Kindnesses

Well, Patty's time came sooner than we had hoped. After it had become obvious that our treatments were not making her life significantly easier, we made the decision to put her down. She was a trooper and kept her silly, food-obsessed personality to the end, but I knew we owed her the kindness of ending her pain.

In a kindness much greater than the one we made for Patty, our friends and fellow goat farmers, The Carlsons, offered to put her doown for us. I am so grateful for their strength and the amazing, meaningful gift they offered us at a very difficult time. Thank you, Carlson family and thank you Patty for being a (mostly) good little goaty. Peace.

More tough news

Having felt we had made really good progress with Patty's problem hoof, we were so disappointed when her limp came back worse than ever last week. We finally decided to bring her in to the vet to see if they could help us figure out why she was still having so much trouble.

It wasn't her hoof.

Patty has -- in another "totally-random-aliment-that-we-could-not-have-anticipated-or-prevented" moment -- pretty severe and irreversible arthritis.

Just to be clear, Patty does not have CAE, a systemic, virus-borne disease that manifests with arthritis symptoms, but is actually a much more serious - and preventable - disease. No, Patty just has plain-old, debilitating, painful, chronic arthritis in her right knee. The knee above the hoof that we treated (successfully, as it turns out) for a minor crack.

The diagnosis has left us facing the reality that we can do our best to manage her pain, but must be prepared to put her down if we are not successful.

Interestingly enough, it seems like - as with many people - Patty's knee can predict rain. We have had a little weather, and the last two days have been shockingly hard on her.

So, here we are. I am off to get joint supplements today and we are beginning a regular regimen of massaging a balm into her knee. After a particularly stiff morning that actually made me cry, I noticed an almost miraculous, instantaneous improvement simply from helping her get the joint moving with massage. It didn't make her normal, but it made her able to walk. I am trying to remain positive and hopeful that this is something we can help her live with, but am also fully prepared to act if the worst case develops. The way I figure it, that's probably all that Patty could want from us.

The monkey-est butt around

Day 152. Still no babies. Oh, Patty. If you ruin our off-farm dinner plans for tomorrow night I will be so very unhappy with you.

Monkey Butt

When a goat gets ready to kid, her business end widens, flattens and, though this sounds contradictory to the flattening part, pooches out. Basically the whole apparatus takes on an appearance strikingly similar to that of an orangutan's face.

I call this monkey butt.

A call of "Monkey Butt!" means kids should be on the ground within 48 hours.

Patty has monkey butt. See?



Tomorrow is her due date. We are having late season kids. I'll explain it all when I post kid photos. For now just enjoy her monkey butt. Oh and here is a normal butt for comparison. ...and a pic of poor Patty doing what we call the "bred spread."




We're full of fun terms at BHF.