This morning started like every other morning. I took Daryl to work (we are still sharing cars) then when I got back home, I changed clothes and headed out to let the dogs out. Once the dogs were out and petted, I went to feed the cattle. It’s always funny how the cattle act when I feed them. I open the door and tell them ‘Good Morning’, and they all come running. The usually run through the yard full speed and stop right in front of me – – but not this morning. They were acting weird and no one came to get petted. Then I saw it. I saw that Rion was bloated. I couldn’t believe it. So I called Daryl to ask him if I should call the vet and we decided that it was a good thing to do. When I called the vet he said that he’d be right there. He had one appointment, then he’d come over. It sure seemed that it was taking him a long time to get there and I kept looking at my watch. The first time I looked at my watch I thought it had to have been at least an hour.. maybe even over an hour since I called him. But the truth was that it was only about 20 minutes. So I did the rest of the chores, planted some more flowers, dug up another flower spot, did some laundry, ate about 6 caramel turtles and then just couldn’t stand it anymore. So I called again (by now it was about 50 minutes) and asked if it was going to work for him to come over. Yup, he was on his way. Now the real challenge was just going to begin. Rion is pretty used to me, but he’s not used to anyone else. So when he saw the vet, the cow went wild ! He didn’t want anything to do with the vet, and it was a challenge just to get him in the barn. But we finally did get him in, and before we could get the top of the double doors shut – Rion jumped and cleared the door. I forgot to tell the vet that Rion can jump pretty good. So now we’re trying to get him cornered again and we almost had him. But this time he saw a metal gate and decided to show the vet his skills of jumping one more time, and over the gate he went. We chased him for awhile around in the pasture, but eventually we gave up. The vet said that the cow didn’t look too bad, but if he did get worse we’ll have to try to catch him again. He said to check him about every two hours. Every two hours? I’m thinking that he could die pretty fast, so I was going to check him way more often than that. Now the first couple of times he was looking the same, and then it happened. He started to get worse. So I called the vet to come over and then tried to get a hold of Daryl. I was having trouble getting in touch with anyone at his work, so I was leaving voice messages on his cell and his work phone. By now, Rion is starting to look pretty bad, and then he laid down. When a cow lays down it’s usually not a good sign. I tried to catch Daryl again, and finally I was able to have him paged at his work and he was coming home to help pen Rion up. So I’m sitting in the pasture beside Rion, with his head in my lap trying to keep him calm and just petting him. By this time I would have sworn that he was just about dead. He couldn’t get any air because the bloating was pushing too hard on his lungs. He was also starting to throw up. I didn’t care how long it was since I talked to the vet, I called him again and said that Rion is dying and I needed help! I also talked to my brother just in case I needed to relieve the pressure and make a cut in his stomach to release the air. This is a last resort, but if your cow is dying, you have to give it a chance. But good thing we didn’t have to do this because the vet was on his way. When the vet came, Rion was really blowing up on both sides and we were able to get all the cows on the cattle floor by the barn. Someone gave Daryl a ride home (no vehicle at work) and we got Rion in the barn again. This time both top and bottom door went shut right away. We all knew by this time that he could jump pretty good. After about a gallon and a half of mineral oil that was tubed into his stomach, he finally started to release the air. I kept checking on him as the afternoon went by, and it took until around 4:00 for him to finally look a lot better. We were trying to figure out why he would have bloated, and the only thing that we could come up with is that some spilled corn that needed to be picked up was thrown in the cow yard. And since Rion thinks all the food is his food, he must have eaten most of it himself. But at the end of the day, everyone is still alive and that’s a good thing. But when I was sitting in the pasture holding Rion’s head and petting him, I was wondering how I was going to do when I see him drive away in a cattle trailer to the market. I’m thinking it’s not going to go over so well. Even as I’m writing this is making me a little teary eyed. Hummm, not good. Maybe I can convince Daryl to keep him as a farm pet?
Feeling much better tonight