Goat Therapy

We have a little girl goat with leg problems. Many would put them down. We chose to give her a chance.

I took her to the vet to make sure there were no injuries. There weren't. We decided on a little vitamin shot and some physical therapy. Our small town vet was great.

Three to four times a day I perform exercises on her and then twice a day she gets a massage of her muscles.

Problem is, we had to go out of town to help my Mom.

No problem. Did I mention my Mom is a huge animal lover? We put the babies in a large dog kennel, seatbelted them into the truck, and off we went.

Did I mention they haven't been bottle fed yet?

I had a puppy bottle with a very long fat nipple that I started them on. It holds 2 oz and enabled me to work with them to accept a bottle. It was slow going but eventually they allowed me to put it in their mouth though they wouldn't open their mouths or ask for it. Once I got it in, they were eager to nurse.

They were worn out from their trip. you can see her back (black and brown goat) legs are out and his (brown and white goat) are bent. She has a hard time bending her back legs, thus the physical therapy. I have to bend and straighten her legs in a specific way.

Notice here she's curled up more typical. Her exercises are starting to work. She has a long way to go, but she has already come so far in 2 days.

New news:

1) Esau (the little boy - brown) has learned to jump like a champ. He never walks if he doesn't have to, but hops. It's so funny.

2) Both Esau and Esther have learned to use the big bottle. It's just a typical human baby bottle which is so much easier to feed them with and I think easier for them to nurse by the look of it.

3) Their intake is increasing nicely.

4) Esther has learned to walk with bending her legs a few steps everytime she's out. She has learned to stand to nurse. She has learned to scratch her nose with her back leg, though her balance is still working out on that one. And she just learned to hop some. She's not as good as Esau, but all of his legs work properly. Not bad to only be a day behind on jumping when your legs are so affected.

No, Really, it's Therapeutic

We have a young son who does not like to sleep alone at night. I mean he has actual anxiety tied to sleeping alone. I don't know why. We have always tried to put our kids to sleep in their own rooms after the infancy stage. He just has never handled it well. But, since he was 2 1/2 days old sleep has been an issue for him, so maybe there's something there.

He started in our bed. We got beat up since he's a wild sleeper. 

We bought a larger bed. 

We were both sleeping on our sides to give him enough space to move around. We considered an even larger bed, but this one is brand new and who can afford to keep doing that. 

We bought a cot with a small mattress on it. We put his cot next to our bed so he was part of our sleeping arrangement but not in the bed. He loved it. 

We really want him in his own room. We have tried everything. 

We offered bribes, even big bribes of big toys and such and he would rather sleep in our room than go for a week or month and get something fun. 

We tried just forcing it. Oh, yeah, that was a horrible few days without any sleep. 

We gave up. 

Until Sunday afternoon. 

We got this. 

Yes, he is adorable. 

Yes, he is cute. 

Yes, he is a lot of work. 

Yes, we said we didn't want any inside pets. 

Yes, he is an inside pet. 

Yes, we all just go gooey over him. 

But, really, it's therapeutic. 

You see, we are making this our son's pet. He named him, picked him out, and he sleeps in his room with him. He doesn't get to sleep with him if our son chooses to sleep in our room, only if he decides to sleep in his own room. So far we are 3 for 4 in him sleeping in his own room. That's the most we have had in a single week ever. We told our son that, for a while, he could sleep in our room one day each week. In a few weeks we will move to one day every two weeks, then three, and so on. 

We are also changing up his room. We moved things around, are adding fun posters to his walls, and making it how he wants it. When life hands you a curve like this, you have to be flexible and think outside the box. He's not like our older son. We could tell him, "you are fine, you are safe, we are here, go to bed, we love you, goodnight" and he would trot off to be content and happy. Nope, logic and reassurance don't work for our younger son. So, we are taking it one day at a time and celebrating even the smallest successes. 

Not to mention, that little cat is so cute. 

Talk soon.