Can you stop worrying please Mr Patouman?

I have been working all week during the day and am grateful for the lightening evenings as I get to see the herd amongst other things. We have a couple of little problems which we have been dealing with but it does worry us.

I know it is a microdot of a problem when you look at what others have been through and indeed are still going through. I'm thinking of Nigel and Ginny Cobb in Spain who are still battling hard to keep animals alive, we think of them a lot and hope things turn around for them. Nevertheless we still worry every time an alpaca looks 'crook' (that's Australian for poorly you know).

I pride myself on observing the herd at great length whenever I can thus giving myself as much time as possible to see if anyone is not behaving normally and may have a problem. The lovely Sophie was a bit lethargic yesterday and was a little bit 'loose' if you get my drift.

I gave her a worming injection and a dose of anti-coccidiosis medicine last evening. Today Sue has been observing and reported that she was more lethargic, and definitely not herself. So this evening she has had pain relief, antibiotics, and we have started her on a course of Vetrumex to settle her stomach. She looks better already which is probably down to the Ketofen but Sue will be keeping a close eye on her tomorrow.

We have basically given her everything we have. If she is still not well after that barrage of medication it's over to the vet!

I'm sure she will be as right as rain tomorrow and I'm sure I'll be on the phone tomorrow asking Sue for regular status checks. Can I stop worrying? Of course not. Those silly bloody animals capture your heart.