Unpredictable Morning

This has been a rough week. Before I tell this story, I don’t want to tell this story. I am failing at being a pet owner on this one and I’m trying to fix it, but it is going to take time. I know some will judge me and that’s okay. I know I need to do better. It’s a work in progress. No one knows how hard we have worked with these animals and giving them what they need unless you have been here with us. Some will say we haven’t done enough but we are trying and that’s all we can do. Now, onto the story. Ronnie got a call out around 4:30 Monday morning. I got up to feed the animals. I walked over toward the chicken coop to feed Edith and Suzie Q. I saw Ned, Pete, and the goats but did not see Pedro and Red. I figured they were in the barn and went on my way. I was getting feed together and started walking toward the animals to feed them. I stopped in my tracks. I saw Pedro and Red on the wrong side of the fence. I start to panic. I put the feed back. I wasn’t sure what to do. It was apparent to me they were over here for Noma. Then I see Pedro is extremely injured. He is in a bad way. Panic was an understatement. I got Red back over to where he needed to be with treats. I didn’t want Pedro back over there so I was grateful he was preoccupied. He was checking on Mattie. I got back over to where everyone else was. I’m still panicking. It’s never a good thing but I knew I had an emergency on my hands and needed to calm down. I called Ronnie. He stopped what he was doing and started racing home but he was an hour away. I had to use my head so I didn’t end up injured since I did have an injured donkey that is much bigger than me. I had to get it together. I was running around like crazy trying to figure out what to do. I did call my bosses and let them know I would be extremely late. I got that out of the way. I grabbed a halter and somehow got it on Pedro. That was a fight since he is not halter broke. He fought me. I won. Then the major fight, I had to get him in the pen. That was not easy. He did not want to go. I won that one, too. Once I got him in the pen, I could not get it to latch so I had to improvise, but I was able to do that also. Now, he was in a halter, in a pen, Red was back in the pasture and Ronnie was on his way. I had to wait until 8 am to call the vet. I had a bleeding donkey and his private area was so swollen, I thought he might burst and then we would have a whole other problem. Honestly, I was nervous. I talked to the vet tech and she said they would not be able to come until 2 pm. I had to plead with them that this was an emergency. She asked for pictures and I sent them. She called me back and said they were on their way. That was when I felt a little relief. Y’all, this was bad. Ronnie got home and I broke down. I had not let myself cry or break down because I had to get things done. The minute I saw him, I broke. Then he saw what was going on and he understood why I was in a panic. Once the vet got there, I felt more relief. She said he had multiple lacerations probably from barbed wire and he had been kicked extremely hard. He deserved it from Noma. We got him on some antibiotics and steroids and ice water baths. I have never witnessed anything like that. Pedro is my baby. He follows me around like a dog. I’m still so worried about him but the vet will be back in a few days. We are getting all of these guys fixed so this won’t be a problem again. Noma and Mattie are in another pen for protection right now.