Axle, Bert. . . Whatever next?

The blog has been a little lacking as I have had a cold and a liaison with the dentist - which I wish to forget about!

I have finally had the results from the post mortem on Axle.  Some samples were sent away to VLA for further tests as the vet had noted a reddened area of the stomach and she queried whether this might be one of the clostridia diseases not covered by Lambivac.  She did get a worm egg count but not hugely high.  This was concerning as I had only wormed in October.  There was no evidence of coccidia which was another thing I thought might have caused a problem.  He did have a Baycox the week before he died so it may have been that was present but gone before the PM.  Any way, no evidence of other clostridia found by VLA so it wasn't that.  We decided that he was weak and underweight so the worms effected him badly and the mild winter has not helped my worming regime.  They have all been wormed since and I am taking some samples in for testing tomorrow.  Always I like to learn something from a death like this and try to convince myself that I could not have done more - but in this case, I think I could have done more and should have had a sample of his poo tested earlier.  I shall try to learn from this experience.

My biggest worry now, though, is Bert.  I went into Blandford this morning after doing the hay and water (picked up a parking ticket as well - which I could kick myself about as I did the same thing as I did before Christmas - got a ticket for half an hour when I should have got an hour) and when I came back I checked everyone was okay.  Bert was standing bu the gate and I went over to give her a rub on the neck which she enjoys.  As I did this she lay down and my first thought was - she's not pregnant - but then she rolled sideways and lay with her legs out grumbling.  It seems like she has a tummy ache so I stood around in the rain for ages waiting for a poo sample and am hoping she will pick up by tomorrow  - I really don't want anything to happen to Bert!  Here she is in the summer!