Tuesday, November 30, 2010

More Government Control of the Food Supply......

For everyone interested in eating locally produced foods, read this link.....

Miniel and Meningeal Worm

As far as we and the vet have been able to determine, Meningeal worm is the infection we are fighting in Miniel. She has been wormed twice and now is being treated with steroids only to control the inflammation in the brain and spinal cord. The vet left it to my discretion to give her 1-2 cc's daily of Dexamethasone to control the symptoms. She is still displaying signs of neurological involvement , but the signs appear to be not as severe as a couple of weeks ago. We can only hope there is no permanent neurological involvement as she has been unable to walk for two weeks.

Monday, November 29, 2010

Lack of Posting due to our sick ewe......

I will blog about everything as soon as we can get Miniel back on her feet. To everyone with a medical degree, it's like having a total care patient, except she's on the back porch instead of a hospital room. I named our back porch " The Sheep/Goat Recovery Unit"... and have minded visitors to "Watch Your Step"! I should have some extra beautiful flowers next summer!!!

Friday, November 5, 2010

Calling All Shepherds and Sherherdesses!!!

If anyone can help solve the illness that has struck our sheep, Miniel, PLEASE HELP!
We finished six days of Penicillin treatment last Saturday, October 30th. After this regimen of Penicillin, we wanted to give Miniel's body a rest from the antibiotic. She was improving, but now has gone backwards in her progress. She has been lying down more in the past couple of days and it is very difficult for her to stand. When she is able to stand she is very shaky on her legs........her forelegs more than hind.  I started the Penicillin again last night and again this morning. We had been giving her 2 cc's Penicillin S.Q. and that is the dosage I continued. Our farmer friend, Tim, is coming over tonight with a different antibiotic and some worming medicine in case it is liver flukes that somehow managed to get in her central nervous system., although the vet didn't see any signs of worms. We continued the Probiotic every couple of days to ensure that her rumen is working. She continues to eat and drink appropriately passing formed stools.
I know there are shepherds and shepherdesses  in the blogosphere...............we would appreciate any and all suggestions, comments, etc.
Thank you so much!!!!!