Alpaca Annie’s Premature Cria

Annie and Maestro had a beautiful female cria several days ago.  She was a month premature and by day three she was starting to go down.  We brought her to Oklahoma State University.  OSU has excellent doctors and they have done wonderful work with our alpacas in the past.

The doctor’s at OSU explained to us that even though we made sure our little cria was given plenty of colostrum her body was probably too premature to absorb it and she became septic.  Her antibodies were very low so she was given a plasma transfusion.

Since her transfusion she has been improving daily but now she is fighting an infection in her right eye.  It’s a very bad infection and they are treating it hourly.  Although the doctor’s said as soon as her eye heals up she should be well enough to come home.

We finally came up with a beautiful name for her… Melody.  We’re looking forward to her coming home soon.