Ranch Call...

From Jim: Our vet, Dr. Gary Darling, was trained at UC Davis. He's a large and small animal vet, with a lot of experience with equines. Like most, but not all, large animal Docs, he has a mobile rig, truck with a vet-pack in the bed. It's crammed with all manner of equipment and meds and such. That's a good thing, because a ranch call at the sanctuary can be a real scene. We've got a bunch of critters here and they're not all equines. All of em are Dr. Gary's patients. That means barn cats with eye infections and goats that need their shots and worming, and dogs that are tick magnets. It means calves that need polled (dehorned) and colts that need gelded and old guys that need their teeth floated. We have any number of critters with issues from abuse and injury. We have critters with congenital defects. We have animals that are at the very end of their life cycles and will need the last gift of kindness. It's just a whole big bunch of medical stuff and our vet is up to it-Thank Goodness! I can't imagine trying to have the sanctuary without our good Doc. There are times when we take critters to the vet's clinic. It might be a question of convenience, or a matter of scheduling, or an emergency where transporting is quicker and serves the animal's needs better. There's the equivalent of over one year of animal health care here every single week. Where the average horse owner might see colic once or twice, we'll see it 12 or 15 times. We'll have 20 or 30 floats a year. We immunize 70 or 80 critters a year. We euthanize 12 to 20. We treat uveitis and obstructed tear ducts. We overcome starvation issues and digestive failures. We deal with melanoma and carcinoma and sarcoids. There are surgeries and wound treatments. Through all this, Dr. Darling is our teacher and coach and practicing vet. Ranch calls happen about once or twice a month. Some last minutes, others can take most of the day. Our vet is a key player in what we do here at Home At Last. We sure appreciate him!