The Daily Feeding Frenzy

I don’t know what it is, must be the time of year, but our animals are behaving worse than delinquent teenagers.

And here, I was thinking, ‘thank goodness we DON’T have kids’ after listening to the teenage horror stories, that always abound when in the company of mum’s and dad’s, you know the ones!!!

The White sisters in particular are worse than ever, goodness walking into the paddock this last month or so, requires full body armor.

I think it is related to the drought we are experiencing here in New Zealand. In our area alone, I cannot comment on other parts, we haven’t had any substantial rain, since the beginning of November.

And grazing fodder is in limited supply, to say the least, it is a brown solid dust bowl everywhere. The ground is in bad shape, I have not been able to grow any vegetables or fodder crops. It would be hopeless to sow anything at the present moment, as they will not grow in these conditions.

Those with streams running through their land are surviving, just. And others, like ourselves are struggling to keep our animals fed and watered.

Additional feed is very hard to come by, and I wouldn’t like to think about the price of this additional dry feed at this present time.

So, with this in mind, picture me, knee-high to a grasshopper, venturing out into the paddock with a bucket, it can be empty or full, it doesn’t matter it’s a bucket and bucket’s mean FOOD… and then all hell breaks loose I can tell you.

The White sisters, trouble with a capital T, have honed their ESP skills and suddenly appear out of nowhere, at the rate of knots.

That, is scary in itself, I mean Nina is a BIG goat with HORNS, and she doesn’t mind using them to get what she wants.

She is normally quite pushy but in a placid way, if you understand. I know my partner, Donna, has had trouble with her in the past, Nina just rubs her head on Donna’s legs then twists her horns around her knee. OUCH!!

But, with me she knows her place, I must be scarier than Donna but recently she has been a bugger to cope with. Her and Lily have been on a ‘butting spree’ that is just NOT funny. Animals fly through the air screeching in pain and shock.

It has gotten SO bad, that we have decided to call it a day and they are up for sale. We are selling the White sisters and little Annie, one of Lilies twins, as Annie is shaping up like Nina and they obviously need more room to spread their wings than we have got.

So, the five goats arrive quickly on the scene, jumping in the middle of the assorted chickens and roosters, feathers are flying the noise is escalating. THEN, along comes Mia at FULL speed, screeching to an immediate halt, her front legs outstretched in front of her, are acting as the breaks. Now THAT is SCARY!!

I often close my eyes and just wait for the impact, but, give her, her due, she hasn’t not stopped yet. I cling onto that believe me

But, on a more serious note, these ‘butting’ episodes have we think, caused a serious spinal cord injury and internal injury to our dog, Emma.

A few days ago, Emma, our beloved kelpie cross, was not a happy camper and she spent all of one day hiding under the bed, refusing to eat or drink. When I finally coaxed her out, she appeared in pain with stiffness to here hips.

The next morning after an unsettled night, Em, came into the bedroom and couldn’t seem to sit or lie down, then she suddenly began dragging her back legs behind her. Something was seriously wrong and so, as soon as the vets opened we were there.

X-rays revealed nothing, but the paralysis was spreading fast up her spine. Em was a trooper, to say the least, uncomplaining and to see the relief on her face when the vet sedated her for the x-rays made me cry.

She has spent three days in the observation ward at the vets, been given pain relief and fluids, but still she is unable to support her back legs, she is dragging herself around on her bottom.

We contacted a trauma healer who works with animals, especially dogs. They do wonderful work with what appears as little intervention. The therapy is called, CARE and it evolves around a subject and treatment called Ortho-Biometrics. (Please refer to the ‘Lifestyler’ first edition, where Kirstie explains what she does)

I am having the same treatment as Em for my split disc in my back. I have personally been in extreme pain and surgery appears my only traditional health path, but for me also it is just not an option.

Kirstie has been treating Em with some success, her right leg is beginning to show signs of movement and she is nibbling at it like it is itching, a sign the blood flow and nerves are re-gaining some sensation in her lower legs.

Yesterday, Emma began passing blood stained urine, she definitely has had an impact trauma and our suspicions are very much focused on the goats, especially the White sisters. But, we witnessed nothing that we can say for definite.

Kirstie, has had a similar experience with one of her dogs and Gretal, still walks like she is drunk and needs help getting in and out of the car, but she is up and walking and that took Kirstie 10 days to achieve.

The other treatment options, were financially out of our league. An barium scan was going to cost $300 upward and then surgery to cut out the disc causing the paralysis would cost $1000′s.

We don’t have that kind of money and I think even if we did, we would go down the natural health road, spinal surgery is just not an option for us.

For those of you reading this thinking we have denied Emma the correct treatment. Emma, is healthy, bright eyed and pain-free at this present moment. If she didn’t have a positive pain sensation in her legs then we would have had to re-think her treatment and urgently, surgery would have been the only road open to release the immediate pressure on her spinal cord.

She is a little fighter and she is attempting to move her back legs, and today her right leg was sitting flatter. We will have to teach her to walk again, but it will take time and patience.

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