Thursday 15 May 2008

A night of worry ahead.

After yesterdays light hearted drivel on this blog we were brought back to earth with a bump today. I was out with the alpacas this afternoon topping up hay feeders and just watching generally. The herd seemed its usual self, no odd behaviour.

A few minutes later whilst I was still outside I noticed Valley Farm Emma behaving strangely. She is the first due to give birth so we always look out for her first when checking the herd.

She kept lying on her side flat out with her head arching over her back. She was obviously in pain.
Within an hour of the first symptoms the vet was here and investigations began.
Our first thought was that she was in labour. She is 10 and a half months pregnant and a first timer, we thought there was a problem with the unborn cria.

After a thorough going over the vet diagnosed colic. A word that never sounds good. Colic apparently can come in many forms and can be fatal.

As a result Emma has been given painkillers, antibiotics, muscle relaxants and something else which escapes me at the moment. We have done everything we can do for Emma at the present.

The vet left some drugs for us and we will be injecting Emma again at half past midnight and again first thing in the morning.

She is in our field shelter with her best friend Sheba and plenty of dry warm straw, water and some hay. We are checking on her condition hourly and we hope with all our hearts that the drugs have the desired effect.

Angus has even said a prayer. I'm not much of a believer these days but I might just say a little one myself.

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