Livestock and Lingerie

Sage says: 

My horses have VS. 

I know, unless you have horses, you are thinking, “say what?” 

Vesicular Stomatitus.  Fever, oozing blisters all over the lips, nostrils, teats and sometimes near hooves, the skin sloughs where the blisters were and lesions develop throughout the mouth and the areas that had blisters.  Very contagious.  Not comfortable; in fact, judging from my horses, it is downright painful.  And it is a reportable disease.  Meaning, it is federal law that one must report it, if you have it in your animals.  The USDA has downgraded the disease but they still need to monitor it.  In horses it is common, especially in wet fly season(flies carry it).  It resembles Hoof and Mouth, a very nasty disease in cattle that was irradicated in 1929.  So every time a cow gets VS, a state or federal veterinarian checks to make sure it isn't hoof and mouth.   It's a lot of interacting with ‘guvment’ but this is actually where I'm glad we have them, because all the website PDFs were very helpful, and contagious diseases are a tad overwhelming.  I’m sure my veterinarian appreciated the PDFs as well, because it meant I only called 6 times instead of 600.  Yes, I'm a bit of a horse-owner hypochondriac. 

Squirrel:  Speaking of being a hypochondriac, my sister-in-law might have it, too.  She isn't sure, but people can get it.  She has a blister that hurts, in her mouth.  I have read VS stuff from sundown ‘til sunup - I've learned a lot.  Hopefully she doesn't have it – the only people who get it usually have compromised immune systems.   

Hopefully it's just the sunflower seeds she really likes to eat.  But I may have to check her temp...

At any rate, we have a state agency issued quarantine for 14 days.  This is where country and city meet.  My horses drink out of a pond.  The official I spoke with suggested I clean out my water tanks.  This poses a challenge as they hold several thousand gallons of water.  It was also suggested I control flies.  On 1,700 acres?  That's a lot of fly spray.  At any rate, I've been trying to apply the suggestions as best I can and monitor my horses, cattle, 1 goat, 1 sheep, 5 family members and various human visitors as best I can.  The horses are getting better, they haven't missed a single bite of grass out in their pasture.  For horse owners, missing a meal is a big red-flag.  Our bunch seem to know that work, and winter, are around the corner so it is best not to miss a single blade of green grass. 

I've shared the news of our VS, because I think learning from others is a great opportunity, and if something I do can help a single soul, well, it served a purpose.  Though having a quarantine hasn't been all bad...I'll even admit I suggested to a city friend that we have been quarantined and we should plan her visit at a later date because I really didn’t want to clean house…not sure the guvment official would agree with me using the information to ward off visitors, but, well, hey, the house is a mess and I do need too go check the horses again. 

Shayla says:

I’ll be completely honest.

When my cousins first started posting about VS coming to New Mexico, I was kind of excited for them. Here in the city, we often use the initials “VS” when referring to Victoria’s Secret. I thought “Well good for them! They can get some pretty bras and undies!”

But I can read a room, and my cousins were not happy about this particular VS so I did a Google search to see what it was. ADD sidebar: I wish I hadn’t. There were pictures.

I don’t know much about livestock, but having had three kids who go or have gone to the germ factory known as public school, I am familiar with hand, foot, and mouth disease and this seemed liked a horse-size version of that miserable ailment. My experience with that consists of this:

“Mommy my mouth hurts so much…” (cry cry sniffle sniffle)

“I’m sorry you don’t feel well. Try gargling with warm salt water …here’s a popsicle…time for your Tylenol. …wash your hands…don’t touch Mommy.” (cry cry sniffle sniffle…I don’t do well with watching others suffer.)

ADD sidebar: Does Sage get the horses to gargle salt water? If so, I need video evidence…

ADD to my ADD sidebar: We had a pet turtle once named Flash. Flash didn’t exactly live up to his name. He was fast enough to portray the Tortoise in a live version of The Tortoise and the Hare. Flash also came to us with a mild case of shell rot. I spent weeks debriding his shell and applying disinfectant, hoping to turn it around. I liked Flash. He used to stick out his back foot for me to rub it while I was cleaning him. But despite my best efforts, Flash died. I don’t know how Sage is able to stomach taking care of multiple animals on a regular basis, especially ones that can spread a virus to humans. Like Sage, I am a hypochondriac. If I hadn’t Googled it, I would’ve thought I could’ve gotten shell rot.

I can’t fathom 1700 acres. 

I have two yards—a front and a back. 

I have a pool. We had to drain it once and refill it. I can't tell you how we drained it. The city has laws about that and I'm not sure the statute of limitations has run out. 

I have three flyswatters for the “ton” of flies we get sometimes which might be five or six on a day.

And in truth, the VS originally freaked me out because let’s face reality, I depend on people like Sage for my food source (and this fatty likes her food). 

I thought it was like mad cow disease or the bird flu and suddenly turned into the “Where’s the beef” lady thinking that all that red meat would be lost. So I was glad that Sage provided information on it.  

But because I have no real practical experience with VS, I’ve decided that the best way I can help is to respect Sage’s quarantine and stay the hell away. 

Sure some might say that I am only doing that because I fear I will contract the cooties myself (and you’d be right.) But she also doesn’t need the added stress of having to clean her house for a visit (and as an added bonus, I don’t have to go through the effort of putting on my VS bra.)

Just know that I’m here for you Sage.

Way the hell over here.