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| Just Rico stressing me out as per usual |
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| Love that I gave him sand, do not love that he only really used it when he was sick |
Rico is thirty years old, so when I got a question "are you coming down to the ranch today" one Thursday in late August, I had a bit of a sinking feeling since I normally don't come down on Thursdays. I immediately called and it turned out that Rico had laid down and was not getting up after not wanting to eat the night before or that morning. Again, he's fine now.
I managed to not cry until I got to my car, including when I had to tell my personal trainer that I'd be leaving our session early to go check on my older horse. I messaged my manager and said I wouldn't be back online until at least the next morning, if not Monday.
Rico did manage to get back up and when the vet arrived, I was about 25 minutes away. I was able to be on the phone listening to the vet while she treated Rico for what we initially thought was colic. But he didn't have the classic colic signs and was rapidly developing a fever, suggesting that it was an illness of sorts.
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| Anything he wants, including stealing TC's dinner while being loose in the barn lol! |
By the time I got there, it was pretty clear that we weren't going to lose him that day. The plan was to give him banamine to help control the fever. And by the time he woke up from being lightly sedated for the exam, he was already feeling way better and was curious about the hay he had ignored. He also "escaped" from his stall and made a beeline to the front gate wanting to go down the road. Sorry buddy, we don't know if you're contagious.
We put together a plan to keep food in him. He was VERY interested in munching on the Teff hay he normally ignores, and I'm busy writing a book How to Make Your Cat Fat from having a cat with stomach (and liver!) cancer, so we ended up feeding him quite literally whatever he wanted. Extra grain (that he normally gets) and whatever hay he wanted.
Luckily the end of this story is that by Saturday, he was back to normal and by Sunday he had been off the banamine for 24 hours. That was a huge relief because I had left for a short trip to Las Vegas with my sister-in-law that Friday, so I spent a lot of that trip worrying about Rico.
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| The reason for the trip, my SIL is a huge BSB fan and I was just so enamored by the nostalgia and how amazing the Sphere is!! Also they were SO good, totally recommended |
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| Got update photos like this one to assure me that he was feeling better |
I know the day will one day come, but I am so glad that he is now feeling much better and it was just a scare. He just wanted to round out the vet bills for me so that all three of my animals saw the vet between July 1 and August 31. Shout out to Rico! And to my vet. And to TC for keeping him company and not getting jealous and demanding to see the vet again for himself.
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| Between all my animals, we're keeping the vets very busy this summer |
