Happiness is simple. |
| cajungal |
Posted - Mar 18 2010 : 8:03:30 PM
Today I performed an emergency c-section on a rabbit!!!
My daughter raises rabbits for show, meat and for sale. This rabbit doe was one of the older ones that has had many litters. Like clockwork she went into labor on her due date, today. We just happened to be by the cage when she pushed the first one out. Then she went into convulsions and flipped over on her back and was dead! We couldn't believe what was happening. I checked again and she was "still" dead.
I looked at my daughter and asked, "Do you want me to try to save the others?" She said yes. My other daughter said, "I can't watch this" and she went to hold baby goats.
There were 7 other babies still in the mom and our efforts saved the next one to be born. I wish we could've save all of them. BUT in reality they wouldn't have survived...... we have only one other nursing doe right now and she could only take a few more. So, the two we gave her were accepted into the nest and are nursing now.
One of the best compliments from one of my daughters: "Moma, you smell good...like dirt." |
| Downhome CountryGirl |
Posted - Jan 22 2010 : 11:15:48 AM
Well ladies I have another to add to my list on what I have don't and I must say this one I think tops my list for sure. I've been posting on my nubian (Raisenette) about her rectal prolapse and all that I've tried well none of it had worked so I had to go to more extended measures she got her tailend stitched up yesterday and might I say that it is holding just fine today. I was on pins and needles but she bless her heart let me do it. I always wanted to be a vet growing up I think I could still do it if it wasn't for the 10 years of college. LOL |
| Rea231 |
Posted - Jan 22 2010 : 06:56:41 AM
I have stitched a few horses thru the years but I can't imagine a chicken unless it would be to hold the stuffing in!
The art of teaching is the art of assisting discovery. |
| Downhome CountryGirl |
Posted - Jan 19 2010 : 7:19:21 PM
Wow I have had lots of different medical delimmas that have been like some of you have already said do what you got to and with what you have to do with at the time. I like yall give my own shots and splints, I have pulled calves and delivered breach puppies, not to mention walking a dog through the birthing of nine puppies and that's a lot for a poodle. I've cleaned out infected chicken eyes, and administered antibiotics internally and externally I have to say the biggest part of that task is trying to put a masked bandage on a chicken leaving one eye to use and going around the beak and still keeping it on his head, Not possible or it wasn't for me. But through it all my biggest challenge yet is what I'm currantly dealing with and it is my milk goat that is breed still lacking 4-6 wks left of pregnancy and she has a rectal prolapse. This has been the toughest it's not done yet I'm still trying to get all the advice I can to "fix" her. Sam
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| Downhome CountryGirl |
Posted - Jan 19 2010 : 6:50:08 PM
Grace,
You may just be the lady I'm looking for I have a nubian goat with a rectal prolapse. I haven't had much success with just replacing it to it's rightful place but then she begins to pushing again as though she's having contractions but I personally think she is feeling the need to go to the bathroom with all that is going on back there. I have heard of the prolapse harness but have been told that it is only vaginal. Which brings me to the stiching the outer edge, which sounds as though you might know something about. I wouldn't have a problem doing it I would just like to have alittle bit of advice with some guidance, from some one that's been there. If you can help please let me know. sam.cline@ymail.com
Thanks, Sam |
| LisaTwo |
Posted - Jan 19 2010 : 6:27:37 PM
I've washed wounds and given shots, moisturized scaly leg mites, clipped and trimmed and all of that. But the grossest thing I have had to do is...last year my cat was attacked and bitten by something. She hid for a few days and when I finally found her the wounds had abcessed and had to be lanced by the vet. The wounds were on either side of her back and they were "communicating" which meant there was an open channel from one wound to the other. I had to put ointment on a large Q-tip thingy and insert it into one wound until it came out the other wound. The entire channel needed to be cleaned, TWICE A DAY. Ick. Oh goodness my stomach still flips a bit when I think about it. She healed fine only for us to lose her about two months ago. So it goes in the country, but she was a good kitty and we miss her very much.
http://pinkporches.blogspot.com/
http://www.etsy.com/shop/PinkPorches
*And you know when the truth is told-- you can get what you want--or you can just get old.* (Billy Joel) |
| sherrye |
Posted - Jan 18 2010 : 8:40:27 PM
well i have not done as many things as you all have.i am impressed.my mom and dad always had some animal around needing tending. we have done baby bear deer squirrel crows peacocks and all the dogs etc. the game wardens would bring things and we would sew them up. my greatest triumph was when my son was about 7. he was mowing the lawn. he came running in and said. i killed the baby i cut his feathers off. i went running. there on the lawn was a naked baby bird. it must have just hatched you could see through him.lots of phone calls later we found help. michi a bird lady gave us the recipe for food. oh my. we had to grind sift mix and warm. i fed that bird for 6 weeks day and night. in the beginning every hour. no kidding. i got up at night and would warm an eye dropper full of food for the darn thing. lol it grew got feathers we taught it to fly in the bedroom. then off he went to be a bird.happy days sherrye |
| kristin sherrill |
Posted - Jan 18 2010 : 6:58:26 PM
Castrating pigs is not going to be on my list. Just doing the bucks was enough for me. I can imagine the noise a pig would make. They act like they're dying if they get touched. The 4 pigs I got were already done. The guy I got them from said his neighbor helped him and he got sick. And they were little bitty pigs, too. So I wish ya'll luck. Wear ear plugs! And ya might want to let the neighbors know what's going on or the police might just show up!
Kris
Happiness is simple. |
| cajungal |
Posted - Jan 18 2010 : 4:48:11 PM
Kathryn, I sure could've used your chicken "know-how" a couple of years ago.
We've got a new show pig that needs to be castrated. Our 4-H leader came by today and we discussed the process and he wants to wait a couple of days according to the almanac. This will be a first for me. I've done banding before on other animals but a pig is gonna be challenging. This pig is probably already about 85 lbs. He's pretty tame but I bet when we hold him down he is going to be so loud and squirmy.
One of the best compliments from one of my daughters: "Moma, you smell good...like dirt." |
| magnoliakathy |
Posted - Jan 18 2010 : 07:46:46 AM
Washing out my Basset's belly after she did not heal right after surgery, did the same thing for a Beagle with an open abcess, pencillin and immunization shots on dogs, and goats. Clean, taking care of various wounds on various critters over the years. Oh yeah, tubing a chicken with an impacted crop, you know, all that "good ole" farm stuff.
When you free your mind your heart can fly. Farmgirl # 714, |
| sacredwolf |
Posted - Jan 17 2010 : 08:09:55 AM
Cindy I agree, I have never given a turkey a bath for the fair but many many chickens and, wow, that should defiantly be noted!!! I would rather bath, trim, and train a goat or most any other animal for the fair any time than give poultry a bath. |
| Cindy Lou |
Posted - Jan 16 2010 : 7:44:59 PM
Intermuscular injections on a cockatiel, subcutaneous injections on rabbits, hot packing stitches on a cat's belly, it may not be vet stuff but giving a turkey a bath for the fair was a challenge.
"You can't roller skate in a buffalo herd.....
But you can be happy if you've a mind to. All you've gotta do in knuckle down, buckle down and do it, do it, do it!" |
| Beverley |
Posted - Jan 15 2010 : 8:39:12 PM
I have not done nearly what some of these ladies have done, I am so impressed with women in general these days. but anywho, the one thing I have learned is that you learn as you go and you do the best you can at the time and you go on. I have saved a few and lost a few and I hope I learned so the next time I save it rather than lose it. It is just how a farm works...
Folks will know how large your soul is by the way you treat a dog....Charles F. Doran
beverley baggett Beverley with an extra E...
http://bevsdoggies.googlepages.com/ |
| Faransgirl |
Posted - Jan 15 2010 : 4:43:24 PM
I forgot one, I have done IV's on a ferret with prostate cancer. He died months later but he was warm and comfortable when he went. We were having a really bad cold spell and my DH was working in Russia. He had not turned on the heat before he left and I wasn't sure how to do it. Poor Harley was in very bad shape so we heated up my aromatherapy pillow with the barley in it and tucked him into the pillowcase and held him for two days until I got the heater lighted. He died in the pillowcase on the barley pillow. My first but not last ferret death. We also did CPR on a ferret after the evacuation for hurricane Rita. We drove home and when we unloaded the 9 ferrets one of them was not breathing. We did CPR and he started breathing again. He is still in an adoptive home happy and healthy.
Farmgirl Sister 572
May the force of the horse be with you. |
| grace gerber |
Posted - Jan 15 2010 : 12:50:38 PM
Great topic because we have all had to do some of the hard things that farm life requires. Let's see if I can remember some of them.
First the best way to close a wound like on your chicken is with Super Glue. I have used it not only on my animals but also myself and sons to close wounds.. I have done a C Section on a Sheep - she survived to give many years of twins after that. I have pulled I can not count how many lambs, kids, llamas and puppies over the years. I have set broken limbs and even my own hand. I have done eyelid stitches and even done prolapse work with stiches to boat. I have given mouth to mouth from anything from a 300 pound male llama that the Vet gave too much medication too to tiny puppies that where thought long gone and brought them back. I have drained and tubed horrible infected wounds from a ewe who got away from a coyote but the previous owner had not notice so she was close to death when we got here. She lived 9 more years after coming here.
Now on the down side I have also had to put down many animals who where not going to make it but even then it is what I am here for - to give aid and comfort to my sweet four legged family members even if that might mean ending their suffuring. I guess it just means we do what we have to even if we are reading the book how to while doing it..
Grace Gerber
Larkspur Funny Farm and Fiber Art Studio
Where the spirits are high and the fiber is deep
http://www.larkspurfunnyfarm.etsy.com
http://larkspurfunnyfarm.blogspot.com
http://larkspurfunnyfarm.artfire.com
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| chicken necker |
Posted - Jan 15 2010 : 08:56:48 AM
ROFLOL to Kristy! As I was reading your post, I was thinking maybe you should change her name!
FarmGirl Sister #123
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| clothedinscarlet |
Posted - Jan 14 2010 : 7:16:04 PM
Wow...I love being part of this group. The stories are so fascinating. Where else can you hear about someone's chicken being snatched up by a hawk or an emergency C-section on a horse. Way to go home vets!
Siobhan, wife to my best friend, Trent, and mommy to Camden (11/28/05) and Bennett (7/11/07). and Truman (7/28/09) |
| Faransgirl |
Posted - Jan 14 2010 : 7:06:51 PM
I have given shots, euthanized a horse, held stallions for castration, helped do surgery on a shoulder wound on a horse, dug debris out of a deep, deep wound before surgery. I once spent three hours picking maggots out of a wound on my horse's face after he stuck a t-post through his jaw (that was before I got him). I have done regular shots and IV shots, drawn blood, pulled shoes off horses. Probably the most unusual thing I have done is design a sling for a horses penis so he didn't have to have it amputated. Slinging it took the downward pressure off and the swelling from infection subsided and the surgery was not necessary.
Farmgirl Sister 572
May the force of the horse be with you. |
| sacredwolf |
Posted - Jan 14 2010 : 7:03:49 PM
Wow differently can not top Teresa's story but I given lots of shots, pulled kids from momma goat (for the first time last week),held my dog Lucky while my sister in-law stitched her tummy back together (sliced it on barb wire clear to the stomach lining), splinted my dog Lucky's tail when my sister in-law closed it in a screen door broke it and chopped the end off (not a good sight), treated my dog Lucky's extremely swollen leg (when she stuck a locus thrown in her knee), and treated Lucky's broken leg (that she broke while chasing a rabbit), Splinted goats legs, and treated bloat. Ummm that probably does not cover it off but it is good start. I know that realistically I have not done much, only been on a farm for 4 years, but I have learned so much in them 4 years and would not change a thing. The biggest lesson that I have learned is NEVER, NEVER EVER, name a dog LUCKY :) |
| 1badmamawolf |
Posted - Jan 14 2010 : 6:15:54 PM
I am a surgical vet tech (retired), I have over the years done alittle of it all. Many stitches, minor clean fractures, but the one that was the scariest for me was a c-section on a neighbors mare, she dropped dead during labor, never knew why, but I knew if we hurried, we could save the foal, and we did, a very nice lil colt. then it was all about keeping the foal alive and healthy, not near as easy as a calf, kid or lamb. With the kindness of a few other neighbors who had new foals, and were willing to milk their mares, we had real milk for him instead of powdered replacer, plus another neighbor has frozen colostrum, and was kind enough to give this baby some. He grew up to be a beautiful Q.H., who took their daughter on to win all the way into the big show in Texas, and when people find out how he came to almost not be, that makes it that much better.
"Treat the earth well, it was not given to you by your parents, it was loaned to you by your children" |
| kristin sherrill |
Posted - Jan 14 2010 : 6:14:26 PM
Good question. Of course when you have farm animals, there are always going to be shots. So I have given plenty of shots. Even to a pig! Now that was fun. I have pulled a kid from a mama goat a few times. I have held buck kids when a friend was cutting testicles to castrate. I have helped dehorn goats. I have banded tails on lambs. Banded a ram lamb, a buck and a bull calf. Sheared sheep. Trimmed hooves. Pushed bolus' down sheep and cow throats. Treated scours. Treated chickens and ducks for dog or hawk attacks. Or chicken fights. Or any number of chickens problems.
There's probably more I'll think of later. I have never had to do stitches yet. I say yet because that day may come.
Aw, farm life! And never a day of vet school, either.
Kris
Happiness is simple. |
