Well That Was Awful!

Living on a livestock farm, you learn to expect the unexpected. Sometimes things go perfectly; weather is good, cows are fat, calves are thriving, horse rides well and everyone is happy. Other times, things go BAD, weather sucks, water lines freeze, something breaks, cows need help calving or the horse is a total bone head! These things are all part of the business and I totally get that. As a farmer, you work very hard to make sure that you avoid all the bad stuff! Unfortunately, no matter how hard you try, sometimes the bad stuff happens anyway! So here is where my story starts....

**warning: for those of you that are faint of heart...this might not be your cup of tea**

When you have a cattle farm, there are a lot of things you hope never happen! One of the big ones is PROLAPSE. If you don't know what a prolapse is...google it...think insides on the outside! I really don't want to go into the nasty details but it is YUCKY!

In all my life, I have only seen one prolapse. It was on a cow, and thank God, it did not belong to us. While this condition looks bad, and treatment for this is pretty invasive (if you know what I mean) it is treatable and luckily, a vet got to that cow just in time! During that experience, I thought to myself...God I hope this never happens at our house! As you know, we work very hard to provide a safe and comfortable life for our animals, so of course, I don't want the bad stuff coming our way!

Well, last night the bad stuff came to our house....PROLAPSE! Of course Andy wasn't home (you will learn in later posts that the bad stuff always happens when I am flying solo)! While I pride myself on being pretty resourceful, I wasn't sure what to do in this situation! After gagging a little at the shocking sight, I called the vet. Luckily they were open until 7 pm and it was now 6:15 pm. (all of you animal people know that animal health emergencies only happen on Sundays and holidays when it costs 3 times as much to fix, so I was feeling pretty lucky). I knew I had to get this animal to the vet! You are probably all wondering, why isn't the vet coming to you or how in the world are you going to get a cow on a trailer and to the vet with Preslee in tow in 45 minutes!!!!

Well.....here is the catch...it wasn't a cow! It was a barn cat! I know barn cats are a dime a dozen, but he is a good barn cat and I felt pretty sorry for him! Gabe (the barn cat) was in bad shape! I was certain that this was going to be expensive and I did not want poor Gabe suffering in the barn with this awful problem until he eventually died. So, I packed up the cat, met Andy in the driveway and off we went to the vet. I was certain we were euthanizing this cat! I hated that option, but what else do you do for a barn cat with his insides on the outside!

Evidently, euthanasia is not the only option for a prolapsed barn cat! After about an hour of cleaning and I am not sure what else (I really didn't want to get my face into what was going on back there), Gabe was fixed! Gabe is now resting comfortably in our heated barn office, on a nice warm bed, with a bowl of soft cat food and a new litter box!

I believe in my heart that we have a moral obligation to take care of our animals. Between the dog, the cats, the horse and the cows...they all get the same care and attention! I hope and pray there is not a next time when it comes to animal health emergencies; however, I am a realist, so I know better! Let's just hope next time isn't for a long time! Yay for Gabe and thanks Dr. Tamer Abdalla (Mooresville Veterinary Hospital) for your expertise!

here is Gabe still pretty "loopy" from the drugs