Mr. Boo’s visit from the doctor
Several weeks ago, I mentioned my bull, known as Mr. Boo, was dealing with an “owie” and was limping, favoring his right front leg. I looked him over with care, and was unable to find any damage to the external portions of his body. I looked for indications of snakebite, barbed wire cuts, or rock damage. My examination revealed nothing.
I called my vet and talked to her about his symptoms and the possible cause for his limping gait. She suspected it might be a twisting, or maybe a sprain of that shoulder, but wasn’t sure. With no physical clues, it was difficult to diagnose the root of the problem.
With no obvious malady to treat, giving it time to heal seemed to be the best medicine available. For the past few weeks, that is precisely what we’ve done. We let him limp. As I suspected he might, he got progressively better. He never quit favoring it entirely, but he did improve.
More importantly, he never broke out anywhere with a rupture from an internal cyst, or infection. Snakebite would have shown swelling right away, and possibly eventual rupture and leaking wound. None of that occurred.
Two days ago, I discovered he was favoring his left hind leg. I watched him carefully for a day. I decided the best avenue was to have the vet come to the ranch and let her examine Mr. Boo with a more experienced eye.
Most animals will need to be put in a chute or squeeze for the vet’s visit so they may be properly confined. This is not only better for the animal, but much safer for the vet. However, as you already know, Mr. Boo is not most animals.
If Mr. Boo was in a cooperative mood, I wouldn’t need to take him to the corrals. The vet should be able to examine her patient in the shade of the olive tree. The operative word here is should. However, I feared she thought being able to adequately examine a full-grown bull was going to be an adventure with nothing but shade to contain him.
On previous mornings when the weather warmed up, my bull and the cows trooped in from the back pasture to rest in the shade of an old olive tree. Would the animals come in for shade before the appointed visit? Would this be the morning they’d come in later?
I woke during the early morning hours thinking about the pending visit from the busy veterinarian. I knew she wouldn’t want to wait while I slowly walked him to the shade. She didn’t have time to waste with a bull that didn’t want to cooperate and be examined.
My instinct, however, was that Mr. Boo, because of the heat, would come in from the back-field early, rather than late. My experience with him indicated the vet would have no trouble examining her patient. At least, I hoped she wouldn’t.
When I got up this morning, Mr. Boo must have known he was having a visitor for he was already under his favorite olive tree. This was going to be easy. I quickly took him a pan of grain in appreciation.
When our veterinarian arrived, he was a perfect gentleman, aided by a little more grain to munch. Not only was she able to poke and prod his legs, shoulders, and hips, she was able to pick up the right front hoof and examine the sole.
The results of the visit were inconclusive. Nothing was visible to her to reveal the cause of his problems.
Only Mr. Boo would get a visit from a doctor under his favorite shade tree. He was a good patient. He stood quietly and let her mess with his feet, be poked, prodded, and discussed without walking away.
She suggested powdered aspirin as a painkiller, plus it would reduce inflammation. This should hasten his recovery. So I was off to the feed store.
His next pan of grain was dusted with the appropriate measure of medicine. Aspirin has always tasted bitter to me. But, Mr. Boo licked every grain out of the pan. Maybe it tasted salty.
Obviously, this is a tale in the process of evolving. Check this column again in a week or two. I’ll keep you updated on the limping Mr. Boo. Brent Gill lives in Springville. His “Daunt to Dillonwood” column appears regularly in The Porterville Recorder through the generosity of Weisenberger’s Hardware on West Olive in Porterville. If you enjoyed this column, follow his blog at http://brentgwriter.blogspot.com.