Pulled hinny teeth

Yesterday the equine dentist, Dr Mary from NW equine dentistry, came out and worked on the teeth of both my animals.  Both mule and hinny are in their 20's.  Sally the wonder mule had a few points on her teeth and we changed her bite to better suit her mealtime consumption.  Ivan the hinny, on the other hand, was a more difficult case.  His teeth were so worn down that he will have to be on grass hay pellets for the rest of his life.  He had 2 teeth that were very loose and it didn't take much for them to be pulled out.  Imagine trying to chew and each time you do, a couple of teeth start wiggling.  Sounds painful to me.  Afterwards, there was a lot of blood draining from his mouth. Poor guy. I have his 2 teeth in a jar now, for remembrance.

Today he and Sally both are trying to figure out how to eat with the new changes.  Sally didn't want to eat her hay, but instead tossed it aside and ate the small seeds and bits on the bottom--something she learned from Ivan.  Ivan ate his pellets readily today and finally we will be able to get his weight back up.  I have permanently closed the gate between the two, and no more of Sally stealing Ivan's pellets.  I set up separate waters with automatic waterings and everyone is doing fine today.

It's not a pleasant thing to have to do--equine dental maintenance. But it must be done for them to live as full lives as possible. They can't easily complain because of dental pain, and because of that, it's easy to ignore the subtle signs of teeth problems. I'm glad they all are up to date on all maintenance now.  

Amber the goat is due to kid as early as tomorrow.