10/27/2026
Long read peeps…
Our first official vet here went well 🙏🏻
We saw Dr Gagliardi from Hess McWilliams. We have seen her multiple times for our calves and goats and she’s very knowledgeable and kind.
But not gonna lie I miss Dr Jaynes and Alicia terribly 💔
Bess got x-rays of her left back foot and fetlock, as well as, her front teeth. She shows some signs of EOTRH, an oral disease that leads to infected tooth roots. ( https://midwestvetdental.com/equine-dentistry/eotrh-syndrome/ ). Those X-rays will be reviewed by their team and dentist to see if it requires removal of the incisors, or if it’s something else. She had them floated as well and we are thinking she’s about 22. We also checked her eyes. I felt like the tissue around them was puffy, and the left a little thicker. They seem to be ok but we will keep a close eye on them as Belgians are very prone to eye cancer.
Her fetlock showed a bit of arthritis, but her foot x-rays were interesting, not good, but interesting. Dr Gagliardi is going to send them to a radiologist to give us the best plan. They will also go to our farrier so together they can come up with a plan. It is most likely that’s where her pain is coming from. For now pain management.
Our sweet gentleman (drumroll for name…) “Bohen” (sounds like Bow-en) had x-rays of his back left fetlock, and it’s nothing short of a disaster. Severe arthritis, multiple areas of regrowth, soft tissue thickening, an old injury probably, and most likely the reason that he has that back end hitch on the right side and maybe even part of the reason for that severely dropped pattern (because he’s been compensating for so long). There’s no perfect treatment, there’s not enough joint space left to inject so it’s pain management to keep him comfortable. Quarentine is a smaller space, and doesn’t seem too bothered, so we’ll see what happens once he’s out of it and moving more.
He also had his teeth done and we’re thinking he’s about 25. He had good grinding surfaces so his weight loss is probably inadequate nutrition. We’ll get that fixed up.
Poppy was also seen, overall they were impressed with her ability to get around. The wound that she arrived this spring has improved greatly, but it’s still not closed so we’re going to try one more thing and if that doesn’t work, she will surgically close. It’s a difficult area, it’s right on her sternum. She definitely wins the most perfect patient ever. She just snuggled up and let the doctor do whatever.
And then…our newest herd members got a check up.
I’d like to introduce you to Jeffrey and Johnny (after our dear friend John R.)
Jeffrey is a premature Holstein. He was born a month early and he’s two weeks now. He has a cough and some congestion in his lungs so he got some antibiotics. He was well enough to get his vaccines too. Johnny is a one week old Guernsey, who is absolutely hysterical. Vaccines for him too.
While we wait for Bess and Bohen’s treatment plan we’ll keep plugging away.
Thank you so much to everybody that donated towards their care, the match was a god sent because their vet bill is definitely going to be way more than we thought so I really appreciate all of you.
Thank you again. They wouldn’t have this chance to fund some relief and peace without you!!!!!
