Ok, firstly, the BeAnne update….

Last night she couldn’t stand at all, collapsing and full of ACP so we let her rest and if she pee’ed, well she pee’ed.  She was slightly incontinent – I worry about input and output.
She ate her supper happily enough but refused any water.  BeAnne has always been a good drinker (just like her Muzzah) so, after offering her water and being refused, I whizzed up a teaspoonful of cat food with water and she happily drank that down.

But what goes in must come out and BeAnne is a very private person about her toilet.  I tried manual expressing her bladder with some success but she was still obviously uncomfortable. At about 23:00, I went off to get changed for bed while Flossie stayed with her. BeAnne tried” to follow me and “walked”, if very wobbly.  With that knowledge, I picked her up and took her to the garden where she immediately squatted and had the most ginormous pee.  Brilliant.

OH brought down a single mattress and we slept together in the sitting room.

This morning, first thing I carried BeAnne to the garden where she pee’ed and then poo’ed.  As long as this method works, that is two healthcare hurdles cleared.

My little precious heaven has spent the rest of the day lying on the mattress, with either me or Daisy in attendance.  It is all she wants.  She tells us when she wants to go out and she is carried outside to do her business and carried her back in. I have not sedated her and have decided we will only do this if she is distressed/restless.

⾺ 🐴 ❤ 🐾 ⾺ 🐴 ❤ 🐾 ⾺ 🐴 ❤ 🐾 ⾺ 🐴 ❤ 🐾

One thing I had to do was move the Minions and Lyra into the Fat Fighters Field, where Fivla and Delia had already taken up residence last night.

Fivla has turned into a hippo and she must be thinner quickly or it will kill her.

The Minions have not met Fivla before and they politely introduced themselves.

Storm was in love.

Fivla was not impressed.

Anyway, everyone could do with losing some rotundness.

Being Thordale ponies, they all instantly got along without fuss.

(I am thrilled BeAnne can pee and poo outside and that Fivla is home – little things, little things)

Fivla came home (to slim down), Taktur was running up and down the fence and BeAnne went to tell him off.

Suddenly she wasn’t running.  She had collapsed.  Her left side didn’t work.

I was busy trying to put Fivla in the stable (away from her Lothario) while carrying BeAnne in my arms.  She just lay there.

OH called the vet surgery  – none at the surgery until 17:00 (it was 15:00) – so I called again and said I thought BeAnne had had a stroke and she needed to see a vet now.  We were told to come over immediately and a vet would attend.

Daisy drove me while I sat in the passenger seat with BeAnne lying in my arms.  All I could do was tell her I was there, I loved her and she must stay calm.

The vet examined BeAnne and her right side was now not functioning (which made me doubt that I had seen her left side give up, but later OH confirmed this too).

Her right front leg had no reflexes.  The other three legs worked.  She could not weight bear and she flopped over onto her side if we tried to stand her up.  At the moment, she is paralysed.

The vet weighed her, gave her an injection of ACP (Acepromazine) and then x-rayed her. BeAnne was a good girl.  She managed without an anaesthetic and I stayed at her head telling her how proud I was of her and that her mother loved her.  No wriggling, no distress.  Just total trust.

Diagnosis so far:
BeAnne has a spinal cord lesion at C7 (just between her shoulder blades).  There was no evidence on the x-ray of a tumour but this cannot be ruled out as x-rays shows bones far better than soft tissue.

Treatment:
The vet wanted BeAnne to have complete bed rest.  This is possible up to a point but BeAnne’s main aim in life is to be with me, wherever I go.  She suffers from separation anxiety (as do I from her) and will do anything to find me at the detriment of herself.

So the plan is that we are going to sedate her for the next few weeks.  She can wake up for food and to go outside (if she can weight bear, or I will use a towel sling to keep her upright) for a pee and poo and then she will have another pill (ACP) and go back to bed.  The vet has lent us a crate that is just the right size for her usual bed and it will keep her contained.

She will have steroids and sedation in pill form.

At the moment, BeAnne  is sleeping.  She managed a slight woof, when I came in from taking Fivla to her Fat Fighters Field (Daisy stayed with her).  We haven’t negotiated the pee’ing process yet but we will and if we don’t she has one of Lambie’s incontinence pads under her.  Everything is washable.  I don’t care.  I just want her to be comfortable and rested.

I will sleep on a mattress downstairs next to her crate so she knows I am near her.

There will be someone with her all the time – me or Daisy.  Daisy is her next best friend and a good substitute for me.

We will now start playing the waiting game.  If she doesn’t respond to bedrest and start to regain her legs, then she will be referred south for a CT or MRI scan and possible surgery.

The bit that I can’t get my head around is that our local hospital has a CT scanner but it is for humans only.  Words fail.

All your prayers please.  All your kind thoughts.  BeAnne needs them.  She is my little precious heaven.

Yesterday, after brushing and photographing phones (how we suffer), I wanted to do something I’ve been meaning to do for ages……

To sit in the field with Lambie’s father, Puzzah to take photos.  Puzzah has been sold so this will be my last chance.

Puzzah is an awesome dude – a registered Shetland flockbook ram.

He is also very tame so I had a chat too.

I wish we could have Puzzah but I think Lambie would be appalled at this idea and anyway Puzzah is sold and destined to make more little brothers and sisters for Lambie.

I am looking at both of them to see if there is a family resemblance.

Definitely the eyes.  They both have beautiful eyes.

And perhaps the Winning Smile, though Puzzah should practice this more and Lambie should tell him that the world would be his with a Winning Smile.

But, and now I have the answer, they both have the same platypus tail!

I always wondered where Lambie’s tail came from and even wondered if he was (said in a whisper) abnormal.

Suddenly, it all makes perfect sense!

I am glad that mystery is solved.

Recently Daisy has been visiting the Minions to check everyone is ok and to spend time with her Lyra.

Yesterday, she reported back that we should go and brush them as Silver, especially, had witches knots and mats in his mane.

So, armed with two good brushes, mane and tail conditioner spray, 6 carrots and headcollars, Flossie and I drove over to do our magic.

They all came trotting up, very pleased to see us.

If Storm could put his own headcollar on, he would – he luffs his yellow headcollar.

After much brushing, we achieved various visions of beauty.

Silver’s mane can now be bouffant.  No more mats and tats.

Tails were brushed and cut so they won’t drag in the impending winter mud.

I love this photo – Waffle and Delia together.  There are 20 years between them.

Delia was on good form.  She is happily fat and will winter out losing weight as nature intended. If she begins to find it difficult, we can put a rug on her but, at the moment, she has her own layers (*** cough *** spare tyres) to keep her warm.

Obviously, it wasn’t all brushing.  There was hugging…..

…. as well as the usual tickling and chatting.

So Flossie and I gave them a good check over and cut goobie bits out of ears.  Everyone was now beautiful again.

While we were doing all this, of course a certain little Tiddles was going through my pocketses!

Why am I not surprised!

Albie, lunchtime!

Camus, where is Albie?

What have you done with him?

Ta da!  The very definition of enchantment.

Little Albie loves his milk bucket.

And so do others….. the vultures endlessly circle overhead.

I am so proud of little Albie.  He is already showing huge Minion potential.

Albie practises his new talent on a very regular basis and we are fairly confident that Albie will be accepted immediately as One of Us when he eventually joins the herd.

Along with his wonderful derp face!

Once Albie has said he has had enough of his milk, we let the vultures in.

And then Camus does what Camus always does.

Puts his head in the bucket and rolls!

I have no idea why.