Adventures in Animal Husbandry

Last Saturday was a bugger of a day.  It was supposed to be a great day!  We were finally moving out to the farmhouse.  We still have the house in town that is going to be re purposed into a (hopefully) profitable endeavour.  (More on that later.)  So we didn't have all that much to move when it came down to it.  Bedrooms, kitchen stuff and of course the dining table that my step-mom's father made back in 1975. It was handed down to me about 13 years ago and it is one of my only earthly possessions that I am way to attached to. 

And then it rained.... and snowed a bit.... and threw in some sleet.  Just for fun.  Why does it always rain when you try to move?  But we ducked rain drops and got most things moved without getting them wet.  I'm thankful for the lovely friends and neighbors that took the time to help!



Banner the miracle alpaca.

And then we had a sick alpaca.  A very sick alpaca.  I noticed on Friday evening that he wasn't acting right at all.  He kept going to the poo pile and straining but nothing would happen.  Not a good sign!  He also didn't want to eat anything.  A really bad sign for an alpaca!  They love food as much as I do!  As soon as I got the little guy caught and checked his vitals I knew he was in real trouble.  He was dehydrated for sure.  Capillary refill was slow.  All he would do was strain to poo and then go lay down. 

So I had the neighbor girl come over and she held him still while I tortured the poor beast.  First by squirting syringes of warm water and olive oil down his throat.  I didn't have any mineral oil and figured some kind of oil had to help! He was too sick to fight much and took the liquid pretty well.  We got about 10 ounces down him.  After turning him loose and encouraging him to walk around for a bit, we caught him up and the torture got worse.  I can now say I have given an alpaca and enema.  Several of them actually!  The enemas did seem to help things move along somewhat.  So after an hour or so of torture, we turned him loose to live or die.  I had a feeling he had sand colic and I wasn't feeling very optimistic.  Actually I was down right sad.  I thought I was going to lose my first alpaca.

The next morning before we got busy moving things I rushed over to doctor the poor guy.   When my big boy and I got to the barn, I warned him to brace himself for the worst.  We walked into the corral to find Banner laying flat, not moving, teeth showing, eyes still and open.  Looking pretty darn dead.  I crept over to find he was still breathing.  I nudged him and he got to his feet but he looked bad.  We and repeated the water and oil down the throat procedure and got him to take about 16 ounces.  His breath was horrible!  With his breath smelling like necrotic tissue I just knew he had ruptured an intestine.  I just knew I was going to have to shoot Banner.  But instead I doctored and prayed and prayed some more.  If he got to looking like he was in constant pain I was going to put him down. 

We left and went to haul our things to the farm.  A couple of hours later I checked on Banner and saw a very slight improvement.  He was standing up more.  A few hours after that I saw a miracle!  He was out in the pasture with his buddies and actually nibbled on some grass!  I couldn't believe it. By the end of the day I thought the bugger might actually live!

Banner and his buddy Huck.

The next morning we wasted no time getting out to do chores.  There was Banner alive and well and he was HUNGRY!! He acted like his only care in the world was food!  He happily dove into his alpaca chow and never looked back!  He is now my miracle alpaca. 

All is well that ends well.

Bye for now,
B