One of my best and favorite alpines was not feeling well this morning. When I checked her eyes I was horrified to see how pale she was. I hurriedly dosed her with wormer and a vitamin drench. She picked at some grain but was really feeling lousy. Later in the day she seemed to be getting worse. I was getting worried that I might loose her. Tears of frustration and anger at myself for missing this fell throughout the day. I filled syringes with pedialite and forced her to stay hydrated every 1-2 hours. I also picked her favorite weeds and hand fed them to her as well. I stayed with her and prayed over her. Finally around ten when I did another check she was up and feeling better. I sat in the grass, hand feeding hay, grass and weeds and sobbed. I knew she would be ok.
This spring has been quite a challenge with parasites. It has been wet, hot and humid, a prime environment for the nasty things. Tomorrow I will rotate them to a clean pasture, check all eyes and hope for the best.
I know how hard it is to stay on top of the worm thing. Lately it has been hot and dry here, but as soon as it rains those pesky things will avalanche onto us.
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