Hindel Kidz 31: Sympathy For Sassy
Hindel Kidz 31
Sympathy For Sassy
Jack noticed something was wrong with Sassy. He had been helping Grace out by feeding in the mornings while Rhonda was in the hospital. When Sven and Grace went over to feed that evening, Sassy was breathing heavy, her ears were down and Grace could feel her backbone so she had lost some weight. Jack came over and took Sassy’s temperature. It was 103 which meant she had a fever. Jack gave her three shots. She cried on the first one and then fell over.
For the next three days, Jack came over every evening to give Sassy another shot of penicillin. Finally, he said to call the vet. Her temperature was now 101. The vet ran a couple of tests. While they were waiting for the results Sven took Sassy outside in case she had another accident. She had already had diarrhea on the floor of the examining room. After a while Sven put Sassy in the back of the truck and came back in the office.
“You have to love city slickers,” Sven said. A guy and two kids had come over to see Sassy while Sven was sitting outside. The guy had asked what kind of goat she was and then asked, “Do you keep her in the house or out in the barn?”
Jack and Grace busted out laughing and Jack said, “Jack in the Box is the house goat. Sassy stays in the barn.” Jack in the Box would come and put his front feet on the screen door when he thought it was time for his nightly bread. Jack would often open the door and let him walk around inside.
As it turned out Sassy had pneumonia and something else they couldn’t pronounce. The vet gave them four different kinds of medication. One was to give Sassy her appetite back. Another one was to clear up the pneumonia. The third was a probiotic to help with the diarrhea and digestion and the fourth was a vitamin. The vet told them to bring Sassy back in a month for a follow up.
That night Jack came over and gave Sassy all her medication. One they had to give orally and the other three were injections. Poor Sassy. She didn’t like being a pin cushion.
Sven went down to check on her one more time before going to bed. When he came back to the house, Grace asked, “Well how is she?”
“You have two options,” Sven replied. “Either take Belle back to Dad’s or he can bring another goat down here.” Sassy had passed away.
They don’t know why unless it was from all the stress and she couldn’t handle it. It wasn’t because of all the new medication. Jack said the reason she had lasted as long as she did was probably because of the penicillin. They had tried. It was all they could do.
Grace decided it take Belle back up to Jack’s. It wasn’t because Grace didn’t want to take care of her; she wanted to do what was right for Belle. It was the best thing for her. She would be happier up there with all the other goats. When Grace took her to the building, one of the other goats started bellowing when she saw Belle and Belle bellowed back. When they got to the building, Belle couldn’t wait to go in the pen she didn’t even wait for Grace to take the collar off. She seemed happy to be home. It had been the right decision. The next day she heard Belle had the spool all to herself and her very own feed dish.
Sven buried Sassy behind the barn over at Rhonda’s. It was where she lived and died. She never really seemed to be happy over there. She used to follow Rhonda around and come to her and let Rhonda pet her. After moving over she didn’t want anything to do with Rhonda. Sassy had also been a freebie. All they had invested in her was food and now the vet bill. Out of the two goats, Grace was more attached to Belle than she was to Sassy, but Sassy was a nice goat, too. She was five and a half years old.
SASSY
Aug. 23, 2005 - Mar. 30, 2011
