Legs

There's a lot of legs on the farm here, some two legged who are finding it increasingly harder to push themselves up the pig hill and then working there way through thick mud, they slip and slide and sometimes get stuck but overall keep going.

Sometimes the animals have problems with their legs too. At the moment the only female Perking duck has had a limp for a few days, she has tried to keep up with the gang as they cover a grand distance in their morning and afternoon trip around the farm. I cant see anything wrong, it may be a strain from over amorous male Pekings or the only male Khaki Campbell, who although smaller its a feisty little male with a strong sex drive. She has now realised, thankfully that it is better to rest for a few days in the hope it will recover. So she sits in the pigs hay as they sleep the sheep eat hay on the other of the field shelter, sometimes with the old mulard male who also may be finding lots of waddling a thing of the past.

One of the pigs has had a limp in his front leg, over a weeks period his hobble has come and gone. Each morning and evening feed he has been given homoeopathic arnica wrapped up in bread to aid his recovery, which has been gobbled up. We get through quiet a bit of arnica here which helps heal bruises, knocks and bones, his now running around with the others eager to scrum for his food as it hits the trough.

Our last casualty this week is Franklin, who is turning out to be the most expensive mongrel rescue dog there ever was. He has a very large lump on his back leg. On the 23rd December he managed to get a bone stuck in the roof of his mouth which meant a trip to the vets to be sedated (there was no way we were going to be allowed to get near him) while the bone was extracted (it took five seconds, a lot quicker than it took Franklin to come around) as he had an injection in his back leg for that which I thought might be connected to his large lump he has now. It was going to be checked out next week when all 3 dogs are having their annual injections but Tuesday evening he couldn't put any weight on it and by Wednesday morning he wouldn't eat or go for a walk, both unheard of in Franklin.

So off to the vets  I had feared the worst. A large solid lump on the top of his back leg and inside it was felt with a temperature he is being treated for an abscess which should be cleared up by our visit on Tuesday. If not it will be an x ray to see whats going on. He is back eating and walking (with three legs)and taking his pills so only hope he will be pulling me along instead of me waiting for him on our walks.