Fall cria season starts early

Our fall alpaca cria season started early this year. Last week Anya, one of our maidens, had a 30 day premature cria. This little guy was definitely not ready to be born. Initially he was so weak… he looked like a little rag doll. Alpaca crias usually weigh between 15 and 20 pounds and our little cria weighed less than 10 pounds when he was born. Since he is unable to stand or hold his head up we have to help him get under mom to nurse.

We named him Andrew. He’s been very sick this past week with a high fever. In the pictures you can see his skin is very red and he feels very hot to the touch. He’s been on penicillan and Excede this past week to help him fight infection. I’m also giving him psyllium and chia seed in water to help keep him hydrated and to keep his bowels moving.

Alpaca crias are pretty resilient and Andrew is no exception. He’s slowly getting stronger every day. He can now stand and hold his head up for short periods of time. Since his head is so heavy he still needs me to help hold his head up when he nurses. I bottle feed him 4 times per day. In between and before his bottle feedings I put him under his mom and hold his head up and let him nurse as much as he can. His mom, Anya, is turning out to be a wonderful mother. I had my doubts about her at first but she is bonding to him more and more with each passing day.

This past week has been rough. There’s no extra time to do anything else except take care of our little premie Andrew. He needs me for everything right now so I can’t get too far away from him. My biggest fear is that he might fall asleep in the sun and get dehydrated so I have to keep a close eye on him. Hopefully he will get strong quickly so there will only be a few more days of babysitting this little cria.