Alpaca Ear Infection to Uterine Torsion

Posted 23 October, 2007 in Alpaca Health | No comments

Well we had quite the abnormal day yesterday. To begin with I woke up to start the day with an uninvited migrane. I felt terrible seeing spots, so I called into work. I thought my day was going to be spent in bed, but to my surprise I was everywhere but in bed.

My mother went to feed the alpacas so I could close my eyes and rest. About a half hour later she comes in and tells me that Alexis (mother in photo) is not eating and is staying kushed. When she tried to get Alexis up she was unsteady on her feet stumbling around. As the alarm bells went off in my head I grabbed my jacket and with my mom in tow went outside. Sure enough Alexis was not eating and we found her kushed. I told my mother I was going for some probiotics to help soothe her stomach from any stresses she may have for the moment.

A minute later I was back outside and Alexis jumped to her feet as I approached. She tried to run away from me and in an instant fell flat on her side as she had no coordination in her legs. Sheer panic went through me as she is 10 mths pregnant! I composed myself and grabbed her and gave her the probiotics. Now that I see how unsteady she is I need to take her temp. To me it was low at 99.3, but Norm Evans book says that is normal. Worried I called a nearby ranch as my vet is not answering the phone. I describe the symptoms and she tells me it is likely to be an ear infection. Of course I thought it all makes sense now with her limited coordination. I still have to get her to the vet though.

My loving husband who is on a business trip left the trailer unhitched. Luckily I had my mom here to help me locate the ball and hitch of the trailer to hook them up. After a quick phone call to Tom, husband, I was thoroughly connected and ready to go. Next obstacle is that Tom left no gas in the truck. I can feel my hands around his neck as I took off to the nearest out of the way gas station I could find.

An hour later I am at the vet’s office. I explained the situation and that it was absolutely necessary to check on the cria as well, although I did see the cria move after Alexis had fallen. By this time Alexis had a definite head tilt to the right. After 4 to 5 ear ticks were removed and medication applied we were in much better shape feeling confident that we will get her issue resolved.

Next the vet asked me again if I wanted her to examine the cria. Yes I said. Within a minute or two I heard her say that she feels a fetal heartbeat, but that Alexis had a uterine torsion. What? Alexis showed no symptoms such as violently rolling on the ground. As a matter of fact she didn’t move from a kushed position. I can’t believe she allowed us to mess with her ears for so long and she was twisted up inside. The vet said it was tight and we needed to untwist it. Ok….I took Alexis’ head/neck and two other girls began to roll Alexis from one side onto her back and then to the other side as the doc held the baby in place. Alexis would have spit fire if given a chance. The vet checked again and luckily we were able to untwist her uterus on the first try.

Alexis is back home now. She is recovering nicely. She is still not 100% steady on her feet, but what an improvement from yesterday. We are to give ear drops of baytril into each ear (1 drop per) until the bottle is done…approximately 1 to 1 1/2 weeks. Piece of cake now. Alexis is now eating and we have her in the maternity ward. We consider her on bed rest as once an alpaca has a uterine torsion they are prone to getting it again within the same pregnancy. I have my fingers crossed that this will not be the case.

Thank goodness for my gut feeling. Had I not been worried about the cria after Alexis’ fall my waking up this morning might have been to find a totally different scenario. 

Maremma Breeding

Posted 19 October, 2007 in Maremmas | No comments

I am so excited to report that Bianca (1 yr of age) and Santino (1.3 yrs of age) are now breeding for the first time. Bianca went into heat last week, but the two finally have gotten the breeding down to a science. If all goes well we should have puppies by the third to fourth week of December.

Maremmas are an Italian Livestock Guardian Sheepdog. There job is not to herd their livestock, but simply to guard them. I can tell you that we have never felt more secure than we do now having these two dogs onsite. They understand their job and work hard to protect the alpacas, now a herd of 14 with 4 more crias on the way.

As far as temperment goes…..Santino is very loving towards his family. He is a constant leaner when he wants attention. If you don’t show it he raises his paw. To outsiders he is very hesitant snapping and barking for strangers to beware. However, once we bring the visitor inside and allow Santino to sniff them out he is calm and treats them like family. Bianca is another story. She is more people friendly, quickly dropping to the ground and rolling over for all to rub her belly. She is a lot more laid back, but that doesn’t mean she lets just anything in to see her alpacas. She too makes sure that the livestock are safe and secure.

We will be selling the pups to good homes. Males will be sold for $700 and females at $850 each. Please contact us at info@desertmtnalpacas or 520-378-3263 for more information.

Antonio - Born October 7, 2007

Posted 8 October, 2007 in Alpaca General | No comments

Antonio - Born October 7, 2007 at Desert Mountain Alpaca Ranch. Antonio was born 9 days early and shows signs of prematurity such as his teeth have not erupted and the tips of his ears are fiberless. Other than that Antonio is a healthy silver grey male. So much so that by 8 pm he was running around the paddock as if he were days rather than hours old.

Antonio’s dam, AVR By Golly Miss Molly, is a great attentive mother. Luckily her milk kicked in and Antonio is nursing on his own. Yippee! No bottle feeding. Antonio’s sire is Cresent Moon’s Tenacity.  

Watch out for this young male cria. He will steal your heart! 

DMAR Nikoli - Born Sept. 30, 2007

Posted 2 October, 2007 in Alpaca General | No comments

DMAR Nikoli - Born Sept. 30, 2007. Nikoli is cria to AOCR Michelle Rose and Snowmass Incan Emperor. Nikoli came into the world at 7:34 am weighing 18.8 lbs. Although the gestation period was 338 days, Nikoli was slightly premature…his bottom teeth had not erupted and the very tips of his ears being slightly tipped. However, Nikoli is a vibrant, healthy young male trying to run around at only hours old.

Both dam and sire are rose grey in color. Nikoli has a white face just like his parents, but today his body color is mostly medium brown. I am noticing grey on the tips of his feet right before his toenails on all four feet. Grey is also noticeable in his tail. It will be interesting to see if this little cria turns rose grey.

Dam and cria are doing fine. Mom has plenty of milk and at one day old Nikoli gained to 19.6 lbs. He is very independent and will lay separately from his mom, although you can tell that they have bonded and love each other.