Just to give you an update, Marietta has still got the shakes and twitching, she has had another shot of Magnesium. In fact I think she is slightly worse, she seems to have a problem sitting down very shaky action especially on the front legs although she gets up OK. I am starting to wonder about Selenium now as well, not sure what the symptoms are.
I spent most of the night trawling the internet for anything which might help me sort out the problem and talking to people from all over the place about the possible causes.
Marietta is now in a small enclosure incorporating the field shelter she seem happier if she is outside, it's quite nice to watch the others coming over to check on her, leaning over the hurdles and may be a little hum then back to grazing.
Phoebe still looks content to hold on to her babe, but Ella looks really uncomfortable this evening so who knows perhaps I should open a book.
We are going out for a llama walk tomorrow, half day so I need to prepare coffee and lunches as well as get the linen etc prepared for a changeover in one of the cottages.
Hopefully we will see some sort of improvement in Marietta and I will have some good news to report.
Showing posts with label Alpaca shakes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Alpaca shakes. Show all posts
Tuesday, 19 April 2011
Monday, 18 April 2011
Help please!
Today we have had a problem with one of our pregnant females, Marietta, probably our best female, she has only produced prize winning cria. Anyway today when Steve went to feed up and check this morning he notice straight away that Marietta was not right, she was shaking and was walking with a jerky action but she was still eating her concentrate and grazing. She was very distressed when penned and became very flighty when handled which is very unusual as she is a very calm animal usually.
We have had a similar problem in a llama a couple of years ago which the Vet diagnosed as Rye Grass staggers but now we are starting to wonder if this was correct. Marietta was not grazing the same field as the llama was, there is no rye grass in the field as it is old lay, so what is it? There is eight other females in that field none of which are showing any symptoms, there is nothing poisonous in the hedgerow.
Vet arrived and gave her a shot of magnesium which if she was a cow would have cured grass staggers instantly, we have to give her another shot for the next two days. We have taken her off grass now and put her into the field shelter with just hay and her concentrate to eat, this if it is the same problem as our llama should cure the problem. She is still shaky very flighty, she nearly took two hurdles with her trying to get out of the field shelter.
It would be really useful to know if anyone else has had such a problem ! It really does pay off knowing your animals because Steve spotted that she was not right as soon as he drove into the field, to anyone else she would have looked normal. So all those hours you spent just watching your animals isn't wasting time!
As we had to move Marietta we decided to bring back the rest of the late pregnant female to the birthing paddock, so we now have seven females all of which reach their due date within the next four weeks. Which in reality means that they should have all given birth by mid June. Marietta isn't due until July so fingers crossed that she holds her pregnancy though this.
We have had a similar problem in a llama a couple of years ago which the Vet diagnosed as Rye Grass staggers but now we are starting to wonder if this was correct. Marietta was not grazing the same field as the llama was, there is no rye grass in the field as it is old lay, so what is it? There is eight other females in that field none of which are showing any symptoms, there is nothing poisonous in the hedgerow.
Vet arrived and gave her a shot of magnesium which if she was a cow would have cured grass staggers instantly, we have to give her another shot for the next two days. We have taken her off grass now and put her into the field shelter with just hay and her concentrate to eat, this if it is the same problem as our llama should cure the problem. She is still shaky very flighty, she nearly took two hurdles with her trying to get out of the field shelter.
It would be really useful to know if anyone else has had such a problem ! It really does pay off knowing your animals because Steve spotted that she was not right as soon as he drove into the field, to anyone else she would have looked normal. So all those hours you spent just watching your animals isn't wasting time!
As we had to move Marietta we decided to bring back the rest of the late pregnant female to the birthing paddock, so we now have seven females all of which reach their due date within the next four weeks. Which in reality means that they should have all given birth by mid June. Marietta isn't due until July so fingers crossed that she holds her pregnancy though this.
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