Monday, February 9, 2009

The Fun Never Ends

It feels good to be home again. We just came off of three nights straight. One afternoon of sleep and we feel rejuvenated. Abbey my foundling diva cat was making weird squeaky noises last night. I got up to check on her and she was throwing up clear liquid. I had no clue but felt that we should wait and see how she was in the morning. She wasn't lethargic and was acting ok. This morning when we got up she seemed fine. Then around 2pm she started throwing up again. She refused wet cat food. Firstly, wet cat food is a big treat in our house. No cat turns it down. Abbey actually growled at the bowl. Ok, telephone call to the vet and away we went. Her blood work came back good, a little on the dehydrated side but ok. She had air in her colon. No blockage that we could see. So, we start conservatively. She got 300ml Ringers Lactate (glucose, electrolytes, etc...) under the skin of her shoulders. She looked like a camel when we left the vet.
Here she looks like she has biceps, we will call her Arnold for now, until the fluid drops again and into her chest, then we will shift to Marylin Monroe. She doesn't look very amused here. We do call her Diva for a reason.

I'm not getting close. She may be declawed (previous owners doing) but she can still pack a punch.

We are still cooking 1/2 cup oats in a big pot of water and adding it to a big scoop of chicken pellets for the girls twice a day. I don't know why they want this but it gets them to eat the pellets. Otherwise, the pellets just sit there. They do not eat them. They will eat the corn and any veggies but refuse to eat layer pellets. They're feathers are getting shinny and their cheeks are filling out. I was really shocked when I picked up a hen the other day and there was just breast bone, no meat.

Here is Izzy, our no tail/coccyx cat (foundling). She is laughing at me for making 2 meals a day for the chickens too. I'm taking a firm stand come spring. No more buffet for the hens. I will be so glad when they can free range again. I know they miss it. I miss the green grass. We purchased several books the other night. One is Storey's Guide to Raising Pigs. I have also been doing alot of reading of blogs about pigs. I wonder if pigs have to have 2 cooked meals a day? Hmmm....... Good night and much love from Mainely Ewes Farm.
Kelly


2 comments:

Peggy said...

My chickens won't eat laying pellets but love the laying crumbles. I mix it with scratch corn. Whiskers (my cat) is driving me nuts right now. He screams if he doesn't know where I am. He also has decided he wants to eat breakfast at 3 am and then 30 minutes later wakes me up to go outside. He doesn't use the literbox but is like a dog and does his business outside. If I close the bedroom door he stands outside and screams like he is being tortured.

Anonymous said...

I have never thought about cooking oatmeal for my chickens. Mine do not like the pellets either but I mix it in with corn and they eventually will eat it but it is usually 2 cups of corn to 1 cup of pellets.