Maybellene

This is a tribute to Maybellene.  

We bought her from Ravencrest farm on the Olympic Peninsula in 2004.  She was a bottle baby and therefore quite friendly.  We got her with Saphy who made quite a pair.  They both have striking blue eyes, very friendly personalities and black hair.  

Maybellene grew up into a very nice doe, and we bred her.  She was a wonderful mother and made great kids as you can see from the photo.  She was bred for spring kidding last year and then our buck Cody managed to clear a 5 foot gate and bred her again so she kidded again the same year.  She again did an excellent job with her second kidding.  

After weaning she was a little thin.  I kept her in with the rest of the herd until a few weeks ago I noticed she was thin as well as a few other goats.  Because of our exceptionally cold spring a number of the goats had shed their cashmere and were chilled with the freezing winds we were getting.  So I place three goats including Maybellene in a pen, put a curtain over the ventilation window there and fed them extra.  The other two goats fattened up nicely, but Maybellene didn't.  

About 2 weeks ago I noticed she had a swollen eye.  Since she was the lowest goat in the goat pecking order I figured that she had been hit.  The swelling around her eye improved, and I took one of the offending goats out.  I continued to feed Maybellene and Clara (the goat in the sweater below) extra.  Then Tuesday I noticed that Maybellene had a swelling on her jaw and wasn't able to drink water normally, only lap at it.  She was still eating well, but she hadn't been acting like herself for a while- less friendly.  I called the vet but because of my back couldn't pick her up to bring her into the vet so scheduled a vet call; the first available appointment was this morning.  The vet came out and said she showed signs of nerve damage on her face which may be from trauma or infection so brought her into the office for sedation and x-rays.  I'll never forget the sight of her in the passenger seat on the lap of the vet student- she looked like she was taking a little car trip- looking out of the front window.  The vet just now called me and stated that the x-ray and an aspirate of the jaw swelling show cancer.  So we both agreed she should be put down .

My husband Tom works right down the block from the vet so is going into to pet her while she is being put down.  I told him to tell her I love her.  Maybellene is such a nice goat, and I sure wish this hadn't have happened to her at only 4 years old.  And (selfishly) I also can't believe that I'm having to deal with another death this very long winter.