Good news for a change

After an unnecessary round of drama with a low-down, no-good an unreliable transporter who backed out at the 11th hour, I finally pulled up to the loading zone at the farm animal emergency room mid-morning yesterday in my realtor's free moving van bedded with straw carrying two precious packages -- Cain and his brother Abel.

Who says hauling an injured alpaca isn't a moving emergency?








As always, the folks at the vet school were great.

Cain was wheeled in on the equivalent of an alpaca gurney. (Um, vet folks? He'd been up and down on three legs all weekend, but ok....if you must.)

They did the requisite exam, took some blood in prep for surgery, and wheeled him down to radiology for new x-rays.

When he came out, the doctor (a new one I'd never met before) took me to a computer to show me the pics.

Well, lookie there.

The bone aligned itself over the weekend.

I was gobsmacked, as they say in England.

I really wish I had a copy of the updated x-rays to post. I hadn't thought it was possible.

Just like that, the plan shifted back to stall rest. This time though, the plan includes a) a sling - they're going to basically tie his leg to his torso, b) professional nursing - no wrestling by me to administer pain killers, and c) big gun deworming treatment for barberpole worms (ack! yes, Cain had a heavy load, though interestingly, Abel did not.)

So, Cain and Abel are going to hang out at the vet school for 1, maybe 2 weeks, until we are all comfortable with the progress being made. Then he will come home (in a luxuriously straw-bedded moving van) and continue on still more stall rest. At least a month in the sling according to the surgeon.

We were all happy to avoid the surgery and all the potential complications (and cough cough expenses) that come with it. In fact, they assured me that with the exception of horses, stall rest with or without a sling is the preferred treatment for farm animals, including cattle. They do just as well if allowed to mend on their own without intervention. Case in point, remember the poor reindeer I saw when I first took Bumblebee in for her ordeal 6 or 7 (?) weeks ago now? He's still there. They say he is finally improving after all his complications from surgery.

When Cain does come home it will be just in time for Josie, the appaloosa with the broken foot, to hand him the stall rest torch. She is very nearly well and should be allowed back out with her friends right about that time.

Like I said, good news all around.