Well, you get the point.
I went to visit Casey yesterday and to try to bribe her back into our good graces with carrots. It sort of worked.
Poor Casey is in the barn and spends most of her time lying in the stall. Until today she had to be helped to her feet...but today she STOOD UP ON HER OWN! Yeah, I know it was the carrots.
Now you might ask, exactly how do you work with a camel who doesn't want to stand but must for rehabilitation purposes? It's not pretty...mostly from her end. Camels spit. Camels spit a lot when they are distressed, angry or feel threatened. A camel with an injured spine spits for all of the above, which means she can work up spit from pouches in herself unknown to mankind. [I have to admit that an ulterior motive of the carrots was also to make her spitting a little "fresher" let's say.]
I wasn't really sure if it would work, but I did receive a call this evening that Casey was slightly easier to deal with because of the carrots I left her. In between the unpleasantness of the blanket covering her head to deflect the spit and her medical treatments, the rehabilitation crew was able to see her with happy faces. The carrots make her happy. Yeah!
The vet has ordered her to stall rest for 30 days with "strongly encouraged" standing sessions until she is willing to stand on her own. So I'll be out to visit her again this weekend with a couple pounds of carrots. I hope her progress continues. Today was promising. Keep your fingers crossed.
Note: She is "strongly encouraged" to stand with slings attached to a forklift. By no means is she harmed. Like most rehabilitation and physical therapy there is some unpleasantness; in this case, resulting in large quantities of spit.
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