Blood and gore update, plus kitty butts and a tattoo

I met the vet out at the farm amidst sprinkling rain and vigorous winds.  Pluto was airing out his Arab side.  In between Pluto's wild eyed lunges and uncooperative posturing, the vet got a look at his chinny chin chin.  Her comment:  "Huh!"  It doesn't really look like an abscess, for all that it's bleeding and icky.  It looks maybe fungal.  Or something.  Since we never have gotten anything definitive to grow on a culture, we are relying on guesswork and her years of experience here.  Treatment is more straightforward.  He is getting enough doxycycline to kill a goat (but not a horse, luckily).  It's doxycycline mostly because it's a different antibiotic from what we've already tried, but she said it also has anti-inflammatory properties.  Though I might have been mistaken on which thing was anti-inflammatory, because he is ALSO getting the Ointment of Doom.  It's an antibiotic.  It's an anti-fungal.  It has steroids in it.  And it's anti-itchy.  You better believe I will be wearing gloves while applying it.

I am going to post pictures of his owie, but I will put them at the bottom for the faint of heart.  Do not scroll down below my awesome tattoo if you don't want to see.

Today was my day to be snubbed.  Here is Dori snubbing me.

Here is Andy snubbing me and knocking everything off my desk.

My awesome AT tattoo, since washed off.

Okay, ready?  Gore ensues.  I warned you.

The dark area next to his halter (continuing beneath it) is his owie.  He has blood smeared on the right side of his jaw.

Oh gross.  I can't decide if this is better or worse than last night, when there was pus and goo all in there.

It's itchy, so in addition to a bloody head he has a bloody knee.  I guess he couldn't get anything else up in there to scratch it.

Horses.  Never a dull moment.

Oh, and the doxycycline?  Fifty pills, morning and evening.  That's five zero.  I tried two in a handful of grain before I left and he hoovered them up, so possibly it won't be too difficult to get them into him.  I hope not, because my other option is daily shots and doesn't Pluto sound like he would be an exemplary patient for that?

Blood, pus, and smegma. So, how was your day?

This has been the slackest weekend I've had in a really long time, not counting times I was sick or the weather was horrible.  Pluto's illness, whatever it is, pretty much wrecked all my plans.  No horseback riding, no hiking.

I set my clock ahead. (Did you?)  That meant I woke up when it was still dark out.  On a weekend!  The horror.  But I had no idea when my vet was going to be able to get out, so I couldn't afford to sleep in.  Plus the dog is on a schedule with all the drugs. 

The vet turned out to be coming out at nearly 1, so I dawdled around the house, napped, and generally didn't do much.  Well, I did a little.  I put a couple of things up for sale on Ebay.  I've never done that before so it was a bit of a learning experience.  I also opened a new Paypal account because my old one was under my old name, and it was easier to open a new one than to mail them copies of my documents.  Oy.  It's still kind of a pain in the butt though.

I am hoping that the two tents I put up for sale will sell for more than the $6.50 that is currently bid on one of them.

The vet's visit wasn't terribly definitive.  She doesn't think it's strangles, but you can't tell for sure by looking.  She couldn't get any pus out to do a culture on (and that was a fun experience, trying to get a horse to hold still while an inch long needle got repeatedly jabbed into a tender part of his head) so she drew blood to test for antibodies to strangles.  In the meantime Pluto has antibiotics, another diaper, and a shaved area around his bloody, golfball-sized exploded lymph node.

As if that weren't gross enough, I also cleaned his sheath this afternoon.  He needed it anyway, and the sedation the vet gave him to be able to stick the needle in his jaw helped him relax while I cleaned him.  It isn't really a fun procedure for either of us.  I ended up filthy up to my elbow, of course.  I'll have to wait until the next time he feels safe letting it all hang out before I can check my work.

In less gross news I seamsealed my new Lightheart tent after I got home from the barn.  Upon rereading the instructions I find that I've missed some spots.  I'll have to go back out there tomorrow I guess.  I'm just hoping that when the tent collapses (again) the poles don't poke holes in it.  I have it set up on haphazardly on the porch, and it's really not holding together very well.  This particular tent design does not deal well with a sloppy setup.  The poles keep popping out of their little holders.  I'm pretty sure if I set it up taut (say, with stakes in the ground) it would work better.  It had better or it will find itself on Ebay too.  Hah!  I am ruthless with the tents today.