Lucky Penny Farm On Wawa Hill

Thank you all for your well wishes and prayers for Nat. We had him put to sleep when it became obvious that he had swelling developing around his airway which would have caused him undo suffering with no reasonable solution to help him. Preliminary autopsy reports found bilateral cerebral hemorrhages and his cerebellum was beginning to herniate. There was no evidence of trauma or anything that could have caused this. Our little guy was not a fighter and was loved by everyone ...which leaves the potential for neoplasm, coagulopathy, or some unknown disease process. We are at a loss with his passing especially in the absence of a definitive diagnosis but are at peace that our dear boy is not suffering. Hopefully the microscopy results will yield some answers and if nothing else, Nat will have provided some valuable information in camelid health. See more

Nat update: Nat is pretty much same with intermittent periods of no energy. Not really able to hold his head up or swallow. The good news is they think his blindness may be due to detached retinas which will heal and sight restored. The bad news is they think he may have a brain tumor. They will hopefully do a cat scan tomorrow with contrast. If it’s a tumor we will probably have to have him euthanized, not the outcome I was hoping for. Still holding out hope for an early Christmas miracle, our boy deserves one.

I’ve resisted posting that Nat is at New Bolton because I don’t feel like dealing with haters who feel entitled to make unnecessarily cruel and false comments about things that they have no knowledge about. But, Nat needs positive healing vibes and prayers now so here’s what’s happening: Wednesday we found him very confused and agitated and realized that he’d become acutely blind. We consulted the vets at New Bolton and started treatment from which he seemed to be improving i...nitially. Friday evening, we made the difficult decision to transfer him to New Bolton (away from his herd) for further evaluation. Saturday he tanked, his heart rate dropped to 40 BPM and his condition was considered grave. Today he’s stable on IV fluids, labs are all within normal range, and starting to have some pupillary response to light. He continues to baffle the vets with weird seizure/anxiety like behavior that is causing self inflicted wounds. They have never seen anything like this presentation and they still have no idea what he has. They are continuing with palliative therapy, waiting cytology results which may not be available until Tuesday. Tomorrow he will be transferred to the international medicine service with follow up visits with ophthalmology and neurology who are currently following him too. They are entertaining doing a CAT scan of his head. See more

Shane makes a guest appearance but look at the clothes!! Check out Civil Studios.

Sweet James passed in Betsy’s arms today. His farm fam and feline friends all got to say their goodbyes. As sad as this is, it was the better way for him to go wrapped in the warmth of those who loved him most.

Lucy and Stormy are coming home! Yeah!

Save the date!!! We will be opening the farm for the day for an afternoon of live music and critter visits to raise money for cancer research. Should be a lot of fun.

Lucy Update: Well our gal is exceeding expectations! She is continuing to improve, her head tilt is lessening and she continues to get up, move around and eat and drink on her own. We’ve opted to have her stay in the hospital so she can continue to receive IV antibiotics due to the nature (location) of her infections. The expectation, assuming she continues improving, is that she and Stormy will be coming home at the end of the week and finishing a long course of IM antibiotics with us. Stormy of course is delighted to be with her momma and loves showing off and prancing around their stall. Fortunately, she has shown no signs of disease. Here’s a picture of a healthy and happy Lucy and Stormy, prelisteria.

Lucy Update: Lucy is continuing to improve. She is able to get up and walk around on her own and she is eating a lot. She is still receiving IV fluids and the plan is to reduce her IV fluids tomorrow morning to see if she will start to drink. She still has the persistent head tilt and intermittent nystagmus (involuntary eye movements) and could still take a turn for the worse but they are cautiously optimistic that she will continue toward full recovery. She's a fighter that girl.