Hooray Hodgie

There was a death today. However it wasn't the one I was expecting as for the past couple of weeks Tobermory goat has been having trouble getting up. A week ago I looked out early morning and could not see him in the paddock. When I got out there I saw a white lump in the grass and immediately thought he'd died during the night. However he'd just laid down and couldn't get up again. Signs of his struggle were obvious as he had crushed the grass down in a circle around him.

Although not as bulky as he once was Toby still was quite a weight to lift and it took me several attempts to get him upright. When I tried to lead him however he fell and I realised that his back legs had gone to sleep. I stood him up once more and tried to massage these but after a kick was aimed in my direction decided to let him take matters at his own pace.

A couple of hours later he was still standing there but the sun thawed him out and he wandered down the paddock and stood beneath some pine trees. Later that day I gave him some pellets and a carrot and prayed he'd be alright the next morning. The following day he was lying beneath the trees but was not such a problem to lift this time. I put him back on his three disprin a day routine to help ease his arthritis. Never have a problem dosing him as I hide the pills in strawberry jam on wheatmeal bread and it's gobbled down in one piece. Next day I noticed Toby was able to get up on his own and although he hasn't done so since he is still much better than a week ago.

The death that came this afternoon was another old animal but one who had showed no signs of slowing down. Hodgie hedgehog had been slighty off his food the past couple of days which I attributed to the cooling weather which was putting him into early hibernation. When I went to clean out his cage this afternoon however I was appalled to see he'd died while trying to stand up to say hello. I can only assume he had a heart attack. Even so he looked very peaceful and for an animal of well over five years he was in pretty good condition. He will be missed.