Highs
This morning around 7:15, we got to spend some time with a moments-old foal. Our neighbor breeds Standardbred horses and as we drove past his barn, he flagged us down. We stopped and met Goober, who had been born no more than ten minutes earlier. He's already full of personality and is doing well.
Lows
Yesterday, I had met a woman via Facebook who had an orphaned newborn kitten. Its young, inattentive mother had given birth to five babies on the concrete and all but this one had died. I offered to take it, knowing I had more than an abundance of fresh goat milk in the fridge and a little extra time on my hands. I find it extremely hard to turn away an animal in need; its just in my nature. I was sure my fiance would be mad if I brought home another rescue. My head was telling me no, but I couldn't ignore the feeling in my heart. While my fiance was at work I drove half an hour to meet the woman and brought the kitten home. I didn't tell him until a little bit later, and his reaction wasn't nearly as bad as I expected;
"How could I be mad about such a cute little thing?"
So the next eighteen hours were filled with feeding her every two hours and keeping her warm. She was doing so much better this morning. She seemed stronger and was eating more. Maybe there was more hope than I thought.
Unfortunately, when I went to check on her and feed her at about 6pm tonight, she had passed away. I'm fairly certain that it was because she hadn't had any of her mother's colostrum and was weak and immunocompromised.
Sadly, things like this happen in farming and rescue. Not every animal makes it, but at least I gave her a fighting chance.
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