As most of you know we sheared Monday. Last night, however, it got down to around freezing. When sheared we found that some of the animals were a bit thin. It is hard to tell with all that fleece on them and we had them penned almost an extra Month due to the weather. We gave the vet a buzz and talked to him about the herd and he thought that the weather was playing a large roll in the issue we are having. Under the careful hand of our vet everything has been checked for worms and should have been just fine. He said to give them 30 days on the pasture and they all should be right as rain.
Okay, well, that was until today. We found Juno in the shed and he was shaking and weak. He could stand but was wobbley. He ate and was fine this morning and at the noon check of the barnyard and pasture. We got him in under a heat lamp and called the vet. The way Juno was acting the vet thinks he got something caught in his throat. He was making a hacking, rattle sound at the time. Combine that with him not getting out in the sun he lost heat and got cold. Add in the dampness of the rain yesterday and the weather flip flopping back around and you have one hard time for all the animals not just Juno. Alpaca keep warm by digesting food but if he isn't getting out and grazing all day he won't have the food to digest at night to keep warm. Doc had me give him some Pepto just incase he had a tummy ache and Then He had me drench him with vitamins and electrolytes.
After that he said to give him plenty of water and keep him warm. So what are we going to do??? Well, we did everything Doc said and then we did what we do best ... Use that inside pen! Yup, Juno won't be fighting the cold tonight. He will be bedding down in the warm and tomorrow it is suppose to be up to 80 degrees so he will be going out to soak up the sun and from there on out he should be going good ... If not we will be making a run to the Vet in the morning.
Okay, well, that was until today. We found Juno in the shed and he was shaking and weak. He could stand but was wobbley. He ate and was fine this morning and at the noon check of the barnyard and pasture. We got him in under a heat lamp and called the vet. The way Juno was acting the vet thinks he got something caught in his throat. He was making a hacking, rattle sound at the time. Combine that with him not getting out in the sun he lost heat and got cold. Add in the dampness of the rain yesterday and the weather flip flopping back around and you have one hard time for all the animals not just Juno. Alpaca keep warm by digesting food but if he isn't getting out and grazing all day he won't have the food to digest at night to keep warm. Doc had me give him some Pepto just incase he had a tummy ache and Then He had me drench him with vitamins and electrolytes.
After that he said to give him plenty of water and keep him warm. So what are we going to do??? Well, we did everything Doc said and then we did what we do best ... Use that inside pen! Yup, Juno won't be fighting the cold tonight. He will be bedding down in the warm and tomorrow it is suppose to be up to 80 degrees so he will be going out to soak up the sun and from there on out he should be going good ... If not we will be making a run to the Vet in the morning.
On the up side Juno ate his dinner and munched on some Grass that I went and picked for him ... After that he took time to rest.
Every few hours I would help him up so that he could get his barrings. Like all animals he needs to have his time standing up so that his insides don't have to take the weight of their entire body all the time. By 9pm Juno was doing very well but we noticed him coughing and gave him a shot of Antibiotic just to be safe.
RSS Feed
