Hi Rick,
Yesterday's vet is a new employee of the local large animal clinic. I liked him a lot better than the others. He confesses that he is a "horse man" but he seemed to know what he was doing and I really appreciated how he handled himself around the sheep. No sudden movements, never looked them in the eye, was gentle, and respected them. And he was eager to learn what I had to teach him about blackbellies since he'd never seen one before. (That always wins brownie points with me!) The cast he put on the ewe would definitely work for any medium to large animal, but I read that breaks that are higher on the leg are much more difficult to treat and often warrant simply putting the animal down.
I will let you know the cost when I get the bill. The farm visit will be around $65, plus supplies. I had him give my two dogs their rabies shots while he was here to save me the cost of yet another office visit and trip to the vet. The "unknown" is the hour of time that he spent putting the cast on. When the vet was here last spring to pull that lamb, he surprised me by charging me just the farm visit. Hopefully that will be the case here.
If my description of the procedure can help ANYONE save a sheep and save some money, that will be great. I had thought about taking pictures, but I was stressed and I also needed to hold the ewe down. No time for photos, but nevertheless I hate missed opportunities.
Carol
At 06:47 PM 12/7/2004 -0800, you wrote:
Carol, I think you've shared before that you don't have the best of "sheep-vets" near you, and so I suspect that the vet who showed you how to splint and cast the ewe's leg showed you something that would work for any medium to large animal?
The way you've described the procedure was good enough for some of us to possibly do the same to broken legs our own someday. I am intested in knowing the actual cost that you didn't mention? Obviously it was well worth the money because the ewe was pregnant and will be pregnant for years to come, not to mention because of what you learned about the procedure.
Rick Krach Auburn, California (530) 889-1488
From: "Carol J. Elkins" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>Subject: [blackbelly] update on ewe with broken leg Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Okay, while it is fresh in my mind, here is what the vet did and what Ilearned:
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