Bandit has had quite an ordeal today..from laying on his side moaning...to me giving him a mega dose of advil...then forcing him on his feet and a slow walk to the barn. I left for about 4 hours to come back and find him again laying on his side with his feet stuck out..moaning. Guess the advil wore off.. With my limited knowledge of equine science, I diagnosed him with colic..called on a few friends for advice and decided to either go get the rifle or call the vet. Well, after some thought as to the celebrity status of Bandit the Donkey on Wise Family Farm, and the flack I might get for curing the problem using the Wild West cures for ailing horses, I called the vet. He couldnt come right away, but said he would come early dark thirty. He had me go fetch some muscle relaxer from the clinic and give him a shot to get Bandits gut to relax before he got there. I called Bandits favorite ranch hand to administer the shot, as I dont have my donkey-shot certificate. She administered the shot and after a few minutes, we both coaxed Bandit to his feet so we could try and get him in the barn. About 45 minutes later after pushing and pulling a 1200 pound mule-headed donkey with a muscle relaxer fix no more than a 100 feet to the barn, I was rethinking the Rifle-Shot instant cure. However, before I could put that plan in action, the vet rolled up like the U.S. Calvary coming to the rescue. After his careful examination, he declared Bandits problem as too rich of a diet and very sore feet. So, on top of the muscle relaxer, Doc shot Bandit in the vein with some powerful pain killer anti-inflamitory. He gave me some paste type drug of the same type to administer twice per day for about 10 days..and to start it tonight about bedtime. At this point, after getting the bill, Im thinking we may have to start charging for photo ops with Bandit. Ok..so, I paid the good Doctor and said many thanks for his barn call. Well, I left bandit in the stall, eating hay and certainly feeling better. A few minutes ago, I got out of my comfortable recliner and walked to the barn so I could administer his first semi daily pain killer fix. I fully expected Bandit to be laying down off his sore feet. What I found when I turned on the barn light, was a fully stoned Jack-Donkey, sound asleep in a pain-killer/muscle relaxed drug induced coma on his feet! Even the light didnt wake that half mule 4 legged over fed high maintainence celebrity. He roused up, startled by me poking a syringe in his mouth to administer another fix and then bit down on the syringe and broke his drug paraphanalia. I wonder if they allow use of equine-medical marjiauna...for the owner!
Posted on: Tue, 20 Jan 2015 04:09:24 +0000