Lady Baa Baa Bloated Yesterday

baymule

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Yesterday afternoon I let the girls out to graze in the yard. We have a lot of clover, it's going to seed, so let them have it. I sat outside with them and let them graze for 45 minutes. I gradually let them on the clovers to keep them from bloating. I also set out baking soda for them, they have mineral and dolomite lime. Lady Baa Baa didn't graze with the flock, she just stood around. That was not like her, so I just watched. When I out them up, they ran to the lot to get the feed I was rattling in the can. Lady Baa Baa walked slowly to the lot. Something was definitely wrong. Her sides bulged out, bloat. I got mineral oil and a drench gun. I caught and held her, BJ slowly gave her the mineral oil, stopping frequently to let her swallow, bite my finger and wiggle. Finally it was all gone.

When I have had a horse with colic, after drenching with mineral oil, I walked them. I walked the horse until he/she farted, pooped, farted some more, and got annoyed with me. Sometimes it took hours.

So I walked Lady Baa Baa. I got behind her and pushed her butt. She walked away and stopped, I pushed, she walked away and stopped, I pushed.....Around and around the lot, down to the hay bale, back to the lot, back to the hay bale. When she stopped and my pushing didn't get her walking again, I massaged both sides of her belly. That felt good, her lip quivered. She stopped to poop. Victory. Things were moving. I walked her for 3 hours. She pooped 8 or 9 times. Her belly went down a little, her eyes brightened up. She was feeling better. It was after 7, so I went in and threw us a quick supper together. I checked on her several more times, it was obvious that she felt better.

This morning she was back to her old self. I went over in my mind, what could she have bloated on? They have already been grazing, she didn't even graze very long. Finally it hit me, the birdseed! We have a bird feeder and the birds scatter a lot of feed. The sheep hit it, scarfing up whatever was on the ground. That must have been it. I almost lost my Lady Baa Baa to freakin birdseed on the ground.
 

frustratedearthmother

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Oh my! That's such a horrible feeling. So glad you caught it in time and did all the right stuff to get her through it.
 

baymule

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She is one of my original sheep. I'm not ready to let her go. I had a horse die of colic, by the time I found him, green juice was running out his nose. It was pretty awful. I will do everything I can to save animals from such a death.
 

sumi

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Good job helping her!

So sorry to hear about your horse :hugs
 

baymule

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Good job helping her!

So sorry to hear about your horse :hugs
That was years ago. We lived in town, worked full time and had our horses on 16 acres we owned just outside of town. I went out to feed in the evenings. If I had been able to catch it sooner, I could have saved him, but he was dying when I went out to feed.
 

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