Today we've been treating two of our blind horses for new eye problems ... runny eyes, squinting, tearing. Shasta, an old Appaloosa -- the second horse to arrive here -- developed this in his right eye. Rocky, another blind Appy, had a similar problem in his left eye. Then this evening when we went out to treat both horses again, we noticed Rocky's RIGHT eyelid was now suddenly big and puffy. The conjunctiva was so swollen I couldn't even find his eye as I was probing around inside looking for it. Yikes. So I called our equine vet, Bill Brown, for advice. He recommended some therapies and we'll see how Rocky looks tomorrow. Ironically, the eye we had been treating ... the left one ... looked great this evening.
Over in the disabled dog building, Widget's House, Kodiak and I have been learning how to express his bladder. He still can't walk or even stand up, and he naturally pees on his bedding. So before we change his bedding, to keep him dry as long as possible, I express his bladder and try to empty out as much urine as I can. We had a veterinarian and his wife from Kansas visiting here yesterday, and he showed me how to do this. I already knew how to express cat bladders and bowels (we had a paralyzed cat, Gracie, who needed this done), but I hadn't done it on a dog before.
Now, the challenge here is Kodiak's sheer size ... at 110 lbs, he's big and so is his bladder ... and the fact that he is laying down. It's a lot easier to find and express a bladder when the animal is upright. (And the urine is sure to follow gravity DOWN. That's helpful.) It's a tad more problematic when the dog is laying on his side. But, Kodiak is a sweet, tolerant boy, and we are learning together how this works. We roll him over on his side, Alayne holds him there, and then I reach around on both sides from underneath him and press gently but firmly with open hands where his bladder is.
Once his bladder is expressed, we move him to fresh bedding ... and this is a two-person job. Alayne lifts him with his shoulder harness and I use a sling that goes underneath his rear, and together we haul him up and over to his new bed. Of course, the laundry machines in Widget's House are going around the clock now, washing and drying all his bedding!
Comments