Kitsune's Under the Weather

Carrie spends an awful lot of her time thinking about this guy.

He can be shy. It could be his personality, but Carrie suspects it's from all the poking, prodding, and medicine he got so soon after birth. Sometimes she has to catch him lying down if she wants to touch him. 

And Carrie won't stop until she manages to give Kit a scratching. She's determined to end every one of her visits on a friendly note. She's learned that if she crouches down or sits long enough, Kit treats her differently. Instead of running away, he'll get curious and investigate.

Once Carrie finds a spot or two, he'll stay!

She knows all the spots!

"Foals are itchy by nature," Carrie says.

But look out for kisses! Even more, look out for nips! Kit's teeth are in (Poor Mama!). 

Kit's had some scrapes on his back legs, but Carrie says those are common for foals. 

He had to go on antibiotics shortly after being born, but otherwise there were no big health concerns.

Until Wednesday night. Carrie almost didn't go out with me for night chores, but it was a good thing she did. Kit was sweating and hot to the touch. Carrie took his temperature and it was ~103.8 F.

Fever for foals starts at 102. Anything between 100 and 102 is considered normal. Carrie could tell right away that Kit was off and when he almost fell trying to avoid us, she guided him down to the ground to rest safely.

The vet was called. Carrie stayed with Kit while I opened the gate and checked on Shane.

Kit got meds and expert care.

The vet pulled blood, but nothing came back out of the ordinary.

For now, the medicine was in, the fever was down, and Kit was hungry. The vet said "Wait and we'll see in the morning."

In a stroke of perfect timing, Carrie had installed a wifi camera the day everything happened.

The feed goes straight to her phone and there's a night vision mode. I'm with her in this shot.

I went in to put Shane to bed while Carrie hung out a little longer to keep an eye on Kit.

She came inside to try and sleep, but the timestamp here proves she was up on and off all night.

We checked in early the next morning. Carrie needed my help before school to hold Kit.

He had a lot of medicine to take: There were a couple shots, some things to choke down, and even something that had to go up from the other end!

Kit's about 2.5 weeks old, but he's over 180 lbs. It's a two person job to administer everything. 

The vet came back for a follow-up appointment after I went to work. The plan for now is to continue with the meds and see if things get better. It'll be my job to supply the muscle while Carrie supplies the skills. The new routine includes morning and night medications with night-time being the big show. The wrestling and poking won't help Kitsune trust us more, but hopefully he blames me more than Carrie. We just hope he feels better soon.