Lady Belita is Sick and Down

Last night when I went out to do my evening feed, Belita was laying out flat on her side. Usually when the alpacas rest, they cush like the picture on the right. She didn't get up to eat her grain which is usually a little bit of a fiasco with everyone joyfully hurrying to get her share. I finished feeding and watched her. She would get up if I got real close, but then would lay right back down. I called for a vet. I was happy that Russ was on call and he was here within half an hour. We watched, listened, tempted, and decided she was colicky (tummy ache) because she had very little stomach sounds. Russ drew some blood and took a stool sample.
We gave her a shot of Banamine, tubed her (run oil through a tube down her throat to her first stomach), and called it a night. Russ was going to be in the area and said that he would check in in the a.m.
So this morning, the dear girl was cushed again throughout feeding. She wasn't stretched out but obviously, didn't feel up to parr and didn't want to eat. About the time that I finished feeding and picking up poop, Russ drove in. We gave her another shot of Banamine, she did have some stomach sounds, which is good. We debated about tubing her again but I really, really hate to stress alpacas, and my gutts said to just take her for a walk.
Her walk helped because when I left to come into the house, she was nibbling grass. Hopefully, she's going to be ok.....

This is Lady Belita with our first born girl on the farm, Celeste. See how Belita's ears are back. That's the way she always looks, which makes her look mean. She's not mean, but would rather be left alone.

Another Vet Call

This is little Lyra with her mom Celeste right after she was born last spring. Today Vet Russ had to come out and redraw blood because Michigan State's lab totally messed up the samples that we sent in a month ago. We were testing progesterone levels in Celeste ↑ and Lady Belita to see if they could be pregnant. The lab also screwed up our blood samples from the babies that were sent for BVDV testing so we had to redraw from the babies. You can't even imagine how hard this is to take blood from their necks when it is covered with 4 inches of fiber. Cudos to you, Russ.

....and this is Celeste and Lyra now. Lyra has really beautiful dense, crimpy fiber that is a beautiful golden fawn color. I can't wait for the May shear to get my hands on this fleece.

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Have I mentioned the sub zero temperatures? ☺ I'm pretty sick of hauling and busting up frozen water pails. We are supposed to get a big snow tomorrow and then maybe a warm up to the 20s.

Contest Reminder & Another Vet Visit

This is a reminder of the Name Goldie's Cria Contest that will end October 1st, which is next Wednesday. The names that have been submitted are listed on the right - remember, it must be something star/sky related. Winner can pick $25 worth of stuff from my Etsy store.
Scroll down to last week for details.....
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This morning was horribly busy. Sonata, brown momma shown below, was lethargic and didn't want to get up. Her cria, Libra, was born a week ago Friday and weighed 13.6 pounds. Here it is a week later and he weighs only 13.3 pounds. Something was drastically wrong, so I called dear Doc Russ, our vet. He was here in half an hour. Momma Sonata has no visible signs of illness but is producing minimal milk for the little guy. We gave her a big dose of Penicillin thinking she might have an infection, although her temperature is nice and low. I ran to town and picked up some whole Vitamin D milk and added a dallop of vanilla yogurt. Got about an ounce into little Libra. I will continue the Pennicillin injections with Sonata and trying to get some milk into Libra. Send some good energy out to these two......

Libra and Sonata at hay rack. Following is what my friend Maryanne sent to me and the reason we named the little guy Libra.

Libra
because the two boys were born during the Libra part of the zodiac cycle and
Libra men - are almost too popular with women; they have a rare ability to relate to women on a feminine level;they have great personal charm and elegance; it's hard to pick a fight with a Libra - they love stability and balance, and will go out of their way to steer clear of upsetting influences. A libra male is the diplomat of the zodiac - the one who will strike a balance between what you want and what he wants - AND Lovemaking is the Libra man's favorite activity! so a Future stud for your farm!! Love with a Libra male is supposed to be an erotic experience! so watch out girls!!
Thanks, Maryanne...... I'm going to be looking for a Libra, I'm thinking ☺

Sick Alpaca

I'm so worried about Lars (Polaris) that I woke up at 4 this morning and had to go out to the barn to check on him. In three months he has lost 40 pounds and is constantly drooling and foaming from his mouth. I think that he has just about stopped eating. Two and a half weeks ago I had Vet Russ out to examine him. He drew blood, removed a little loose tooth, snipped off his fighting teeth, and got a stool specimen. The specimen indicated that he had some stomach worms so I dosed him for 3 days and have been giving him GastroGuard twice a day. He's just not getting better and he's annoyed that I'm shoving medicine into his mouth so it's getting harder for me to handle him by myself.

I'm going to call the vets' office as soon as they open. I'm thinking that I may have to hook up the trailer and haul him to Michigan State.

Sick Alpaca update: Vet Russ stopped by about noon to look at our boy again and suggested that we take him to Michigan State. Beth ran home and got her van and dear Lars jumped right in. He stood up all the way there and back home, humming the whole way, so he must be pretty tired tonight. Sparing you a long story, they x-rayed his head and found 3 teeth on the lower right abscessed with bone degeneration under them. Poor guy must have been uncomfortable. No wonder he lost so much weight. Must have really hurt to try to eat.

Treatment is rather simple - 9 cc of an antibiotic every 4 days for a month. The only trouble is I have to give the injection SQ, which is just under the skin. I think this is rather hard with all the fleece. The first time I gave an SQ, I slid it under the skin and out, like sewing. It's much easier to just pop it into a muscle.

Of course, being the tidy alpaca that he is, he didn't poop or pee the whole 4 hours that we were gone. After he relieved himself, Beth and I gave him a dose of GastroGuard for his tummy and an injection of Banimine to relax him and hopefully, ease his pain.

Life is good again!

The top guy here is medium brown, Orion (Slammer). Remember shear day back in May, we gave him this funky hair cut? We called it a show cut. Well, here he is a week before his show.

Dark fawn Polaris (Lars) will also be going to the show. His cut isn't quite so extreme. Today is Lar's 2nd birthday.

♪♫ ♪ Happy Birthday to Lars ♪ ♫ ♪

These two boys are full brothers, same mom and dad. Mom is white Ariana, our very best fleeced girl and dad is Macusani's Chin Chin, a handsome black guy who lives at Luka's Alpaca Ranch down in Jackson, MI. Because they are related like this, they will go into a class together called Get of Dam, where actually their mom is judged even though she isn't there.

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Within a month before an alpaca show, the national alpaca organization, AOBA, requires a health exam from a vet for alpacas to be allowed onto the show grounds. Next week is our show at Birch Run, so today Dr. Kristin did the exam on these two guys. Both she and I laugh because basically all she does is take their temperature and fill out a health form - to the tune of a $40 farm call.

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Actually, I'm glad that this cursory exam is required because at least runny noses and loose poop is noticed and we sure don't want to be exposed to anything. At the show, another vet will look the 'pacas over and check that their microchips and papers match.