Karen's alpacas: COLIC & STUFF

Not blogged for ages, been really busy doing 'stuff' and most of it only interesting to me.... Fantastic autumn so far, the grass is still growing and the fields look great. The girls are still munching their way through our biggest field and look lovely against the autumn trees. The big boys are now in the same field with Bonami and Wizard, the 2 intermediates with their friend Yerba, the llama to look after them and stop any bullying.

Last weekend we weighed and dosed all the cria with Baycox as a precaution, and they had their first AD&E and this weekend the plan is to worm everyone and do any toenails that are looking untidy. I may decide to wean a few of the older crias soon, some are huge even though they're only 4/5 months old. Bliss and Bruno, the bottles, are doing well, gaining weight at the same rate as the others, but not ready to wean yet.

Medina had a bout of colic during the week, probably a bit bunged up I think, she was down, obviously in pain and not wanting to get up or eat, but chewing the cud a bit, always a good sign. Her poo was hard and a bit dry but everything else about her seemed ok - eyes, membranes, temp etc... so I gave her some Metacam and a large dose of liquid paraffin and some vetrumex and by the afternoon she seemed a lot better. Today she is back to normal, thankfully.

Also this week one of the cria gave me cause for concern as he lay seemingly at deaths door and didn't stir even when I lifted his head off the ground. Checked him all over, looked in his mouth, opened one eye, then the other - then he woke up! I don't know who was more surprised, me or him, obviously a very sound sleeper!