Coming along nicely!

Well, sorry if I have kept some of you in suspense for the last three days, I have been flat out with stuff.

This morning Tsar weighed in at a massive 20.75 kilos! He is not on any medication at the moment apart from the Pro-kolin paste which we are slowly weaning him off as we keep a watchful eye on his poop. It is firm at the moment but not as 'beany' as I would like it to be.

The main thing apart from the weight gain (he is putting on about half a kilo every day at the moment) is his demeanour. He has changed quite dramatically over the past few days. He is feisty, he is energetic, he jumps! He is play fighting with Thor and holding his own, he is spitting well! He feels muscular again, he feels bloody great actually! 

I haven't got an up to date photograph of him so I have posted an old one, taken last September, before he became unwell. He is no longer the bag of bones and fluff that he was, he is definitely looking more like his old self and Sue and I are absolutely over the moon with his progress. 

N n n n n n nineteen!

 ************WARNING  - THIS BLOG CONTAINS EXPLICIT PHOTOGRAPHS OF ALPACA POOP ****************

Yesterday it had been decided that I would not weigh Tsar. It did seem like sound advice so to make sure that I couldn't be tempted I hid the scales. Unfortunately I hadn't hidden them very well so within minutes I had found them again. Luckily I had enough will power on-board not to weigh Tsar so I hid them again, although this time I hid them really well. Unfortunately I thought very hard for a few minutes and eventually retraced my steps until I had at last found them again. This couldn't go on though so I put them back in their box and filled my day with other stuff until it was too late to weigh him.

So this morning I was very impatient to get out there and weigh the little monkey. I was not disappointed. When I weigh Tsar I always have a little chat with him, this morning was no different and as I put him in the weighing sling I reminded him that I was expecting him to be up near the 18 kilo mark (his last weight two days ago was 17.40kg).

Once he was in the sling I picked him up with my left hand as I steadied the scales (hanging from one of the shed roof beams) with my right hand. I could immediately tell that he was heavier than the last time I had weighed him but I was not expecting what the scales read. 19.05 kilos!! That is an incredible weight gain of 1.65kg in the last 48 hours!

Now I know that he simply can not have put on that amount of weight in condition, could he? I also know that he couldn't be full of over a kilo and a half of poop. We have seen poop, so he is pooping. I have felt him this morning and he is definitely meatier, he has regained some condition, he is definitely getting better, he  is definitely improving. He is now heavier than he has been since the beginning of December.

Not only that but check out this photograph taken by Sue this morning. That is definitely a bean on top! That is the firmest poop he has had for almost two months!

And here is the little fellow this morning, looking much more like a healthy little alpaca.

A message from upon high!

And so it came to pass that an electronic mail communication arrived in the arrival lounge of the computer generated message centre belonging to the Chief Warrior of The Mighty Patou. The message had been issued by the High Priestess of the Great Inca Tribes, massed across the border in deepest darkest Dorsetshire. It had been transported across space and time via technology that is way beyond my simple understanding of life as it is known here in Patouland. Indeed every time such a message arrives it is greeted with great wonder and bewilderment as to how it has come from the fingertips of one being to the computer screen of another in the blink of an eye. It is indeed a thing of witchcraft or wizardry.

Anyway the message from The High Priestess was filled with advice based on years of experience and the structure and composition of the message had presumably been guided by the hand and mind of the master of all that is black, The Dark King himself.

In the message was a message. The message was simple and was designed to relieve the stress on the Patou tribe. In summary, once the niceties were stripped away the message was: "Stop weighing him every day you dingoes donger".

For indeed I have been weighing him every day, for I am indeed a dingoes donger. 

So, there is no news about young Tsars weight this morning, none. He is lively and he is eating well. 

Moving on now.

Two days ago I unveiled half of the Mighty Patou Futurity show team, young brown boys, Patou Taz and Patou Troy. So without further ado I will unveil the rest of the small but beautifully formed Patou Show Team. 

Firstly, perhaps a surprise. The utterly beautiful Patou Sabrina. Sabrina is the full sister to the utterly beautiful Patou Ruby May who did so well for us a couple of years ago and has now moved on to the equally beautifully formed Artwork Alpacas. Sabrina will be in the intermediate black female class (not much competition there then!).

We haven't shown Sabrina before, she narrowly missed out on making the team last year but her fleece has come on nicely since then. We think we halter trained her last year. We do have a photograph of her standing still with a halter on so we did do some training with her. Tomorrow we will find out how much she remembers as I will be refreshing her memory.

The final spot in the show team is taken by one of our stars from last year. Patou Sherwood.
Sherwood, or Woody as he is affectionately known belongs to Angus and was shown almost exclusively by him last year.
The below photograph was taken at the Royal Bath and West Show where Angus and Woody had taken first place in the junior brown male class (we took second place too with Patou Sultan - now resident in Holland, oooh hark at me, Mr International!!!).  Woody and Sultan also took first and second place at The Devon County Show last year.
Angus is also sporting his rosette from the junior handler class and the Best of British rosette that they also won. That's the way to do it, one alpaca, one nine year old boy, three rosettes!

So there we have it, the team unveiled, no doubt to gasps and sharp intakes of breath across the UK and beyond.



And as for Tsar, well he's put on 50 grams. I'm sorry I just couldn't not weigh him!

It's a rollercoaster

Not sure what to say this morning, there is a much better feeling here in Patouland, Tsar seems to have picked up and the little bugger has put on 300 grams of what he lost yesterday which means he now weighs in at 17.35 kilos. 

He is very bright and alert and feeding well. 

The changes we made yesterday (we had to change something) was to start him on a course of broad spectrum anti-biotics (Amoxypen) and to give him Pro-kolin three times a day to help bind him up and keep his gut healthy whilst on the anti-biotics. 

It is another bright sunny day but there is a bitterly cold wind coming in from the east. So, keen to get Tsar out onto some grass I have moved the outdoor suite to a lovely sheltered spot next to the house, I've also left his coat on just for good measure.

As if to stress to me that he is feeling better when he was attacked by his cellmate Thor he retaliated in spectacular form. The first photograph shows an ankle biting session that went on for ages.

Finally the neck wrestling began and little Tsar, who is half the weight of Thor, managed to get Thor pinned to the floor. You can't actually tell who is the victor from this picture but believe me Tsar was pinning Thor down. 

I'm afraid (Sue will tell you) that my mood is in direct correlation with Tsars state of health. Yesterday was not a good day but today things are definitely looking up!

Back in the black

I'm a bit downhearted this morning, I knew it was coming, yesterday Tsar's scouring went all watery and I just knew he would lose weight. Sure enough he was down by 550 grams this morning.

Something has changed and we suspect that he has a bacterial infection. So, change of regime required. He is now on another course of anti-biotics, still having the colostrum but now also getting pro-biotic paste which also has a 'firming' agent in it. I have also given him another shot of multi-vitamins.

Tsar himself is still lively and eating well. He is staying inside today and has a nice warm coat on for good measure.

I don't feel much like writing so that's your lot for today.

Farewell The Mighty Quin.

Ok, this blog has been taken over by my daily Tsar updates but we need to move on, other things are happening. So I will update on Tsar first and then tell you what else is going on in Patouland.

Tsar has gained 400 grams since yesterday, his biggest 24 hour gain so far. But, and this is what I find confusing and slightly distressing, his poop is back to water, nothing to it. How is that possible?

He is lively and alert and eating well. When and how is this diarrhoea going to stop!

We have stopped the yoghurt today, we have to change something.

So moving on, today one of our number moved on to pastures new. Tarquin, or The Mighty Quin as he is affectionately known has moved a few villages away to join, Rico, Fernando, Diego and Pedro in a life of luxury. He will be very well looked after and loved dearly. That is great to know. He is a lovely boy.

The Mighty Quin.

We have entered a small show team for The Futurity. Obviously, Tsar will not be going, he is the pick of the bunch by a long way and hopefully he will grace a ring somewhere later in the year but without Tsar in the line-up we needed someone else to fill the 'Junior brown male' role in the team. 

Well we have two contenders, both Qjori boys (as is Tsar), Patou Taz is a real bruiser, the biggest weanling, strong, feisty (halter training is proving challenging!) and a beautiful rich brown colour, Taz will be attending next month.

Patou Taz 

Secondly we have Patou Troy, small, neat compact and son of Patou Penny, Queen of the hair-trigger spit monsters. Troy has been a delight (very surprising) to halter train and is also going next month.

He is pictured below standing in front of Truffle. Now I know what you are thinking; he's not brown, he's fawn. Well as I have said before, we don't breed fawns, we don't have any, underneath the bleached exterior is a lovely brown fleece. I believe it is just brown enough to be brown and not fawn. We will see!

 Patou Troy and Patou Truffle

Frustrating

After yesterdays excitement at the sight of thick gravy and the possible sighting of an alpaca 'bean' I am disappointed to report that we are back to a thinner variety of gravy again this morning.

He has put on another 100 grams, that's six days of consecutive weight gains so I mustn't grumble but I am concerned that the diarrhoea isn't easing, we are now into week 5 of squitsville.

I am loathe to change his regime at the moment as I don't want anything interfering with the Bovine Colostrum, I am sure that it is helping him and I want to make sure that he is getting the full benefit of it. 

I have had many suggestions of what to treat him for (which I am very grateful for) so to keep you all better informed he has been treated as follows:

Born 11th July 2012.

27th July - Lambivac (1) and wormed (Panomec)

27th August - Lambivac (2)

20th September - wormed (Panomec), monthly ADE injections started

2nd October - Baycox Bovis (Coccidia)

17th November - 5ml of Fasinex (Liver Fluke) condition scored as 4 on the 1-5 scale

30th November - Blood taken for Enferplex TB test - very skinny! Fecal sample submitted - Nematodirus found - treated with Panacur and Zolvix wormers. Treated with Baycox as a precaution.

Weaned and housed in the shed. Weight fluctuates between 15 and 18 kilos.

19th January - Diarrhoea started. Baycox given.

21st January - 3 day course of anti-biotics (Baytril) Pro-rumen and Kaogel started three times a day.

31st January - Baycox (second dose)

1st February - Further fecal sample shows presence of Giardia. 5 day course of Panacur drench prescribed.

9th February - Transfaunation from an adult female.

10th February - Start twice daily doses of Bovine Colostrum (1ml per kilo of body weight)

12th February - Multi-vitamin injections started.

13th February - Starts to gain weight but diarrhoea still present.

14th February - Twice daily doses of Goats whole milk yoghurt started.

So there you have it, you now have the full picture.

This morning he was play fighting with his 'cell-mate' Thor, I am not sure Tsar wanted to play but he got stuck in nevertheless.