Jasper is an orphan from the Burns BLM, from the Stinkingwater HMA. He was born Monday and his dam died Wednesday morning, so he is only 3 days old right now. We got him yesterday, after he went to the Vet to get some IV fluids in him and be evaluated as to whether he got his colostrum or not (he did). He still has an IV in his neck so we can give him a few more bags of fluid, if needed. He got more fluids last night and this morning, along with some Naxcel, an antibiotic. He has a slightly irregular white blood cell count so better safe than sorry.
I *wish* I had taken photos yesterday of him but I didn’t think one day would make a difference in his appearance! Now, when you look at these pictures, you will see a very skinny, pathetic looking little guy (who is also very sleepy in these pictures since he’d just had breakfast and a long walk) but trust me, he looked a lot worse yesterday! Today is a 100% improvement over what he looked like yesterday! His ribs stuck out at least an inch and his eyes were really sunken in and he just looked awful! But the fluids and all the milk he’s been drinking really helped a lot!
I have Star to thank for getting him interested in the milk … we put him in the stall that is in our stallion’s big 90x140 corral, with a panel in front of the shed to keep him inside (see photo #6) and Star was in the main part of the corral. We had been “forcing” him to drink milk by squirting small amounts into his mouth but he had no interest in suckling. We headed out of the corral to give him a break and he whinnied after us. That got Star’s attention and she came over to investigate. Well, he saw her and thought he was going to get to nurse! He started licking and trying to suckle the panel, the walls, everything. So I hurried over with the bottle, stuck it in his mouth and he latched on and has been nursing ever since! YAY!
Well, Jasper lost the struggle for his life last night. He was doing OK when I went to work around 3 yesterday afternoon; not great, but OK. I left work early and came home to check on him and he had gone down a lot in just a few hours. He had a few drops of blood coming out the one nostril that always leaked the milk and he was just listless and lost a bunch of weight. His eyes didn’t look good and we just feared the worse. We got him up, petted on him and tried to get him to drink milk and he wouldn’t. I don’t think he drank much after I left for work yesterday. Sometime in the early morning hours, his body gave up. I guess he may have had an infection or something but I think he just was too far down when he came in and he just never gained far enough to be strong. I am so mad at myself for not insisting the Vet come out yesterday or for not finding a way to haul him in there without him getting hurt. He was still pretty wobbly on his feet so the trailer ride concerned me. But I should have found someone to drive and I could have ridden in the back with him. Might not have made a difference, I know, but at least I would have tried.
It’s just not fair – they can roller-coaster from good to bad so dang quick, and he did more than once. Just this time he couldn’t make it back up.
Sorry to hear about your friends loss, but good for them for at least trying. We have had a few unexpected incidents with our latest little girl, but nothing too tragic that could not be overcome so far. I am glad they were able to at least make his life the best it could have been for such a short time...poor thing.
Often times a death like this happens for a reason. We see it with newborn pups all the time. One usually always dies in each litter. If they aren't strong enough, sometimes you're actually doing a disservice to keep him alive.
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. I hope he continues to improve and do well.