A sad day
Big Ron died this morning.
She was one of the original does from our starter flock of 9. Her registered name was Karina, but we called her Big Ron after Big Ron Atkinson because she was a rather, ahem, substantial lady, and she shared his penchant for tacky chunky gold jewellery. She would have been 9 in February.
Ron was heavily pregnant, and about a week ago went off her food. Nothing we tried could tempt her. This is always worrying when they are in kid because the babies can take an awful lot out of the doe. Our fears were confirmed a couple of days later when she went down with Pregnancy Toxaemia, also known as Twin Lamb disease. Basically, the strain of her growing kids took so much out of her it caused her blood sugar levels to drop, leaving her weak. Although we had been treating her with a liquid glucose solution, she was still not eating very much and spending most of her time lying down.
In spite of this, right up until yesterday evening she seemed bright and alert. We had been helping her to get up and move around as much as possible, and she had been drinking and nibbling on hay. Last night Eddie left for Dunfermline, and he will be away working until Thursday night.
This morning when I went out to the barn she was lying down, and not looking too good. I tried to help her to get up, but she just didn’t have any energy to take her own weight. She cried out, and I looked in her eyes and I knew this was it. She had lost her fight. I sat down beside her, cradled her head in my arms and gently stroked her face. She died in my arms a couple of minutes later. Soon after she died, I watched her stomach twitch and knew that her babies had died too. I hugged her and wept. For our beloved Big Ron, and for her poor unborn babies. I don’t think I have ever felt quite so alone.
She was one of the original does from our starter flock of 9. Her registered name was Karina, but we called her Big Ron after Big Ron Atkinson because she was a rather, ahem, substantial lady, and she shared his penchant for tacky chunky gold jewellery. She would have been 9 in February.
Ron was heavily pregnant, and about a week ago went off her food. Nothing we tried could tempt her. This is always worrying when they are in kid because the babies can take an awful lot out of the doe. Our fears were confirmed a couple of days later when she went down with Pregnancy Toxaemia, also known as Twin Lamb disease. Basically, the strain of her growing kids took so much out of her it caused her blood sugar levels to drop, leaving her weak. Although we had been treating her with a liquid glucose solution, she was still not eating very much and spending most of her time lying down.
In spite of this, right up until yesterday evening she seemed bright and alert. We had been helping her to get up and move around as much as possible, and she had been drinking and nibbling on hay. Last night Eddie left for Dunfermline, and he will be away working until Thursday night.
This morning when I went out to the barn she was lying down, and not looking too good. I tried to help her to get up, but she just didn’t have any energy to take her own weight. She cried out, and I looked in her eyes and I knew this was it. She had lost her fight. I sat down beside her, cradled her head in my arms and gently stroked her face. She died in my arms a couple of minutes later. Soon after she died, I watched her stomach twitch and knew that her babies had died too. I hugged her and wept. For our beloved Big Ron, and for her poor unborn babies. I don’t think I have ever felt quite so alone.
posted by Carolyn at 1:00 pm
7 Comments:
You poor thing - I'd hate to have to deal with that alone. My eldest cat is nearly 19 now & I dread finding her dead in her bed.
I am so sorry, it is so sad. It is good that you were with her, though. I hope you were not physically alone for too long. Big virtual hugs being sent your way.
Im so sorry about your loss, it's a terrible thing to have to go through. I really hope you start to feel better soon.
Oh, what a sad thing to go through. I hope you're taking good care of yourself today, as you must be in a fragile state.
Carolyn that is such a terrible tale for you to tell us but it is so brave and strong of you to write about it and in such a coherent and moving way. Thinking of you. Hx
Carolyn,So sorry to hear your sad news. I hope you are feeling a bit better now. Alice x
Okay, I'm crying. :-( We lost our cat, Baxter, this summer and I don't think I'll ever recover. It's true that you move on and think less and less of your lost friends. But the pain of losing them never goes away. I'll keep you in my thoughts.
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