MrsMozartletoe
Just passing through...
Someone saw him in the field, said his tongue was all red, looked like blood. We got him in at four-ish. Definately blood, but couldn't see where it was coming from. Vet came out (thank you Lizzie!). Sedated him and managed to get a gag on for a look.
The area at the front/above his top front teeth was no longer where it should be; it looked like he had been kicked with almost surgical precision. In effect, the top of his face, as in the fleshy part, was peeling up and away from his skull - we could see the top of his top jaw. An artery was pumping blood.
Cue a very quick trip to Oakham vets (well, quick, it was over an hour away - damn twisty road!). Thank you so much to for the loan of a trailer, and for the lift home of three children.
We arrieved at Oakham with the inside of the trailer looking like armageddon. Friend was a tad stressed at this point, so I went running round shouting Help! Then saw that he was still standing so I stopped panicking (I thought he was down/dead). He came off the trailer okay. Straight into an exam. room to be seen by a busy but nice vet. She called out the on-call vet, who came in full of life and very chipper and said he enjoyed a challenge!
Fluids (I think six pints went in). Blood everywhere - the three of us already looked like we'd been having a mad axe murdering session. The vets soon looked as good as us - one was wearing a rather fetching blob of red on her left eyelid, the new vet was greeted by a spray of arterial blood across his mouth and chin - not a good look and a bit distracting when talking to him, not that we looked any neater lol.
Cauterized the artery, which made things look much better, even if at that point we weren't too sure of the outcome (it looked a bit iffy at one stage, though New Lad never lost the sparkle in his eye). The vet went onto stitch it all back together, though gawd knows what he actually found to stitch it to: I bowed out at that stage and went and cleaned as much of the trailer as I could, bearing in mind it was starting to freeze (nearly lost Friend as she went skidding off the ramp!).
This morning they have flushed it out and the stitches are still in place
. He has to have his food all soft and mushy and no hay for two weeks, so any suggestions greatly received. Luckly he likes his food mushy
.
We all feel like we've been run over by a steam roller, and I swear we'll be finding blood in strange places for days to come!
Edited to add: he's there for the week while they keep an eye on the stitches and are able to deal quickly if they come apart, and to watch for infection.
Edited to add: no idea really how it happened. We are assuming a kick, but no-body saw anything, so really cannot say for certain.
The area at the front/above his top front teeth was no longer where it should be; it looked like he had been kicked with almost surgical precision. In effect, the top of his face, as in the fleshy part, was peeling up and away from his skull - we could see the top of his top jaw. An artery was pumping blood.
Cue a very quick trip to Oakham vets (well, quick, it was over an hour away - damn twisty road!). Thank you so much to for the loan of a trailer, and for the lift home of three children.
We arrieved at Oakham with the inside of the trailer looking like armageddon. Friend was a tad stressed at this point, so I went running round shouting Help! Then saw that he was still standing so I stopped panicking (I thought he was down/dead). He came off the trailer okay. Straight into an exam. room to be seen by a busy but nice vet. She called out the on-call vet, who came in full of life and very chipper and said he enjoyed a challenge!
Fluids (I think six pints went in). Blood everywhere - the three of us already looked like we'd been having a mad axe murdering session. The vets soon looked as good as us - one was wearing a rather fetching blob of red on her left eyelid, the new vet was greeted by a spray of arterial blood across his mouth and chin - not a good look and a bit distracting when talking to him, not that we looked any neater lol.
Cauterized the artery, which made things look much better, even if at that point we weren't too sure of the outcome (it looked a bit iffy at one stage, though New Lad never lost the sparkle in his eye). The vet went onto stitch it all back together, though gawd knows what he actually found to stitch it to: I bowed out at that stage and went and cleaned as much of the trailer as I could, bearing in mind it was starting to freeze (nearly lost Friend as she went skidding off the ramp!).
This morning they have flushed it out and the stitches are still in place
We all feel like we've been run over by a steam roller, and I swear we'll be finding blood in strange places for days to come!
Edited to add: he's there for the week while they keep an eye on the stitches and are able to deal quickly if they come apart, and to watch for infection.
Edited to add: no idea really how it happened. We are assuming a kick, but no-body saw anything, so really cannot say for certain.
