Willow became an orphan tonight. Her mom, Ivy, hasn’t been affected by any of the flu-like symptoms going through the herd this spring. Until a few hours ago, she seemed perfectly healthy. Then about 12:30 this morning, she began to moan in pain. She appeared bloated, and we were getting ready to treat her for bloat, but then she went into a seizure. In a matter of minutes, she was gone. At this point, we have no idea why.
Willow, born June 1, is just 20 days old. She’s healthy and growing fast. Hopefully she’ll accept milk from a bottle, in which case she should be fine.
Suellen, Brigette, and I were all with Ivy when she died. I don’t know if that made any difference to her, but at least by being there we know how quickly it happened, that she didn’t suffer long, and that there was nothing we could do. But that doesn’t make it hurt any less.
Yikes.
[...] may never know what happened to Ivy. The vet thinks it might have been a twisted bowel, but says even a postmortem exam would [...]