RIP Noddy

We lost Noddy a few days ago. She lived to the not inconsiderable age of 14 years which for a sheep was pretty good going. Our friend Sid had made his annual visit to shear both Noddy and Rosie and we came to the sad conclusion that Noddy was now too frail to undergo shearing. On welfare grounds (heavy fleece and the strong risk of being fly blown) we had to put her to sleep.
Noddy and her brother Big Ears had been born in Devon when I had a large flock of sheep. Noddy was a weakly triplet,and Big Ears was rejected by his mum, therefore both had to be brought up by hand. Fortunately I had sold the flock before the devastating foot and mouth outbreak, but I kept back Noddy and Big Ears because by this time they had become extremely tame. Big Ears was a one off, I think that because his mum had so little time for him he much preferred humans and considered us his family. Most orphan sheep retain a certain wildness but Big Ears behaved just like a family dog, he loved to have his tummy tickled and we used to have a real job keeping him out of our large Devon kitchen! Big Ears became one of the largest sheep I have ever come across and in keeping with his name had huge ears. One day, when we were still in Devon, I realised that Noddy and Big Ears were missing. I looked high and low to no avail. Finally I got into our ancient rather battered car and went up and down the lanes trying to catch a glimpse of them. I only came across one flock of sheep (there must have been 200 or so in one field) and just thought I would see if they happened to be in amongst them, (I had little hope), anyway I called out and to my absolute amazement I saw one sheep look up and that sheep had big ears.... two sheep made their way out of the flock and ran down the field, I opened the gate, opened the car door and they hopped in the back and I drove them home. They never strayed again. We lost Big Ears a few years ago but Noddy lived to a great old age.

Good News

We are all delighted that Malapropism recovered from his operation and he came back to us at the weekend! he has lost a fair amount of condition which is hardly surprising but is otherwise on quite good form. I have to thank our vets Mcgonnell and Gillatt for their amazing diagnostic skills and care and also Jessica at Valley Equine in Lambourn, without their help Mally would not be with us today. He has to undertake a month's box rest with walking in hand two or three times a day and after that he should be good enough to go out in the field. He is already showing a bit of a cheeky side, he is fed up that he can't be fed hard feed yet and is a bit disgruntled about having to eat soaked grass pellets but almost turns himself inside out if he sees a packet of polos!
We are thrilled to bits to have him back in one piece - the sleepless nights and nursing were worth it.

Poor Malapropism

Only just a couple of days after I wrote about Malapropism (or Mally), he appeared to become even quieter than usual. We had used him in the photograph for the local newspaper article about the children and young people who had successfully completed the OCN course. He was so so withdrawn on this occasion, that although he had eaten up in the morning, we took his temperature - it was sky high, (39.5, it should be around 37.5). Gudrun our vet came to see him, gave him a good check over and administered painkillers and anti-biotics, thinking perhaps that he had some sort of infection. His temperature came down and he appeared to be responding well to the medication. He seemed to be uncomfortable and off colour the following morning and this time Richard came to see him, we were both beginning to suspect that there was something else going on. Richard scanned his belly, and that together with a peritoneal tap confirmed that he was suffering from peritonitis. His medication was increased and Richard was optimistic that we had caught it early enough. Mally deteriorated that night and I feared for him but yet again our vets (this time Richard's partner Andrew) came along and managed to stabilise him. Our vets came along at least once a day for the next week and I kept an eye on him every two or three hours during the night for the next eight nights. He went downhill on Thursday and Claire detected an impaction, he was then tubed and we hoped that he would recover. On Friday morning he became very ill again and Gudrun and I began to worry that this was becoming a welfare issue. The impaction hadn't shifted despite Richard's own recipe of solution that is proven to be extremely efficient in clearing impactions of the gut. Mally was such a good patient throughout, and because of his determination (and ours!!) we decided to send him to hospital. Nicky, from Marlborough Horse Transport arranged for James to come and pick him up within the hour and off he went into the capable hands of Jessica, the surgeon at Valley Equine in Lambourn. Mally was operated on Friday afternoon, and as Richard had suspected all along, he was suffering from a ruptured abcess in his large colon and another couple of tears in his large colon. The operation was a success, Mally came round alright and Jessica rang me yesterday to say that he was doing as well as could be expected and 'so far so good'. I'll keep you posted.