Wednesday, September 23, 2009

bridge, diet, shoes, Toot's ankle


One of our main attractions around here. This is a photo of the Grandfather Mountain Bridge. I didn't take the photo and don't know who did, isn't it a beauty?

The Mile High Swinging Bridge was built to give visitors easy access to the breath-taking view from Grandfather Mountain's Linville Peak.

The 228-foot suspension bridge spans an 80-foot chasm at more than one mile in elevation. Surveys show that the journey to the other side is always considered the highlight of a trip to Grandfather Mountain.
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This diet business is a real drag man. I've always eaten a fairly healthy diet, my problem is portion control, I haven't been able to push away after the XL Round 1.



And exercise, not too keen on it. Oh, a couple of lifetimes ago I used to play a lot of tennis and hiked these mountain trails but now I like to just hang out with the critters and nest. But, bought a new pair of walking shoes yesterday, Nike Air Alvord VI, they seem to have good cushioning which I need, my heels get really sore walking on asphalt. At the Rams Rack shoe store, because I donated $1 to Breast Cancer Research, I got 25% off, total $48.


I've always like yogurt and I've now discovered this Thick & Creamy Yoplait, like a fruit pudding. 100 calories, no fat, 2 weight watchers points. Previously I was fantansizing about french fries, now it's mashed potatoes. I know, not good for a big girl.


One of my friends lost a bunch of weight and she says she ate a lot of cottage cheese. Do you know that cottage cheese has never passed these chubby lips? I just don't like the looks of it.
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I still think TootleLu needs a cast of some kind, if anybody has any ideas let me know. CrazySheepLady suggested an air cast which I think is perfect but how do I could get one? for a goat? a dwarf goat? I bandaged the ankle last night but she just drags the leg. If she is going to use the leg, I want her to come down on the hoof, or just use three legs. The Vet said to keep her stalled up for 6-8weeks which we basically are, but she can still get up and move around in the stall. Like in the photo, this is how she wants to walk, with the ankle bent back, that's not good. Are you up on your goat orthopaedics?
**Update
Joanna: A picture is sometimes worth a thousand words. In this case, it is obviously something is very wrong, but I can't tell from the picture exactly what the problem is. Did the veterinarian you saw tell you what he thought was the problem? In this respect, your small goat should be like a dog and a veterinarian who works with this type of problem (goat vet, or a dog or cat vet) should be able to diagnose the problem and help you. Since I don't know what the problem is for sure, I can't say whether a cast would help. It is possible that there is nerve damage. Thanks and good luck. Kevin Anderson.
--
Kevin L. Anderson DVM, PhD, Professor, Ruminant Medicine
Department of Farm Animal Health and Resource Management
College of Veterinary Medicine, North Carolina State University
4700 Hillsborough Street, Raleigh, North Carolina 27606
Office: 919-513-6245 Fax-919-513-6464 Kevin_Anderson@ncsu.edu

7 comments:

Peggy said...

I would call NC State Vet School and Hospital (large animal side) and tell them your problem. After getting your information they have a doctor call you back. They always try to help you without bringing the animal in if possible. They gave me lots of things to try for different problems. They don't charge for help over the phone. If I had to take a goat in they always gave me a breakdown on cost which since a teaching hospital is very very inexpensive. I bet they could give you ideals on what to do for your sweet little goat.

Unknown said...

The bridge photo is awesome - I know of Grandfather Mtn, and now wish I had visited that part in my hiking days.

Poor TootleLu - you'd think it would hurt the top of her foot to drag it like that. Sounds like Peggy gave you some great advice. Hope she doesn't do any more damage!

Nancy in Iowa

DebH said...

ok..I had a calf with bent backwards front feet and my vet put stints on the back with a really hard cement type stuff. it just forced the foot forward and eventually fell off when the hoof straightened out. I would think your vet would know the stuff, but also someone told me to cut a piece of PVC pipe large enough to slip over the hoof and tape it on so toes still stick out but not so they are bent. I would think also, talking to the Vet school could offer some good suggestions too. My calf was corrected in a matter of weeks and the whole idea is to keep the weight on the back of the hoof and them rocking their weight on the hind quarters and not letting them drag it. I know my goats are built similar to my baby calves but the cement stuff is pretty cool stuff

Joanna@BooneDocksWilcox said...

I just sent in a fax with a photo to the NC Vet School and hope they may call me sometime. I think the hard cement stuff sounds good. My common sense tells me that she if she is going to use that leg that she has to be forced to come down on the hoof, in a fairly normal line.

Alison said...

Miss Chef and I need to get up to hike around the mountains one of these days. That was one of the attractions to moving to NC, but we only made one overnight trip to Asheville in 4 yrs!

Glad you've got a good resource for help w/Tootle Lu. It does seem like the PVC pipe should work, but how do you tape that to a baby goat??? Good luck!

Becca's Dirt said...

Poor baby goat - hate to see any animal with problems such as this. He looks so pitiful.

I know it is so hard to lose weight. It is so hard to be healthy too. When I was very much overweight I made some lifestyle changes. I knew that I would not diet forever but that realizing that the changes were for the rest of my life it didn't seem so hard to stick with. One thing I did was to change the size of the plate I was eating out of. I realized I could get "full" on smaller portions and those portions looked even smaller on a big plate. I used a saucer to eat off of. So if I wanted seconds I didn't feel so bad about it. Another thing that helped was to increase daily fiber intake. I counted fiber grams and ate at least 25-40 grams of fiber a day. And there are lots of good foods full of fiber. Lots of water too to move the fiber. If I ate that much in fiber it is filling, and it helps to keep the bowels working well. After all the fiber will carry the fat away right on through. I started walking - I told myself that I was walking for stress reliever and not for exercise. After all that word means work and walking to relieve stress sounded better. One more thing - you might talk to your Dr first - but I used a colon cleanse product. After all they can be very healthy. While using the colon cleanse product I wanted to do good because after all it was to clean me out. They are gentle too. I guess I have written too much and you probably get too much input anyway.

Good luck and I will be following your progress. Just keep up the work you already started.

thecrazysheeplady said...

You know, at very least maybe you could do some sort of physical therapy on it several times a day. Keep stretching it the right direction, working the muscles and tendons...?