This is an update on Emerson's condition (so if you haven't read yesterday's post, you should do that first). Thanks to many of you who have expressed concern for him.
He had a rough afternoon yesterday after the vet left - restless and uncomfortable. He was finally able to sleep for several hours on the deck after another dose of the pain medicine (a pill I hid in pockets carved into apple slices - he never suspected!). I was quite concerned about how to tell Emily about him when she got home from school, but when Emerson saw her, he jumped up wagging his fluffy tail, and when she took him to the yard and told him to "pee," he did, seemingly without effort. That was after I had given him a second bottle with the ammonium chloride, so the combination of medications must have started working.
Although he was still a bit stiff-legged and sluggish last night, this morning he was back to his usual exhuberant self, dancing on his back legs and head-butting his brother for the best pickings from the hay bucket. He has had no further difficulty passing urine and his main complaint is the lack of grain (strict no-grain diet for a week). The photo above would be from happier days when his grain bowl was filled!
Though he seems to have beaten the odds, we are not out of the woods yet. Since urinary calculi has a high rate of recurrence, we will continue the ammonium a few more days, looking for the right balance between therapeutic effect and toxicity - it is a nasty and caustic chemical. We need to test his urine ph (many of my friends are rolling their eyes right now, I know!) and adjust his diet to bring it into the proper range. But for now, the immediate crisis seems to be averted, and it is wonderful to have our little scampy Emerson back. I guess nobody ever said having goats was easy...Wait, that is what people say, that's why we got into goats in the first place...
To my friend hospitalized with severe abdominal pain and my close relatives battling illness, Emerson sends his regards and says now he knows what it is to feel "crappy" - wishes and prayers for better days ahead!
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