'Tis The Season Of Blossoms
Our first baby lamb, Flower, was almost weened from his bottle, when our veterinarian reached out about another rejected lamb - a female - who was very tiny and having a tough time. Welcome Blossom.
Blossom got a rough start! She arrived after accidentally eating clovers in a pasture, and nearly dying of frothy bloat. In her first few weeks with us, we knew something wasn't right. We struggled to find the right balance of bottle feeding, yogurt, creep feed and hay. She would appear painful, sometimes bloated, sometimes just lethargic, and we were on constant speed dial to Dr. Avery. Several sleepless nights fraught with worry, Laurie, our Sanctuary Manager administered baking soda solutions, or Pepto Bismo because this little nugget would just suddenly tank - her spirits, her head dropped, she'd cry in pain for hours ...
Then suddenly - very terrible diarrhea and no matter the medicine it just wouldn't stop. So without wasting a minute, on a Saturday, we took the advice of Dr. Avery and the OSU Vet team and drove her 4 hours to OSU for hospitalization. She was very low on fluids, electrolytes and vitamins and her rumen was full of terrible bacteria.
While the hospital team sent me to Braums to take a break, they administered a rumen fluid transplant! Taking fluid from a healthy baby calf and replacing Blossom's rumen contents. IV's ran 24 hours a day, with careful balancing of vitamins and Thiamin, until one day - she just came to life!
She got a groovy haircut for her IV's, and we had to completely bathe her head to toe of her terrible bouts of sickness that coated EVERYTHING before she rejoined her older brother back down in their barnpartment. Today they're both doing dandy - enjoying their couch and dreaming of the day soon that we'll let them out to mingle with the biggies! For now, it's just goats they get to graze with.
