CLEAN CLOTHING GROUP

morley had his staples out yesterday, care of dr. harris in guelph ... the vet we were referred to by morley's surgeon for followup on his blood pressure issues, possible cushings, and more recently his urinary and excessive drinking. just doing some minor clean-up this morning on the incision where the fold is a little raw and there were very minor indications of possible infection ... a little antiseptic soap and some tea tree lotion.

we're still waiting for the culture on morley's urinalysis from yesterday ... could be another two days for results. in the meantime, i've been working on my own theory: that perhaps he's simply gotten himself into a pattern of drinking too much to help clean out his system and his kidneys have gone into overdrive. this was echoed by a fellow raw feeder on a yahoo group i'm on. in order to help break this cycle i've gently tried to stop morley partway through his drinking by distracting him ... not having the heart to take away his water entirely ... and it already seems to be making a subtle difference.

in the meantime, great news on the blood values front!!! for the first time in over two years, morley has normal blood work!! again, my gut (and those of a few of you flickr friends) was right. his wonky blood work, low WBC, low neutrophils and platelets was entirely due to the splenic mass. his WBC is well within range, in fact, pretty much smack dab in the middle, his neutrophils as well are sitting pretty, and his platelets are soaring wonderfully high. ha!

everything else in his blood work seems normal ... liver values, pancreatic values, glucose, calcium ... nothing to make the vet immediately think diabetes or cushings, although he's not willing to rule out further diagnostics in these areas if morley's drinking/peeing issue isn't a UTI or just some crazy pattern he's gotten himself into.

so ... onward. and i might even have me a nap.

of course, for my next trick, the vet would like me to measure morley's water consumption for the next 48 hours. "matea, that's morley's bowl ..." yeah right ... we'll work on that. ;)

The guts spill out of the lambs body in one neat motion, the remaining carcass to be spit-roasted on the wedding day.

My father-in-law and I picked the two sheep up from a nearby farm early one morning, and bought them back to the Davidson farm where the butchers were finishing cutting up the steer.

We took the lambs one at a time to a secluded spot - I had the back legs, my father-in-law the front. We held it down on a large wooden board, and the butcher drew out a long sharp knife and slit it's throat in one quick motion.

The life burst out of the lamb, but holding it down was no real effort. It's attempts to wriggle free had been always been feeble, but the grew still weaker as the blood drained away. At the very last moment of life it gave a violent kick - far too late - and then it was gone.

The sheep was then carefully cut to seperate its fleecey skin from its body and legs. The legs were broken half way, and a few expert nicks of the knife had them completely free. The body was put up onto a meat hook we had hanging from a chain wrapped round a tall strong pole, and after seperating the subcataneous fat from the body, the head and fleece were free. The carcass was then cut down the middle, neatly spilling its guts out onto the fleece below in one go.

The body was cleaned, wrapped and put into the cold store, and it was time for the second lamb.