Noah finds trouble

I have been staying busy with sick calves, moving cows, sorting cows, and walking in cow-muck deep enough to suck my shoe right off my foot, and it happened so fast that I set my naked foot down before I realized my shoe was elsewhere. I had to stick that nasty foot back into the shoe and move on, cause Kyle and I were in the middle of sorting the calves away from their mothers so that the youngsters could get some shots. It was about 6 hours later that I finally was able to get out of my shoes and wash my foot.



On Saturday, Paul and I were back to getting the pasture ready to move cows and their calve into it. I continued to work on the water troth, while Paul was on fence duty. His dog, Oscar, and Noah went with him. Well, those buggers took off to the creek for a wild day of chasing rabbits and whatever else they could rustle up. They departed at about noon, and didn't return until after 9pm. I was sick with worry. Poor Paul saw how worried I was and went out to look for them in the dark (we'd both been out several times prior).

I knew that, as long as Oscar had not returned, the two rascals were still together. I really feared that they would get separated and Noah, being young and stupid, would be lost forever. But, they did return, but not unscathed. Noah had about 20 porcupine quills on his lips, as well as several scratches on his face and body from tearing through brush. He looked like he'd lost at least 5lbs and gained about 10 years.

Noah wasn't letting me anywhere near those quills, so I gave him a double dose of tranquilizer I had from one of Maddie's surgeries. He was sedated enough for me to remove all but on deeply embedded quill. I let it rest for the night, and we both fell asleep on the bed.

After a couple of hours of sleep I woke because it was too still. Noah was still lying next to me, but I could not feel or hear him breathing. I put my hand on his side, and there in the dark I could not feel his heart or chest moving, I switched on the light and looked at him. Nothing was moving. I put my hand back on his chest. Nothing. I lifted his head a bit. Nothing. I sank inside. I thought he was dead, and that I had killed him. I started pushing on him harder and I touched his sore lip where the remaining quill was. He roused. Thank God. I honestly thought for a moment that I had killed my dog. I woke many times that night to rouse him. He was in too deep of a sleep. In the morning he was okay, but a bit groggy.

I took him to the vet to get the last quill removed, and had a whole new stressful experience. The vet gave Noah a small dose of an anaesthesia drug, and went under seeing double and flailing about a bit. As he came out of it, the vet allowed me to leave with him. He was out cold, with his tongue hanging out the side of his mouth and his head limp as a rag doll's. He started coming out of it on the way home, but with much bigger thrashings than he had on his way down. I had to pull over and hold him down for a bit. When I could, I got back into the truck and rushed the rest of the way home. There, I spent the next hour restraining Noah, to keep him from bonking his head on things. I understand that there is an antidote for these drugs so that the animal comes out of that state quickly. Next time I see that vet, I will ask why in the heck he didn't give it to Noah.

So, you'd think the excitement was over with Noah. No, not just yet. Last night he decided to swallow a latex glove. Why, I have no idea. He is not the chewing nut that some of my previous pups have been. I was having a hard time keeping food down, but that has passed. Now, we are careful observation mode in case he gets blocked up. The best and most probable outcome, at this point is that it will just outcome the other end. My guess is that it will be very easy to see.

Tomorrow, I'm back to stacking 1000lb round bales of hale using the backhoe for 4-5 hours. I think its time to change my email from rancher-to-be, don't you?