Round Two

Do remember Banner the alpaca?  (You can read about him here.) He was a very sick boy just a week or so after I brought him home last spring.  Sand colic seemed to be the culprit. I really thought I was going to lose him, but by some miracle he came through.

Banner after his last round with colic.

Yesterday afternoon I went out to do my chores and noticed Mr. Banner didn't look quite right.  He was laying on the ice near the feed trough and wasn't interested in getting up to eat the nice leafy hay I put in there for him and his buddies.  He was also shivering and had quite a bit of ice and snow covering him.  The night before last, we had a snowstorm and wind chill temperatures of around -35 below zero.  My first thought was that Banner must've drawn the short straw and had been kicked out of the shelter by the larger males.  I feared he was in bad shape due the extreme cold.  So I dragged him into the feed room of the barn while my big boy helped by shoving on his hind end for all he was worth. After making sure he couldn't get into anything, I gave him fresh hay and water and hoped that being inside, out of the snow and wind would do the trick.

A while later, a friend brought me out some beautiful chickens that had been looking for a new home. While we were up at the barn situating the chickens, we checked on Banner and discovered he was actually not a frozen alpaca, he was a very colicky, impacted alpaca. Again....

So we bedded him in some nice, fluffy straw, freshened his water, breathed a little prayer and hoped for the best.  Alpacas are really tricky about medications and such.  I would've preferred to give him something for pain and make him comfortable, but there wasn't anything available that wouldn't do more harm than good.

I was afraid of the condition he would be in by this morning.  I went out as early as I could, in sub-zero weather to check on our little buddy.  I found him with his cheerful, furry face looking out over the dutch door of the feed room.  He had been able to work through his belly ache and had even eaten some breakfast.  He could not wait to get out of there and I was so relieved and excited to see his improvement!  I turned him back out with his pals and he immediately asked for more grub.
 

We are both waiting for days like this one, last summer!

I'm thinking that good, ol' Banner must have a tummy kinda like mine.  It's pretty quick to turn on me and cause me grief.  This probably won't be the last time he gets a bellyache but at least after round two, it seems we're both tough enough to get through it....

Bye for now,
PB