freemotion
Food Guru
Well, we did it! It was a family project, and we got 'er done.
I ordered a kit from www.biotracking.com and received 11 vacuum tubes, a special sleeve for the two-sided needles, and 11 special 18 gauge double-pointy needles for drawing blood.
I studied the pictures in the section on biotracking's website on how to draw blood from a goat, with a nine-year-old girl doing the needle-sticking. I'm a few decades older and wiser, so it should be a piece of cake, right?
Um....I guess I forgot that the last time I went to Staples to make a bunch of copies, I was mystified by the newer, complicated, computerized copiers in the DIY section. I spotted someone I thought could show me how to use the machines. I called him over. He got my copies going within seconds by quickly pressing a few buttons on the keypad. I thanked his mom. He was nine years old.
We went to the barn armed to the teeth with our blood-draw kit, mint candy treats, a heavy leadrope and collar, my clippers with the #40 blade all lubricated up and ready to go and an extension cord, hoof-trimming tools (might as well get that done, too, while goats are restrained), Dad to restrain the goats, and Peter with the camera to film the humiliation to put on youtube at Merle's request so he can get a visual on how NOT to do a blood-draw from a goat.
Let's start with Te'a, I suggest, since she is the smallest and weakest. I didn't breed her for just that reason, but I do want to know if she has CAE, so she needed to get stuck with a needle, too. I set up shop in the spare stall, then we brought the poor, unsuspecting Princess Chunk in and Dad straddled her as I backed her into a corner. She was starting to get suspicious at this point that she was not in the stall for a three course meal all to herself.
I clipped a couple of acres of her neck, and Dad cranked her head up. I thought about the pictures I'd memorized, but more about all those years of watching the veterinarians draw blood from the horses I worked with. It looked so easy. And as a massage therapist, my palpation skills are excellent. Piece of cake. Find the trachea, then the brachiocephalicus, and right in between will be the jugular vein. Easy-peasy.
Wiggly-squiggly-thrashy-screamy! One-point-five cc's of blood later....that is, in the vacuum tube, there seemed to be several gallons on the goat, on my hands, on my pants, on my coat, on Dad's pants, on Dad's coat, on the bedding....And we needed 2-3 cc's for a proper sample.
An 18 gauge needle is a big needle. The vacuum tube gives you only one chance, then the vacuum is broken. I decided to switch to a tool I was familiar with, and ran up to the garage to get my stash of horse first aid supplies, which included a supply of 3 cc syringes and 20 and 22 gauge needles.
I've given hundreds of injections to horses over the years, and a few to other animals, so this should be easy....just reverse the plunger. Poor Te'a. We got her back into the corner with Dad acting as a stanchion and holding her head up, and I poked her yet again with another needle. She shrieked before I even touched her...reminded me of the spankings my mother tried to give me when I was little. I never could get the screams timed correctly. She somehow knew I was exaggerating.
I knew Te'a was exaggerating, but I still felt a little guilty for tormenting the poor thing because of my own incompetance. The smaller, more familiar needle worked just right, and I got 3 cc's of blood in a jiffy. I transferred it to a fresh vacuum tube and put her number on it for the lab. She got some mints and a pedicure and was released, shaking and stinkin' mad. Oh, well, I expect she will forgive me tonight when she gets her dinner, a handful of veggie scraps and a flake of dark green alfalfa hay. And another candy, to assuage my guilt.
Pics and youtube link to follow once my voice-activated computer gets home from work....IF they came out ok. Rest of the story later. Three more goats to go.
I ordered a kit from www.biotracking.com and received 11 vacuum tubes, a special sleeve for the two-sided needles, and 11 special 18 gauge double-pointy needles for drawing blood.
I studied the pictures in the section on biotracking's website on how to draw blood from a goat, with a nine-year-old girl doing the needle-sticking. I'm a few decades older and wiser, so it should be a piece of cake, right?
Um....I guess I forgot that the last time I went to Staples to make a bunch of copies, I was mystified by the newer, complicated, computerized copiers in the DIY section. I spotted someone I thought could show me how to use the machines. I called him over. He got my copies going within seconds by quickly pressing a few buttons on the keypad. I thanked his mom. He was nine years old.
We went to the barn armed to the teeth with our blood-draw kit, mint candy treats, a heavy leadrope and collar, my clippers with the #40 blade all lubricated up and ready to go and an extension cord, hoof-trimming tools (might as well get that done, too, while goats are restrained), Dad to restrain the goats, and Peter with the camera to film the humiliation to put on youtube at Merle's request so he can get a visual on how NOT to do a blood-draw from a goat.
Let's start with Te'a, I suggest, since she is the smallest and weakest. I didn't breed her for just that reason, but I do want to know if she has CAE, so she needed to get stuck with a needle, too. I set up shop in the spare stall, then we brought the poor, unsuspecting Princess Chunk in and Dad straddled her as I backed her into a corner. She was starting to get suspicious at this point that she was not in the stall for a three course meal all to herself.
I clipped a couple of acres of her neck, and Dad cranked her head up. I thought about the pictures I'd memorized, but more about all those years of watching the veterinarians draw blood from the horses I worked with. It looked so easy. And as a massage therapist, my palpation skills are excellent. Piece of cake. Find the trachea, then the brachiocephalicus, and right in between will be the jugular vein. Easy-peasy.
Wiggly-squiggly-thrashy-screamy! One-point-five cc's of blood later....that is, in the vacuum tube, there seemed to be several gallons on the goat, on my hands, on my pants, on my coat, on Dad's pants, on Dad's coat, on the bedding....And we needed 2-3 cc's for a proper sample.
An 18 gauge needle is a big needle. The vacuum tube gives you only one chance, then the vacuum is broken. I decided to switch to a tool I was familiar with, and ran up to the garage to get my stash of horse first aid supplies, which included a supply of 3 cc syringes and 20 and 22 gauge needles.
I've given hundreds of injections to horses over the years, and a few to other animals, so this should be easy....just reverse the plunger. Poor Te'a. We got her back into the corner with Dad acting as a stanchion and holding her head up, and I poked her yet again with another needle. She shrieked before I even touched her...reminded me of the spankings my mother tried to give me when I was little. I never could get the screams timed correctly. She somehow knew I was exaggerating.
I knew Te'a was exaggerating, but I still felt a little guilty for tormenting the poor thing because of my own incompetance. The smaller, more familiar needle worked just right, and I got 3 cc's of blood in a jiffy. I transferred it to a fresh vacuum tube and put her number on it for the lab. She got some mints and a pedicure and was released, shaking and stinkin' mad. Oh, well, I expect she will forgive me tonight when she gets her dinner, a handful of veggie scraps and a flake of dark green alfalfa hay. And another candy, to assuage my guilt.
Pics and youtube link to follow once my voice-activated computer gets home from work....IF they came out ok. Rest of the story later. Three more goats to go.
Oh the horror! 
I hope it went better with the others.......I feel for you, more than the goats! LOL
