My 4 year old wether, Nubbins has been a houseguest in my house for over a month now.
He originally stayed with me at the end of November, for a week, when he went into kidney failure and I found him in the pasture unwilling to move. After 2 weeks at the vets’ office and 2 weeks at home – he went back out to keep Waffles and Persnickety company. After all, who keeps a goat in the house?
Fast forward to March – I went out to feed and water my loves and Nubbin’s eye looked like it had been struck with a bat. It was swollen, beyond red and oozing pus. I knew immediately what it was – conjunctivitis. Nonetheless, we hoisted him into the back of the Audi and travelled back to the vet – only to be told – what I already knew. It was conjunctivitis! Nubbins was going to be a house guest once again – how exciting. This time we were more prepared and set up the cage in the kitchen with wee wee pads, water, hay and a much needed broom. Nick and I went away for a week and were blessed to have an amazing pet sitter who minded him while we were gone. I was relieved though – because this time it was going to be easy. He clearly was going to be gong back out to pasture as soon as we got home! Nope. His eye looked worse when we returned than it did when we left. Another 3 weeks of medication and TLC finally cleared up his pink eye. I made up my mind – he was going back out the very next day. I even peered right into that nice clear eye and told him so myself. “You’re going out tomorrow and trust me you’ll like it”
But as everyone knows life has a way of not going as planned. Either that or I really have a goat that wants to stay inside and is manipulating me. Because – no sooner did I utter those words – then my boyfriend’s son, Noah, turned to me and said, “Why is Nubbins bleeding so much?”
I swear – I looked into the cage and there was blood all over his wee wee pads. Initially, I thought he may have cut himself, but the more I monitored him – the more I noticed it was only in his urine. Not one to take a chance and knowing his history with his kidneys – we loaded Nubbins up for a 3rd time and went back to the vet. He was prescribed more antibiotics and a daily dosage of vitamin C.
We are now going on just about 2 months straight and my once skittish wether – is a confident glorified house goat. He drinks from the dog bowls, head butts my beagle, begs for tickles when Nick and I are sitting on the couch and insists on getting brushed with the Furminator. I never thought I would say that I love having a goat in my house. After all, who does that? But I do. Nubbins has fit in well and is working hard at being a member of this family. Once it’s time for Nubbins to go back outside – I don’t know who is going to have the harder time adjusting – him or me.
The Fabulous Frost Farm: A lifestyle blog 