I’ve never wanted pets because they were to easy to become attached to. And it’s hard when they go.
I’ve always said our goats walked a fine line between pets and livestock but for me Holly crossed over the line right into my heart.
She was my bottle baby since her mom didn’t want her. I took her to work with me for about a month or more. Everyone was just in love with her. And how could you not be. She loved to jump and dance like all baby goats. And cried when she couldn’t find me.
Working her back into the herd was hard. They never really accepted her but she was getting too big to carry to work everyday and too active to sit complacently in your lap. She wanted to run and jump and explore. A church office wasn’t the best place for that. So we had to get her used to living with her goat family. That was hard. For me and for her I’m sure. She would cry and call for me. Making me feel like I’d abandoned her. But she started to learn her way.
We had to put her down this weekend. Thursday she just wasn’t acting right. She seemed sad and depressed. She wasn’t her usual talkative self. Friday her head was drawing back to one side and she was walking in circles. I brought her to the office with me. Her ears felt hot and she would stand with her head pressed into something so that it didn’t lead her in circles. She tried to fight it but eventually she couldn’t. I sat on the floor and held her head into my chest until Ben could come at noon to take her to the vet.
She stayed over night getting medicine and other treatments but nothing was helping. She had tested positive for worms and another parasite but had showed no signs that we were familiar with to indicate that was what was wrong. Even the vet said she looked fine. But we had been down this road with other goats before. And when she wasn’t responding to the treatments we decided we didn’t want her to have to suffer anymore.
Saturday was tough. I think that eventually we may get rid of all the goats. For awhile. I love raising them but I think we need to do a lot of updating to the pens. But things we just aren’t able to do right now.
Holly, I’ll miss your sweet sweet face.
She made us all smile…
she brought so much joy in such a short time!
I am sorry for you loss of Holly. It can be very hard to lose a pet.
I'm so sorry Holly had to be put down. She was such a sweetie. Don't give up on goats all together! She did bring you lots of love for the time you had her. Lots of love to you and the family!
Jeanetta,
I'm so sorry to hear about Holly, after your forming such a sweet attachment with her. 🙁 Your sister told me about her today, and having just got our first 3 goats recently, I was very sad to hear of your loss…
On another note, I really enjoyed being around Phoebe and Luke this past Saturday for Caleb's party…they were so sweet to our 3 children — delightful young people.
God bless you all,
Amber