Despite the infection in his neck, Caruso’s
condition slowly but steadily improved. By January 4th, his stool had returned to nearly normal. Finally, on January 10th, twenty- one days after being admitted to MSU, Judy received the news that she had been waiting for: Caruso was ready to come home. “I hadn’t seen him in three weeks,” she
“He’s red-headed
and German, Judy. He’ll pull through.”
says. “They told me that it would be easier on Caruso if he didn’t see me and then see me leave right away. Plus, they said he wasn’t a pretty sight when he was at his worst. I was so excited to have him come home, but I knew that we weren’t out of the woods yet.”
WELCOME HOME, CARUSO
When Caruso was preparing to return home, the doctors
at MSU suggested that Judy find a place for Caillie to stay for at least a few weeks until they confirmed that the salmonella had left his body so that he would no longer be contagious. Judy made arrangements to keep Caillie at a friend’s farm until Caruso was healthy enough to have a roommate again.
Caruso in July 2009, feeling himself again.
Upon arrival home, Caruso still had a lot
of recovering to do before he was back to his normal self. “His jugular was still a mess,” Judy says. “I had to put a hot compress as many times as I could during the day to try to keep the infection under control, but he was really good about it. I had to watch his body, as well. He had been inside and lost so much weight that he needed to be all bundled up in our barn. I think he had every
blanket I owned on him!
“He lost a lot of his mane and most of his tail from just being so sick. I was in there one night trying to make him look pretty and his mane and tail were just coming out in handfuls as I was brushing it. I couldn’t help thinking, ‘Is he going to be bald?’ I think he even lost a lot of his coat. His system was just shot,” she reports. As the days progressed, Caruso began feeling a little
better. He could eventually come out of his stall and wander around in the safe and secure barn to keep busy. It was late one night during one of his wanderings that ‘Roll the Carrot’ was invented. Judy laughs. “One night, I was trying to come up with something to keep him busy. I began to roll carrots to
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