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Post Op Day 4

12/22/2021

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Rocky's swelling is pretty good now, the vet warned me that day 4/5 would be the worst.  It looks pretty bad, his entire sheath is swollen along with a pocket in front of it.  His incision looks good though and his PU site looks ok - not getting weird, just ok for what it is.
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Grass definitely perked up his appetite!
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Daisy is still annoyed that they're separated.
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Coming around for some face hugs.
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Doing some RLT on Rocky's belly incision. He also got a little on his PU incision.
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Bug getting her RLT on her hips. She just cruises around the house wearing it.
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He's home! - Post Opp day 2

12/20/2021

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We picked Rocky up, he jumped right into the trailer.  I got my run down of all my meds I need to administer.  The roads were slightly better than going out.  Our road has a decent incline with a turn involved and I just didn't know if the truck and trailer were going to make it all the way.  My husband walked down and I hand walked Rocky up and he drove the truck and trailer up, no problem of course.  I just didn't want him bouncing around in the trailer too much, or worse loosing traction and ending up in the ditch, overprotective donkey mom?

​yea....
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Donkeys are super particular about their water, he seemed happy to be back to his 'home water'
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Eating pellets while Daisy makes faces in the background
Daisy went from thrilled Rocky was home, to just mad....Probably because he's acting differently than before and she doesn't know what to think of it.  She busted out her old OCD behavior of licking things.  When I bought her, the prior owner kept her in a 12x12 pen for TWO YEARS! She developed some stress coping mechanisms, one is licking the fence a bunch.  So while its cute I see it potentially as a sign that she is feeling stressed.  
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We get to visit - Post Op Day1

12/19/2021

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Sunday we met up with our vet and got to visit Rocky.  He was a little out of it, but VERY into going for a walk! We were allowed to take him for a short walk and see if he wanted to eat any grass that was around, which mostly was covered by snow.  His appetite has been depressed, and it had been a little before going into surgery as he adjusts to his PPID medication.
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excited to be out, go button was fully engaged.
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He nuzzled a little hole in the snow and found some grass to nibble on.
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He even found a 'walkie snack' LOL
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Looking alert despite the circumstances.
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Back to the stall
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Daisy waits..

12/18/2021

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Rocky and Daisy have been together since 2012.  Never really being apart for more than a few hours.  I had to email the neighborhood letting them know that Daisy may bray more than usual.  And she did.  She never leaves her post.....
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enjoying mash under the heater
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We took her on a walk to hopefully distract her and give her some exercise, but she wanted to stop often and scan for Rocky.  She did say hi to the neighbor's mini donkey.

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While on our walk we recieved some text updates from the vets office, Rocky was doing well...than we finally got this!
It's out!
and it's HUGE!

​
After that I went and passed out, between this and my day job stresses my brain was like 'ok we're done here'.....
​
I woke up to a call from my vet saying Rocky was done with surgery, all stitched up, awake, up and doing well.  If you've never seen how they put an equine to sleep and wake them up, you should check it out.  Being flight animals (horse more than donkeys) it can be very eventful for them to wake up ....have you woke up from anesthesia before? Its not super fun....imagine you're a 1000lb animal, whose main resource is your four awesome get-away sticks, which are now 1000% drunk....There is a high risk of injury as they come to and try to get up.

The vet and I agree Rocky should stay overnight for continued IV and antibiotics.  I ask her if I can visit him the next day even though it is Sunday. She says yes....

​
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Rocky's bladder 'pearl'
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We're off to surgery!

12/17/2021

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Not super jazzed that I'm leading him away from the barn at 7am in 2* weather.
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The road is there....somewhere...
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Road conditions improved a bit 'in town'.
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Settled in at the vets...
Surgery is set for later in the day, he's all settled in, they'll get his IV going and prepare him.  Meanwhile I head to work and try not to overthink everything, I know he's in the best hands and we're going to be feeling alot better soon!

I received an update from the vet, they worked on Rocky for four hours and could not get the initial procedure to be successful.  Due to his donkey anatomy it just didn't work like it should (PU surgery).  They decided it was best to do an traditional abdominal surgery tomorrow, allowing Rocky and my wonderful vets to get some rest.
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Surgery is set.....

12/7/2021

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Rocky's surgery has finally been scheduled for December 17th, I am feeling confident that we have the best vet attending to him.  Because Rocky is older, the vet recommended doing bloodwork to ensure he didn't have cushings or another disease that would impede his healing progress.  We got the bloodwork back this last Friday, he does indeed have cushings.  He has been started on medication (let me tell you trying to figure out ways to get him to take a pill has been interesting), he will be on it for the rest of his life. Here is a link if you'd like to learn more about cushings.  Looking back I can see small signs that I did not pick up on prior, while Daisy does not have similiar symptoms, I will be having her blood panel done this month as well since she will be nineteen this year.  Thank you for keeping up with Rocky's progress!

If you enjoy podcasts, here are a few about PPID/Cushings

The Podcasting Equine Vets

Ask The Vet

Straight From the Horse Doctor's Mouth
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Rocky is going in for surgery

11/16/2021

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Rocky had been displaying some issues urinating, he would go, but then look like he still needed to, but nothing would come out.  I took him to the vet and they did a urine panel on him and said everything looked ok and that he maybe needed a bit more salt in his diet.

He continued to look like he needed to go more and more, he began to 'drop' more frequently, then he started to have incontinence.  I took him back to a different vet for a second opinion.  While we waited, inside finally since it was a very chilly, VERY windy MT morning, I walked Rocky around the exam area and let him investigate everything.  We walked around he stocks (he is not a fan of those), then I led him THROUGH the stocks (open on both ends) way to go bud! And then he go to see and hear the ultrasound cart.  He did so well, he generally is not super keen about the stocks and being at the vets as a whole.

The vet arrived and introduced himself to Rocky.  He very quickly listed off things it could be causing his issues, and how we could go about testing for each issue, he was very knowledgable!  His first recommendation was to do a rectal ultrasound on his bladder.  Rocky is pretty squirmy for all shots, I don't blame him.  Donkeys also have quite thick muscling on their necks and it makes it difficult to find a vein.  Thankfully this shot was a bit easier than past ones and he quickly relaxed from the sedative.

The vet was able to successfully use the ultrasound machine on him and Rocky actually tolerated the whole situation better than I thought he would! I thought for sure there would be a rodeo and some kicking, but he didn't fight it too much, which made the whole thing go so much quicker.  The vet found a calcium stone quite quickly and that was that.  I got brought up to speed on what causes them, how they can be removed, recovery etc.   It's big enough to require surgery, a little bigger than a golf ball.  I'm looking forward to having him back to his old self, I can't stand the thought that something is hurting him or making him uncomfortable.

We are looking at after Thanksgiving for surgery, I will be getting his recovery room in the barn set up this week. I need to find him a little bell so he can summon me at will. :)

If you'd like to help out click the button below! Stay tuned for progress updates.
​
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New Fly Boots!

6/10/2021

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These boots are available for sale currently.

I've decided to start naming my boot sizes after some of the donkeys that I have made custom boots for in the past, these are the 'Paulianne'.  Paulianne was a grey overweight donkey resucued by Hithger, in Artois, Ca and later re-homed.  Her new home had me make her fly boots.

Each pair of fly boots are handmade, in Montana, by me.  Inevitably there will be variations in stitching and may not look perfect. And honestly, I'm a little out of practice, I used to produce boots a few years ago.  These boots show just that, some of the stitiching spacing is off (thanks to my binding foot being out of adjustment), none of which affect the function of the boots.

Why did I choose these colors?
I started thinking about how flies see color.  They obviously love my Daisy more than Rocky, but why? It's because of her color.  I researched this more and found that yellow is the least attractive to flies..."A key to making the device effective was the discovery that flies are three times more attracted to the color blue than to yellow and that yellow actually seemed to repel flies." Why wouldn't I make them yellow?  I am hoping to make the binding yellow as well.

These are sized medium, they should fit most large standard donkeys.  They are ten inches tall and fabric to fabric are 10" in circumference, but can be easily fastened down to 7", absolute minimum circumference is 4.5".  Please measure your animal before ordering.

Purchase them with confidence through Etsy, HERE.
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Vet Day!

5/8/2021

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Waiting their turn at the vet's
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If you've ever wondered how much room they have in a horse sized stall..... a lot!
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Daisy looking longingly at the foal...
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The baby is right behind the blanket on the fence panel.
Cleaned out the dressing room of the trailer, it was pretty disorganized after our last use.  I utilized the Seasuckers to wrangle some of the gear! They're now securing the portable fence, table, chairs and mat in one corner (yes I threw some titan straps in there!) and I made a blanket bar with two on the wall!  Now the rain sheets finally have a home!  I love these things, yes I want to get more!  Such a fast, strong, yet non permanent way to organize such an area.  Oh, how awesome would a Seasucker - Titan Strap collaboration be!?!
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This is going to work so much better than putting it into the tack room

I just discovered this.....they have a papertowel holder! Going on my wish list - ​www.seasucker.com/collections/rv-camping/products/paper-towel-holder

if you'd like to check out the ones I have, click here 

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in other news, I finally have a set of fly boots on the table, they should be available in my etsy shop soon!

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Daisy & Rocky have a photoshoot!

4/21/2021

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Rocky & Daisy have their 'first' photoshoot! Yes, they have been apart of some other shoots, but this is the first one where they are front and center!  I think they both did fantastic!

They endured numerous grooming sessions, I say this from Daisy's point of view because Rocky LOOOOVES being groomed, unless you bring out the blower.  Yes, Daisy endured brushing and Rocky endured a few blower sessions.

When the donkeys have a gig, of any kind, grooming starts DAYS in advance.  Donkeys are the sort of animal that the more dirt that is in their coat the more they're 'doing it right'.  So, it's a lot of elbow grease and dedication on my part.  In the end they come out looking pretty gorgeous!   Nothing like some wavy Daisy rump hair shining in the sun!

This shoot went very well, the donkeys did way better than I did ( I was nervous!), but quickly warmed up to the two gals I was working with... I can't share too many details at the moment! But more is to come! Stay tuned!

til then......

​-Daisy wuffles


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on 'location'! shout out to the @thewildhomesteader for letting us use her beautiful location for the shoot!
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Rocky, groomed the night before, blanketed and enjoying his reward.
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Daisy, night before, groomed, blanketed, and enjoying her reward.
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Beautiful crowns by Labellum Flowers in Bozeman! I could not stop smelling these!!! They looked so good on Rocky & Daisy!
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    Here to share all my donkey related adventures....why? Because they're basically the best thing ever. 

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