Kim (Ceffyl)

On shakey ground

Basette isn’t doing well tonight. For several minutes, she couldn’t stand up. Whenever she tried to, her back legs gave out and she collapsed on the floor. She sat there for several minutes, unmoving, tail flicking unhappily. I picked her up, and comforted her. She fidgeted to be let down, so I carefully placed her down. She promptly collapsed again. I called a friend of mine in tears. If Basette couldn’t stand up,...

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Laminitis and tendons, take 2

The farrier came out today and had some excellent news. Even after Isis had a mild case of laminitis, her feet are in excellent shape. The white-line growth is normal and she isn’t lame any more. As far as he was concerned, her feet were good enough to start riding again. Six weeks pasture rest and the grazing muzzle had paid off! Except for an annoying swelling on the inside of her right...

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Wondering about the little black cat

After several days of feeling spry, Basette went back to the vet’s today to have her glucose checked. It was above 500 again. Her insulin dose has been increased two units, and she’ll return after a week for a checkup. Some days it seems to be touch-and-go with Basette. She has a good day, and then an evening when it seems like her energy is gone and she just looks bone tired. It’s...

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EPONA.net: Web site updated!

My co-author visited from May 14-25. During that time, we worked on the artifact catalog and on reorganizing and rewriting several pages on the Web site. (Thank you to everyone who provided feed-back. It was very helpful!) The updates are now live. Comments and suggestions are welcome. EPONA.net, A Scholarly Resource Related Images:

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Glasses?!

Funny thing happened today: I inherited my Mom’s eyes. My parents had eye sight from opposite ends of the spectrum: Dad was horribly myopic, and Mom was slightly farsighted. My sister inherited Dad’s eyes: she was legally blind (without her glasses) before she entered high school. I was slightly nearsighted in middle school. I got my first glasses–big, pastel plastic owl-eyed lenses–in 1983. My second pair of glasses–brown/gold wire-rimmed L.A. Gear frames —...

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Nastiness on the teeth

Basette is back from the vet’s and has had her teeth cleaned. Apparently, they were really nasty. Not surprising, considering she has never had her teeth cleaned (bad Mommy!). I actually never knew cats were supposed to have regular dental cleanings until recently. Basette grew up as a vicious mouser in the barn. She lost a third of her front teeth from chomping on rats, mice, rabbits, birds, and whatever else was slower...

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Bouncin’ with Basette

Basette could drive someone (like her caretaker or vet) to being giddy and depressed on alternating days. For a while after the antibiotic treatment with Clavamox, she responded well to the insulin. Little by little, however, her glucose levels crept back up and over 500. It has seemed like every option has only provided a temporary solution which lasts, at most, two weeks. My vet just came up with a suggestion: what if...

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New pasture, new ‘tude

The first week Isis had her grazing muzzle on, she discovered how to take it off by rolling. A few minutes after she was turned out, she would roll and rub her head back and forth against the ground. The strap behind her ears slipped off, and she dropped the muzzle on the ground. She did this four out of the six days I turned her out at lunch. The one time she...

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Unhappy Horse

Isis is thoroughly pissed at me. I’ve purchased a grazing muzzle for her to wear in hopes that it will reduce the amount of grass she is eating. She had it on for the first time on Saturday. She was not a happy camper. The grass in her diet paddock (dry lot) was so low that she couldn’t get any grass through the hole in the bottom of the muzzle. She walked around,...

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EPONA.net is live!

My coauthor and I have been researching the Gallo-Roman horse-goddess Epona for the past few years. We were both interested in researching her history and were frustrated by the lack of information available in English. There is plenty of material in French and German, but very little in English. We’re starting to change this. Yesterday our Web site, Epona.net, a scholarly resource, went live. This site contains a synopsis of our research to...

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Doin’ the Basette Boogie 2

Some times miracles never cease to amaze! This might be overly optimistic, but Basette’s glucose was much lower today. She is actually responding to the insulin at long last. This morning when I took her into the vet’s, her glucose level was 444. This afternoon, her glucose was 290. Finally below 300! Party on, Garth! Unfortunately, a second exam of her retinas confirms that they are detached, and one eye has had a...

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Bubble bubble toil and trouble…

Basette’s eyes still look like saucers. It is obvious that her vision is much diminished. I’ve watched her stop just an inch or so before walking into a wall. Poor kitten followed me into my office and instead of leaving back through the doorway, tried to go through the closet. She seems to be happy to be home. She isn’t in any pain, nor is she distressed. She sits and purrs. Such a...

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