Sadness

I came home last week and found my Shadrach (the beloved) wasn't feeling very well.  On Friday, he wasn't any better so we had a housecall from the vet.  He determined that it was bladder stones (apparently not uncommon in cut male goats, particularly if their Mom's give them all the sweet mix they want).  Shadrach seemed to do better on Saturday, but took a turn for the worse on Saturday night.  On Monday we ended up with an ultrasound and the sad decision to put him down.

Shadrach was my very first goat and he made me love goats.  He was extremely needy when we first got him, very nervous and constantly cried.  He lived with the chickens until his pasture got fenced in and we got him a couple friends.  Even after that, whenever I got home he would recognize my vehicle and started crying for me to come play with him. When we would be out going to visit or working in the yard he never let me out of his sight, and if I were distracted long enough he would come over and bump me, as if to say "I'm right here in case you forgot". If we were up visiting Grandma and I hadn't been paying attention he would come give me a little nibble or just lay his head on my shoulder. He was very jealous and didn't like any of the other animals getting my attention, so yes, he was very spoiled.

Missing Shadrach has been very hard on all the Dederick's but it seems the ones who are having the hardest time are Diva and Little Timmy. Today, despite going for a walk and spending time with them, they both just seem sad.  Of course neurotic that I am now, I keep going out and staring at them.  They both just look at me like, "where is our friend?".  So on top of dealing with my own depression and sadness, I have my babies to take care of too. 

Last night I took everyone for a walk down on the creek, of course the dogs all had to go in for a swim, since the creek is so high with the run off.  My old dog Dudley jumped in also, not realizing how cold the water was, he has a lot of arthritis in his hips and the cold water made them lock up.  I had some trouble getting him up the bank and out of the water, but I explained to him that I couldn't lose both my boys in one week, so he was just going to have to live a little longer.  It was a long slow walk home and I'm petty sure even the goats babies were worried about him.

All in all it has been a rough animal week at our house.  Experiences like this are why people say they are never getting a dog/cat/goat/chicken/(fill in the blank here).  But even going through all the sadness I wouldn't trade my time with Shadrach.  I love all my animals and the sadness is just a little price to pay for all the joy, fun and happiness they bring.