Last week Tuesday - thought Sam had broken her arm and had to rush out of the office - this week it's an alpaca alarm!
Patricia has been at my friend Lees' place for the past week, Lee is at home and there is someone keeping an eye on the alpacas most of the time - better than at our place. So Patricia has been in the maternity ward for the last week being monitored. Great excitement on Tuesday morning - Patricia is in labour....but not good news - the front legs are out but the head is back.... oh dear! Lee tried to rectify the situation by pushing the legs back and trying to bring the head around but failed. As she was grovelling on the floor with her nose pressed against an alpacas tail in all the yuck ... I was meeting a new supplier representative from London and being treated to an extremely civilised tea at the Westcliffe Hotel - each person gets their own little cake stand - very nice!
Next stage - The vet came and the baby was delivered - a big boy of a lovely golden colour but very weak after being pummelled inside for hours! Yayy.... but it was not all over yet - another phone call from Lee - the afterbirth had been delivered- along with the uterus! Yikes, prolapsed uterus! Poor Lee gathered the thing up and put it in a plastic bag tied to Patricias tail while she waited for the vet - baby not able to stand = not drinking.... enough over the phone - I had to go!
Rushed out of work, picked up Sam and raced to Michaels school - in the pouring rain. Phoned the school office to ask them to give him a message that I was coming to get him earlier - a very bored person said that she didn't want to go out, it was raining and what was the problem... "I"ve got two animals dying and I have to get to the vet!" I shrieked - that made her move!
Off home to grab the powdered colostrum that I had in the fridge and then off to Lee (mileage, petrol...aaah!) The vet had been, given Patricia an epidural and stitched her all back together again - poor thing! The baby was still too wobbly to stand so we propped him up (between our knees) and we got him to drink - as soon as he lay down his head and neck reverted to the position he had been in, in the womb - face on back hip facing the tail. He is quite big so had not been able to move into the correct position for birthing. The umilical cord had also broken off close to the navel so I held him up while Lee spayed him (and my nice white t-shirt) with gentian violet! Gave him a bottle of colostrum and glucose and then off home just to hope for the best!
Thank goodness for Lee and her daughter Natalie who got up to check on them twice in the night!
Next morning - good news! Shakespeare is up, walking and drinking, mom a lot less swollen! Hopefully the tide has turned.
As someone at work said, I suppose you called him Shakespeare because of all the drama he caused!
Patricia has been at my friend Lees' place for the past week, Lee is at home and there is someone keeping an eye on the alpacas most of the time - better than at our place. So Patricia has been in the maternity ward for the last week being monitored. Great excitement on Tuesday morning - Patricia is in labour....but not good news - the front legs are out but the head is back.... oh dear! Lee tried to rectify the situation by pushing the legs back and trying to bring the head around but failed. As she was grovelling on the floor with her nose pressed against an alpacas tail in all the yuck ... I was meeting a new supplier representative from London and being treated to an extremely civilised tea at the Westcliffe Hotel - each person gets their own little cake stand - very nice!
Next stage - The vet came and the baby was delivered - a big boy of a lovely golden colour but very weak after being pummelled inside for hours! Yayy.... but it was not all over yet - another phone call from Lee - the afterbirth had been delivered- along with the uterus! Yikes, prolapsed uterus! Poor Lee gathered the thing up and put it in a plastic bag tied to Patricias tail while she waited for the vet - baby not able to stand = not drinking.... enough over the phone - I had to go!
Rushed out of work, picked up Sam and raced to Michaels school - in the pouring rain. Phoned the school office to ask them to give him a message that I was coming to get him earlier - a very bored person said that she didn't want to go out, it was raining and what was the problem... "I"ve got two animals dying and I have to get to the vet!" I shrieked - that made her move!
Off home to grab the powdered colostrum that I had in the fridge and then off to Lee (mileage, petrol...aaah!) The vet had been, given Patricia an epidural and stitched her all back together again - poor thing! The baby was still too wobbly to stand so we propped him up (between our knees) and we got him to drink - as soon as he lay down his head and neck reverted to the position he had been in, in the womb - face on back hip facing the tail. He is quite big so had not been able to move into the correct position for birthing. The umilical cord had also broken off close to the navel so I held him up while Lee spayed him (and my nice white t-shirt) with gentian violet! Gave him a bottle of colostrum and glucose and then off home just to hope for the best!
Thank goodness for Lee and her daughter Natalie who got up to check on them twice in the night!
Next morning - good news! Shakespeare is up, walking and drinking, mom a lot less swollen! Hopefully the tide has turned.
As someone at work said, I suppose you called him Shakespeare because of all the drama he caused!
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