A very special girl

A couple of weeks ago, one of our young goats, Poplin, (This is her a long time ago, when she and Boo were both much smaller!) suddenly became very ill.
She had what we believe was Meningitis. I didn't take photographs, or write about it - because the outcome was almost certainly going to be grim. Boo, whose special goat she is, cried. We decided it was time to put Poplin out of her misery. She was only semi conscious, had no movement, we had to move her legs for her gently, each day, to preserve any muscle tone at all. She had fallen early on in her illness, and bumped her eye, which was closed and scabbed over. It was dire, and terrible and sad.
We prayed and prayed for wisdom for us, and mercy for little Poppy.
The girls and I tempted her with mouthfuls of banana, syringed water into her mouth.
Our lovely organic/homeopathic landlord came to the rescue with imported high dose viatmin C. We rang the country's top goat vet. Poppy moved. One day she ate a banana. Whole. (they don't normally like the mushy bit in the middle, they prefer the lovely chewy wrapper!) Neil developed a fierce determination to pull her through. He bought high dose Vitamin B1 and mashed it into Bananas. He gave her physio. She began to eat hay, then to drink water from a bucket.
Finally she decided to eat goat food from a bucket, and she stood up!
We did think though, that she would always be blind.
Then yesterday, finally happy that she was out of danger, I went to take her photo.

This is her sister, Paisley. And this is what normally happens when you try to take a picture of a goat. They try to eat the camera.

As you approach Poplin, she puts her head on one side, is she just listening to your footfall? I stood outside of her little protective pen, to take the picture.



But no. Poplin definitely wants to eat the camera - so we're sure she can see something, even if it's limited! What a wonderful answer to prayer! What a brave and courageous goat! Well done Poppy! We love you!