Occasionally Happy Trails Animal Caregiver/Manager Ashley Ehmann loads up some of our animal friends and makes the trek to OSU to save costs and consolidate the many veterinary needs encountered at the sanctuary. Instead of recapping we decided to let you take a peak at the inner conversation and updates from our latest trip….
Everyone made it back safely from OSU vet hospital.
First, I just wanted to give a big shout out to our awesome interns. You guys are doing great and are helping out a lot with making the farm look amazing.
Huge thank you to Ditte for accompanying me on the trip to OSU. You were a big help with handling animals, helping the time go by, and making the horrible traffic and crazy drivers less stressful.
Ok, now for the long list of animal health updates. Bear with me, there are quite a few.
Jolie- She and Dulce are finally home. They are temporarily living in the horse barn just to make sure Jolie has time to relax and heal. Thanks Ashley for having their stall ready and making them comfortable! I put a bucket of sweet feed in one of the horse feed bins for those guys. Jolie’s surgery went great. They removed the mass and she had a partial mastectomy. The cancer nodules and gland were submitted for histopathology. The results of this were that her mass was an adenocarcinoma. Apparently, this type often recurs. However, the vet said that pigs can live for several years with this diagnosis and still have a normal quality of life. For her follow up care, make sure to check Jolie’s incision and let me know immediately if there is swelling, redness, discharge, or heat. Since she spent so much time at OSU, her incision already looks great, and I think we are mostly in the clear for infection. For the future, while loving on this gorgeous lady, please make sure to feel around and let me know if you find any lumps on her so she can get checked out right away.
Dulce- She is doing great. She was an awesome friend and companion for Jolie during her recovery. She doesn’t even seem to mind the horse barn. She had her toes trimmed, and had bloodwork done. The results of the bloodwork showed that she was slightly anemic, but otherwise healthy. The vets didn’t see anything that concerned them.
Odessa- She is doing fine. The vet wasn’t concerned about the lumps at all. She said based on their location and how they felt when palpated and how they looked, that they were likely just due to a reaction at the site of a vaccination. Apparently she can get little bumps and have a reaction even though she was vaccinated awhile ago. The lump on the left did seem slightly abscessed though. While feeling the lumps, the vet did notice that her lymph nodes were swollen. She ran a CBC and did an aspiration and smear on the lump. Nothing irregular was found. She said to monitor the lumps and if they get significantly larger, or if there is heat/redness, she may need to be checked again.
Peaches- They were unable to see anything out of the ordinary with just a simple exam. They did some radiographs to find out what could be going on inside her ear. Luckily the bones and eardrum all appeared to be good. There were some soft tissue changes in her right ear. They think this could be due to either an infection, inflammation, or possibly something more serious like a tumor/mass. For now, we are hoping it is an infection. They prescribed an antibiotic to hopefully wipe it out. She got one shot today, and will get another on the 25th. She also got banamine for any swelling/pain. If there is no improvement, the next step would be to have a CT done. This would give them a better image of her ear so they will know more about what is going on in there. For now, just keep an eye on her. If you notice her get significantly worse, or notice any symptoms of dizziness (drooling, stumbling, vomiting…) please let me know. Tonight, we locked her in the middle stall with Yamka. She is still coming out of her anesthesia, and we didn’t want covington or houdini to bother her. (Covington was already trying to challenge her). When we left, she was happily sleeping in a mountain of straw.
Willis- He is doing very well. Luckily, so far it looks like he is just old, arthritic, and crusty. He had his hooves trimmed. His tusks weren’t trimmed because his gums are overgrown. To trim the tusks, he would have to have surgery to resect his gums. Since he isn’t really a threat with his tusks and they are fairly dull, it was best to leave them. Just watch him to make sure he is eating alright. The vet ran a CBC on him, and didn’t find anything to be worried about. He seems to be shrinking just because of his age and arthritis. The only irregularity with his bloodwork was a mildly elevated white blood count. The white blood count along with the inflammation of his skin showed that he could possibly have a skin parasite. He was dewormed in case he does have something. Keep an eye on him to see if his skin gets any worse.
I think that is pretty much everything. If I think of anything else, or if someone’s health changes I will let everyone know.
Thanks,
Ashley
