Last night we discovered our oldest girl on the farm was not feeling well. Sweet Stellaluna is a wonderful alpaca and the mother of Uinta Moon.
One of the hard things with alpacas is that by the time they are acting sick it is almost to late to save them. It is in their nature to be very stoic, which actually makes a lot of sense. In their native home in South America they are stalked by Puma. If you act sick you are inviting a predator to have you for their dinner. For farmers it causes a lot of problems.
When we discovered Stellaluna was in pain and could not catch her breath. I took her temperature and was surprised it was very low. Her eyelid color was a healthy pink so that was good. It was hard to hear her lungs because she was gasping. The Vet was not available but I knew I had to act. I decided on a course action because of what I was seeing. First I gave her something for pain, second I gave her something for pneumonia. I left her alone for a bit to let the pain killer kick in. Upon returning I found that she was still in trouble. She was still gasping trying to catch her breath. Then I noticed her belly looked big so I treated her for bloat. While I was giving her the meds for bloat she stood up, so I was able to move her into the barn. I finished the bloat meds and put a coat on her, gave her kiss and went into the house. The next time I checked her she felt much better and no longer in pain. I think she may have just been bloated from eating the ponds falling off of the trees. We will keep an eye on her for the next few days. All I can say is that our lives are never boring, there is always something to do.
Stay Home and Be Safe😊
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