Poop happens (or at least you hope it does)
Freddy-cat has always been a bit prone to upper-respiratory sniffles. He was golden for a while though, especially since we've been in the new place. But the last month or so, he's been pretty stuffed up again. And not just his little bit sniffly and then it goes away thing. It stuck around and then he started sneezing big, nasty boogers, so I figured sinus infection and a trip to the vet. We took him in on Friday and it looks like he needs some serious dental work. His right upper front fang is pretty much dead (guess which side his sinus problem is on?) so he's on antibiotics for the next week and has dental surgery scheduled for Friday the 13th. heh I'm going to count on that traditionally being a good luck day for me, that everything will go well for him, but I don't think *he* is going to like the day much. -_-; I am currently referring to him as my little tax-refund. So much for trying to get rid of some more debt with that and saving up for car issues. My transmission has been acting a bit touchy for a while now, so I'm really keeping my fingers crossed that it will hold out longer. My commute definitely does not help.
Then, Saturday while I was at work, I got a call from the barn manager. Bob didn't eat his breakfast. You know, my old joke has always been: If Bob doesn't eat, I don't need to call a vet, I need to check for a pulse. It wasn't that funny that morning for some reason. Bob was (thankfully!) never colic-prone, but the horses had been stuck inside for three days or so already due to all the ice. I was a nervous wreck until I got out to the barn to check on him during my lunch break (I don't need to eat, really) but I still wasn't sure how he was doing. It bothered me a bit that R had given him a dose of Banamine intravenously (nice to find out that he knows how to do that like this) *before* he even called me. Yes, it is what you generally give a horse in cases of colic, but I would have liked to have seen how he was behaving before pain-relievers. (I'm just happy that R called me at all though, unlike his previous tendencies, so I didn't yell at him like I wanted to.) I asked R if Bob had been showing any other signs of colic other than not eating, but he just said he was a bit off and didn't want his grain. At least he did say Bob's temperature was normal when I asked him if he'd checked it (and I did double-check it myself once I was there.) Bob seemed fine, but I wasn't sure if that was the drug or not. I took his blanket off and listened, and he did have some good gut sounds, but he was tensing his stomach up tight and when I put my hand on it he winced and stomped his foot. He was also eating hay, and really, he shouldn't have been given any more food after being given the Banamine unless he was definitely pooping fine. >_<
So, I went back out to the barn after work, and the girls that were feeding and cleaning out the stalls said he had pooped a little, but it was pretty loose. I just couldn't leave though until I knew everything was moving okay from the front end to the back and to see how he'd feel after the Banamine had worn off. I did talk to Bob's current vet on the phone for a bit after lunch and she said it sounded like she probably didn't need to come out for him, but if he got worse to give her a call and she'd be right out. The other thing R did that bothered me a bit, he called another vet (knowing full well that I wanted to at least try getting ahold of Bob's current or previous vet first) and then texted me at work that the other vet could be there at 5:30, I called him back and told him that wouldn't be necessary as I had no problem reaching my current vet. I am just not sure which is worse, him being *no* help at all, or this whole I'll just do things things for you and leave you out of the equation kind of "helping". /head-desk
I think the only thing more crazy and dedicated than me sitting out at the barn for four hours in the (literally) freezing cold, waiting for a horse to poop, was Romandave coming out to sit with me. Well, not just sit, I did take Bob outside and walk him around for a fair bit and then brushed him and rubbed his back for a while. He did pass quite a bit of gas once he relaxed more (Romandave pointed out the obvious double-standard that I'm not nearly that happy when *he* farts) and I think it looks like it was just some really bad gas cramps that were bothering him. Romandave did escape for a little bit to go grab some food for us, bless him, but he stayed out in the warm car towards the end. I didn't begrudge him that anyway since neither of us planned to have Claritin with us and with the girls throwing flakes of hay in the stalls and all, the poor boy was sneezing his head off by that point. I just gave him a thumbs up out the barn door as soon as Bob pooped again and I felt okay with leaving him. Of course, by this point, we needed to get home to give Freddy his dose of antibiotics for the evening. We both pretty much collapsed in a heap after that, unfortunately tanking any hope of seeing the Saturday group that night. This last month has been terrible for gaming. I'm starting to go into withdrawal. =P
So, on a sillier note, I've had this "LOL Cats" song stuck in my head ever since Razorwireflower posted it. It's from Rathergood.com and is a spoof of Love Cats. I am actually surprised someone didn't think of this sooner:
And the original, since I had to look it up to show Romandave anyway (I can't believe he didn't know this!):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0vdt7f2YRw (Just a link, embedding disabled on this one. =P)