Quote From: ritehereI know you're not looking for excuses, but I'm sorry, you COULDN"T have known your goat was hurt unless you had been through this before. Animals instinctively hide injury and illness. In the wild, any indication of ill health marked the animal as a target for predators. Your goat hid it from you because that's what they do. As (sometimes) intelligent beings, we feel guilty because we project human qualities on our pets and other animals. You will continue to feel bad for awhile, it's inevitable, but Mackay does not hold you in any kind of reproach for not seeing his pain. On the other hand, now that you have learned this lesson, I know that you will keep a sharper eye on the rest of the herd, so Mackay's death was not in vain, and served a purpose. I'm sorry for your loss.
Ritehere,
Thank you. You put some things into perspective. I suppose I never considered that Mackay would hide his injury instinctually. That did give me some peace.
You will be happy to hear he is doing better. The wound still shows obvious signs of infection, but he can limp around, he is eating again, and is interested in being pet and scratched. He is also a quite affectionate goat and has been the perfect patient, so treating his has been simple, as he has allowed all of the surely painful things to be done in order to clean the wound, plus endured multiple injections of antibiotics.
I still feel the guilt, yet it is lessening. Understanding that I have learned from this eases that a lot. I doubt I will ever repeat a mistake such as this. Thanks again for all of your kindness!
Teri
