Chat
07-11-2017, 01:12 PM
It takes time for a herd to adjust when a goat goes missing. I'm sure Huck misses his brother, but he's probably happy to be allowed outside. Hopefully it won't take him long to make new friends and find his place in the herd again. I sincerely hope he pulls through for you. You've had enough heartache as it is. For me, losing a goat is emotionally harder than losing a dog or even a horse at this point. There's something about them that people who haven't owned goats don't generally understand because "they're just livestock." But they aren't livestock. They're our buddies. I'm glad we have places online where there are other people who understand this.
I don't think there's anything wrong with letting an animal see the body of a loved one who passed. I think it helps them understand. When my horse's stablemate died of colic a few years ago, she was absolutely frantic for over 24 hours and churned a trench along the fence calling for her because she knew the other horse was sick when she went away. The horse was put down the next morning at the college stable and I helped the owner cut hair and such before I went to check on my horse. My horse sniffed me all over from head to foot and I could tell that she knew from the smell that her friend had died and she immediately quit looking for her. She was sad, but she was no longer frantic and she stopped calling and pacing and gazing over the fence. That said, I would not put an animal down in front of its buddies. When we put Cuzco down, we made sure everyone else was locked away in the pen and too far to see what was happening. We don't want our animals to know that we sometimes end their lives. Even if we know it's a merciful decision, I don't expect them to understand that, nor do I want to remind them that we are a predator species.
I don't think there's anything wrong with letting an animal see the body of a loved one who passed. I think it helps them understand. When my horse's stablemate died of colic a few years ago, she was absolutely frantic for over 24 hours and churned a trench along the fence calling for her because she knew the other horse was sick when she went away. The horse was put down the next morning at the college stable and I helped the owner cut hair and such before I went to check on my horse. My horse sniffed me all over from head to foot and I could tell that she knew from the smell that her friend had died and she immediately quit looking for her. She was sad, but she was no longer frantic and she stopped calling and pacing and gazing over the fence. That said, I would not put an animal down in front of its buddies. When we put Cuzco down, we made sure everyone else was locked away in the pen and too far to see what was happening. We don't want our animals to know that we sometimes end their lives. Even if we know it's a merciful decision, I don't expect them to understand that, nor do I want to remind them that we are a predator species.