Wednesday 30 June 2010

Poor Barry!

Sadly, it was as I thought - poor Barry Norton has a hernia! My vet wasn't on duty today so the one who came is going to consult with him tomorrow on the best way forward and we are going to try to avoid surgery. When we weighed him yesterday I was worried as he had barely put on anything in three days - still lively but something obviously was not right. I looked at Belinda's udder and she had a sore on it and appeared not to be keen to let Barry fed so I was going to consult the vet on that anyway but I checked Barry over and noticed a squashy lump around his navel. It didn't look like an infection and as soon as I read the words - umbilical hernia - on Debbie at Barnacre's blog, I thought that is it. Sadly, the vet didn't think there was much we could do about Belinda's udder as putting anything on it would cause more of a feeding problem. I have fly sprayed her tail and legs and will just have to monitor Barry's weight closely. I presented the vet with a bag of fecal samples and she gave me several doses of oxytocin to try on Bert when she produces - we don't think it will work as it will only help the milk down if there is some there in the first place and I am not sure if there is. I then dug the frozen goo I found in the field out of the freezer which the vet had a good play with once it had defrosted - it's like fun putty! She said it looked very healthy so not to worry.

Sam has been in a bit of a daft mood tonight. His helping seems to involve a lot of roaring around on his quad forgetting everything I have asked him to do - it will all end in tears!

8 comments:

  1. Best wishes to Barry and Belinda...hopefully a little plateau at this stage isn't too worrying...hoping all is well.

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  2. Poor Barry, hopefully the hernia will be able to be pushed back up and with a hernia strap on for a while maybe close itself without surgery.

    Have you tried udder cream on Belinda? It worked for me the year before last, helped to get rid of the sore and kept the flies off.

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  3. We have successfully used a hernia belt on a cria which we purchased from Alpaca & llama care. Quite tricky to put on with a wriggly cria, but it did work.

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  4. Just weighed Barry this evening and today he has put on a little weight!
    I ws going to try udder cream but the vet seemed to think it might interfere with feeding - I think I will still use it though as it must be painful.
    And I am just about to order the hernia belt - stupidly, I didn't realise there was such a thing! - thank you for the comments.
    I have also received an idea involving tennis or golf balls and a body wrap!!

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  5. I hope that you soon sort Barry Norton out...we once had a foal with a hernia....and it did heal without surgery...it took time..but he did grow out of it..and you would never know...Jayne

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  6. Grey haired neighbour30 June 2010 at 22:49

    Are you quite sure that all unusual substances have now been removed from the freezer, Rosemary?
    I have visions of Carl firing up the barbecue, fetching the beef-burgers........

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  7. Hello,
    Love following your blog! We have successfully used a hernia belt on 2 cria. We got it in a couple opf days...postage expensive but when needs must eh? Looked a bit odd but worth it. As it involves lots of velcro which seems to stick in all the wrong places...easiest with 2 of you! We just checked each day that it was still in the correct place and it took about 3 weeks to sort out the hernias. Now it's always on hand!
    Good luck Barry Norton!
    Judi

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  8. I still have one rather unusual thing in the freezer - better not tell you what that is but it would certainly create quite a sensation on the BBQ!!
    Thank you, Judi - hernia belt is ordered and in the mean time I am going to invent something - more news on that tonight!!

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