Mercy, Cuda, Chai, and Starlett Update!

Mercy is doing good. The mysterious swelling in her right hind pastern is now gone. She just finished another loading series of Adequan and got all of her vaccines updated! All I am waiting for now is the all clear to start riding from Dr. Schneider, but until I can get an appointment with him I wait and continue to hand walk Mercy when I can...

Cuda is now spayed, microchipped, and vaccinated! We are still going through some interesting and difficult issue with housebreaking, but it is certainly better than the first week she was home. She goes to work with me Monday through Wednesday and gets lots of walks! Tough life for a little poo dog!

Chai, my Norwegian Forest cat did something to her right front leg when she was outside last Tuesday. She came into the house right after I got home from work and she was non-weight bearing on that leg and literally ROLLING in pain. We rushed her up to her regular vet and they ended up putting her on some antibiotics and steroids. We are also giving her a half a baby aspirin every 3 days, just in case this is a heart related condition, as the vet expects. She is responding well, but we still would like to to a cardiac work up on her, just so we know if something more serious is going on.

Starlett not only got her teeth done, she also had her stomach scoped for ulcers! She is has always been a classic cranky mare, but more recently cinching her up has become a more painful ordeal for her. Luckily for her and us, she is clean! No ulcers! She also had her vaccines updated and is good to go until fall!

BTW, the swallows have returned! Spring really is on the way! ;)

Quick Update

The last month has been crazy here! I started a new part-time job with crazy hours, I got a new dog, and Mercy has a new, slightly mysterious injury.
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First off, meet Cuda! She is a 10 month old Shiba Inu cross.
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She has really kept us on our toes! Cuda is a very busy, high energy dog. On one of our recent hikes out on the trails we stopped by the mountain bikers obstacle we so proudly named 'Shark.' She really like it!
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And then of course she had to meet the horses. Star could really care less about her, but Mercy really wanted to see her!
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Both were very friendly and respectful to each other. Cuda and the cats, however, did not get along at all at first. Cuda has now learned how to 'leave it' and pretty much ignores them now. The cats still don't really like her, but they will touch noses briefly before taking their leave. *sigh* It is just going to take some time.

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And Mercy. Mercy, Mercy, Mercy. Her left hind pastern has been swollen for a little over a week now. I waited 5 days before having the vet out to take a look, hoping it was just an abscess and it would work it's way out. Unfortunately, the swelling never really went away and an abscess never blew. She was not limping, wasn't painful to palpate, and had no noticeable digital pulse or heat. When the vet stopped by to check her out, she was acting very bad. She was trying to kick her hoof away from him and was generally unruly for us. We ended up getting the hoof testers out and putting her in a stall to confine her. She reacted once to one particular spot, but then we couldn't get her to react again, no matter how much we poked and prodded.

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We untimely decided she must have kicked a stall wall or something hard and bruised her heel bulb. Her tendons and tendon sheaths palpated normal and we couldn't figure out where an abscess would be brewing, if there was one. Instead of hot soaking her hoof, as you would do for a hoof abscess, we decided to cold hose her fetlock and pastern. We'll see if we are right soon. I hope. Until then, no riding. *sigh*