Healthy Animals

Last night, after spending time with some of our animals, I realized that several of them have experienced dramatic improvements in their health. My black lab Ginny has food allergies and I've worked with the vet and on my own trying to find a suitable dog food. I've tried all kinds in order narrow it down to what exactly she is allergic too. I've read labels, eliminated grain, eliminated various types of meat, even looked at the various additives, to no avail. I recently saw a new kind of food and I thought, what the heck. Ginny had been on it for a couple of months when I realized her symptoms were almost gone - yay!

We also have two goats that have struggled with health issues. They were extremely emaciated when hubby and daughter purchased them (LONG story) and had digestive issues. I wormed them several times and even had them on supplemental grain for a while. I'm happy to report that one of the goats is now the perfect weight and the other is almost there.

Two of our new baby goats were a bit sickly when they were born but with a little bit of tender loving care, plus some Pepto Bismal and Goat Drench, they're perfectly healthy.

In addition to the above animals, we have a crippled chicken called Honey who seemed to have a miserable life but I couldn't bring myself to have her put down. She was sleeping under the hen house - we weren't sure if it was just too much effort for her to get up in it or if the other chickens picked on her. She also had a lot of feathers missing which I attributed to the roosters making her a "favorite" since she couldn't run very fast. We took care of the rooster problem and her feathers are growing in nicely. I've never actually seen the other chickens pick on her and she now seems to be spending more time with them, wandering around the pastures and gardens, looking for seeds and bugs. The great news is that she's now sleeping with the other chickens.

Now I'm down to a sick house cat - food allergies too. I found that the brand that makes my dog food makes a similar food for cats. So, I'm going to give it a try and keep my fingers crossed. Nothing brings a smile to my face quicker than having a sick animal recover.