Yet another interesting couple of weeks has passed. I experimented a bit with a muzzle for Brina so that she would be able to roam up at the paddock while I was doing the horses. The theory behind the muzzle was that she wouldn't be able to pick up anything that could get stuck in the stricture. In the beginning she still managed to get a bit of horse poop and horse food. I got hold of a old horse nose-net and cable tied that into the bottom of the muzzle so that she wouldn't be able to pick things up but would still be able to drink. It appeared to work really, really well. The day that I tried it I would have spent about an hour up at the paddock while she got hold of no horse poop or food. I was THRILLED!!! However, I left her alone for less than 5 minutes as I put Spykle back in the paddock and came back to find her with her muzzle still on but she was chewing on a blinking cow horn!!!! I have no idea how she managed it!!! I ripped the muzzle off and stuck my hand in her mouth to get all the bits out. I didn't know if I had got them but I can say that madam was VERY pleased with herself.
She seemed completely fine so we headed home and I had my fingers firmly crossed. I gave her, her dinner but within a few minutes she had regurged it but only food came out so, if a cow horn had been blocking, she had not managed to get it out. :-(
The next morning I gave her a tiny bit of breakfast but that too came up. Back to VSG we went. The vet and I came to same conclusion that Brina clearly had a stricture and that it really had to be dealt with so back into hospital she went. They had to do some x-rays to make sure that there was no sign of pneumonia before they could do the procedure. All was clear so they 'did' her that afternoon.
It all went really well. The vet was pleased to find that her stricture was 0.9cm so they stretched it to 1.2cm. What they found lurking in her oesophagus was bark!!!! From the garden!!!! The best bit was they showed me a video of the procedure, it was really, really cool!!!! And it is very reassuring to actually SEE how well she has healed. She has two more dilations in the future, one will take her out to 2cm and then she will get another to take her out to almost normal.
Since the procedure Brina has been on lockdown, I am not taking ANY risks with her. She is on mashed food instead of liquidised and is looking really well. She has lost a lot of weight but is slowly putting it back on.
On the horsey front I have finally ridden Spyke!! YAY!!!! It is so wet though that I HAD to road ride. I am a very nervous road rider so to go for my first ride of the season along the road was a challenge for me. Of course, Spyke didn't put a foot wrong, bless him. I have only managed to one ride though as the weather is still very wet. But DaylightSavings starts in less than two weeks so hopefully, we will get going properly then.
In the weekend we celebrated my Dad's 70th birthday. It was really, really nice!!!! Maree and Andrew came up from HB and Iain and Stu were there. We went out on the Waipa Delta. Poor Dad though, we made sure we had helium balloons and banners and things and I think Dad was hoping for anonymous. He he. The meal on Delta was a hot rock meal which was really good fun and the lamb that I had was delicious and very tender. Happy 70th Dad. Love you. :-)
I have some pikkies but my camera won't talk to this computer so I will have to work on getting them on here.
A long, dry, summer
12 years ago
