Sunday morning: Pookey was in a good bit of pain as he had spent nearly 24 hours without NSAIDs, having switched to a once-a-day dosing regimen with the Banamine. After a nice breakfast of low-carb grass hay, a few supplements, and his morning GastroGard, he was more than ready for his daily dose of Banamine, which almost immediately provided him enough pain relief to stand up and munch his hay well into the afternoon.Configuring his stall to make it patient-friendly was relatively easy, as we were able to open both doors to allow good airflow, and to position three fans (each at a different level) to supplement the very welcome Texas breeze. To keep his body temp at a reasonable level, I bathe him with ice water four or five times a day. The moving air passing over his damp coat provides good convection cooling, and unless it gets significantly hotter, we think we will be able to keep him quite comfortable.
Regarding bedding, we are keeping 10-12 bags of shavings in his stall at all times, making him think he is one of Ted Turner's show string! We are also helping to keep pressure off his forefeet by elevating all of his feed: his hay is placed in an elevated tub, his water is at chest height, and we hand-hold his morning and evening rice-bran meals. We also are keeping him well doused with Pyranha to keep him from feeling the urge to stomp his feet. This is in direct opposition to our usual policy of letting him 'deal' with the flies, so that they do not bother him when he is showing!
Something new we tried today: placing a towel under his head when he stretches out to rest.
I am very bothered by the shavings-in-the-eye look, and don't mind hovering a bit to make sure he doesn't develop irritation in the eye, or, worse yet, ulceration from a stray pine chip.
He will thank me for it later :-)
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