Our Blind Little Stargazer

Serendipity Strikes

Our ranch manager, Elise, happened to be an hour north at the fabulous Bonham Veterinary Clinic, with Dr. Avery who was examining Pickles and Blossom for skin conditions. That morning, another client of the clinic came in looking for a home for a blind and nearly completely deaf sheep she had been raising since its mom died. She had bottle fed her, and kept her safe. Stargazer was nearly 11 months old now and needed special care for her condition.

This little nugget is so special!

She was born blind. And we now believe, deaf also. She does not respond to loud noises. Stargazer loves to be held and falls asleep when you stroke her face. We have been slowly using scissors to trim her hair, so as to not alarm her. But she barely notices. Her stomach and rear end, which need the most trimming, are not areas she's fond of us touching! So she quickly walks aways.

Trouble walking normal

Stargazer's hooves are very overgrown. She rolls her foot from discomfort. So today Isaiah from our Ranch Team works with Elise to gently trim her hooves. She's such a sweet soul and doesn't mind at all! We have a very gentle dremel tool that only shaves a little bit at a time. It's fabulous! Even our goats who once heard the noise and panicked, now fall asleep when we trim their hooves!

Stargazer is just a few days into her 30 day quarantine period. So she's presently living alone in a 12x12 stall, with a salt lick (which we see she uses!), a big stuffed bag of timothy hay (which she loves and even sleeps on), water and a large stuffed animal bear. We thought a big stuffed animal would bring her comfort, and we were right! This is how we find her in the mornings!

When she arrived, she would spin anxiously in place. Now, she's found every corner of her stall and she's created a little racetrack of her own that she'll bounce around on for a few minutes and appears to be having fun and not doing this out of fear, panic, or anxiety.

Below is a photo from her birth. Sadly, her mom passed away after the birth from a prolapsed uterus, so Stargazer hasn't had companionship - other than 3 lamas in a pasture near her.

In just a week, she's scouted her stall and knows where everything is. When we're not with her, we watch her on our cameras and cheer for all her little moments of seeing her more and more familiar with her space and where everything is located. And of course, we're obsessing over researching how to help those who are blind and deaf so that when she moves to the sheep house with the others, we make sure she's happier with them, than she has ever been!

We are so excited for her to meet our other sheep. They've all been through something traumatic and are some of the most gentle furbabies on the farm. And because of this, they live and graze separately from our other animals. These are the faces that will greet her in just a few short weeks and we can't wait to see her thrive!