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Today we had Doctor Nicole over for some spring veterinary care. We tend to take care of most things here ourselves, but there are just some things we cannot do ourselves. Doctor Nicole stopped over in the morning to give our 12 alpacas their rabies shots. This is an annual item that we take care of every spring. While she was here we took the opportunity to give the annual CDT shots and worm them all with Safeguard paste.
Having Doctor Nicole over is usually a very informative and great experience. Afterall, she is the expert on just about everything alpaca health related. She is a fantastic resource as she sees a lot more alpacas in varying environments. It is reassuring when your vet comes over, gets her hands on all the alpacas and tells you they are all healthy and you are doing an okay job in your efforts to maintain a good farm environment. We need that every now and then.
Doctor Nicole gave us some information as to what the new recommended methods are for worming. She recommended trimming back the teeth of one of our younger females as her bottom teeth started to push up on the upper pallette. That didn't take much time with a dremmel tool. Then there was the whole discussion about castrating one of our young males. We knew we weren't going to breed him and he is being sold as a pet quality alpaca.
We then set out to castrate Bob. It is a rather quick process. Doctor Nicole gives Bob some great drugs a cocktail mixed with Ketamine and Rompun, as well as another that I am not familiar with. Bob took his time "dropping", fighting the woozy feeling enough so that Doctor Nicole felt is necessary to give him a little more. Finally Bob went down. We had him on a mat in the barn to keep him off the cold concrete and soften his nap a little. Within about 10 minutes he was removed of his manhood. The incisions are left open after this procedure, eventually the area heals, typically without incident.
Bob awoke slowly from the experience. He was content to set groggily in my arms without much intention of making the high go away. Once he was awake, we set him up in an enclosed pen space where he has been for the last few days. We confine him so that the other boys don't pick on him and so that he doesn't run around too much. While he is recuperating we monitor his temperature and incision area for swelling, redness, or discharge. This keeps us aware of any potential onset of infection.
So far so good. He is eating, drinking and despearately wanting to be in with the rest of the herd being his little trouble maker self. I did take pictures of the castration procedure but purposely decided not to post them for this blog. Later in the week I will write a more detailed article about the procedure under the Care section of the website. That is where I will post the pictures.
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