SEQUIM — Nellie has a new lease on life. In the fast lane. Owing to a back problem — a ruptured disk, maybe, or arthritis — the pygmy goat’s hind legs wouldn’t work. Since mid-March, Nellie has been paralyzed below the hips.
Her caretakers at Critterhaven, Susan Stahlin and her husband, Bob Bashaw, weren’t content to let Nellie drag herself around by her forelegs.
And they weren’t wild about changing her Depend diapers three or four times per day since she couldn’t urinate or defecate as a normal goat would.
So they went in search of a cart.
Bashaw, 58, and Stahlin, 55, have made a life of rescuing animals since Critterhaven opened in 1997, and they’re not inclined to give up on anybody.
The sanctuary’s co-founders care for rescued horses, cattle, pigs, geese, ducks, donkeys, dogs, cats — and 39 goats, including Nellie.
Bashaw said he’d seen carts for disabled dogs on television.
“The epiphany came,” he added, when he recognized that a goat could work with a similar mechanical device.
“Nellie had so much strength in her front legs. We have the belief that just because you have a disability you shouldn’t have to die,” added his wife.
Search sent out
First the couple found K-9 Carts, a Langley company that makes wheelchairs and mobility carts for dogs.
Stahlin sent in Nellie’s measurements, in hopes of finding a cart to suit the 45-pound goat, and two days later K-9 called her back.
A match had been found: a woman in Everett was listed as owner of a set of wheels that could fit.