Photo Dump

Just because I have no content and a few photos...

Ahh! Scary Christmas stuff!  Run away!

Really?  We just want breakfast!

Okay, fine, I'll play along.  Happy??

My barn cleaning buddy.

Best buds forever.

Then she came in and became PITA barn cleaning buddy who would not move.

Vet Visit

The vet came out Wednesday to take off Cinderella's bandage and have a look at her foot.  Good news is that it had healed better than he had expected. Bad news is that it hasn't healed as much as I was hoping, but I'll take it.  She'll have to stay in the stall for a few days and see how she does on the foot without a bandage.  I'm hopeful she will continue to heal.  She might have a limp for the rest of her life, but it shouldn't really cause her issues...not in the same way it would with a horse anyways.

Hack job with her wool. I had to be quick before she started to wake up.

She kept kicking so the vet had to knock her out with some happy juice to get a good feel of the leg. Once he left, I did all her nails and hacked away at her wool. All that was much easier when she's asleep, aside from having to roll her over. Also, she was snoring.  I got some video, but I'm not sure how well you can hear her. I might post it later.

Max was pretty worried about her too.  The vet mentioned that he was much worse when he came out at the beginning of June. He was pacing and pawing at everything.  I think maybe because Cinderella was out and there were only strangers there.  This time, I was there and he just kept watching through the slats.

The Drama Llama

Literally.

So, Ms. Broken Bones is a smart ass. There's a low spot in her stall where rain water and urine have been accumulating. So after I finally manage to sop up all the moisture with pine shavings, I put some fresh ones down in the spot and leave it be.  I go out the next morning to find that she had apparently rolled in the shavings.  This made me die a little inside, seeing her wool covered in filth. I had planned on shearing her after vacation. However, she's a pain to shear and I don't want to stress her out too much with her leg.

The filth

Crazy Week

So, a lot has been going on over the last week or so.  There's not much of an update on the pony though.

Last week I went on vacation to Puerto Rico. That was awesome.  What was not awesome was the unbelievably horrible Monday, also the day we left.

Best Buds. They do everything together, especially begging for food.

Two hours before we were to leave for the airport, I went out to feed.  And found Cinderella the llama, horribly lame.  Her back foot was completely limp and just hanging there.  I felt it slightly and could feel bone fragments moving around.  Thankfully, there weren't any breaks in the skin.  I called the vet and left him a panicked voice mail and text. He got back to me fairly quickly and told us to go ahead and leave, he would come out and do what he could and get back to me. I made her as comfortable as possible in Max's stall (his has mats and stays drier in rain) and rearranged so everything would be ready for the person watching the critters and the vet. There was some quick discussion on the phone about putting her down, but I could not deal with that right now.  First, Max would just be a mess since he would be alone for a week. Secondly, what to do with the body.  It was supposed to get hot and I can't just leave it there while we were gone. I have plans, but those all involve me or my husband being there to oversee things.  So I told the vet to do what he could to manage pain and make her as comfortable as possible. Which seems to be working for now.

Bandage is holding up well.

So far she seems to be doing okay-ish.  It's a wait and see game. It will all depend on if or how well the bone heals over the next couple of weeks. Thankfully, llamas are not like horses who need use of all 4 legs. so her laying down all the time or simply not using the leg isn't as big of a concern.

Max has been very excited to see me.  So excited that I'm wondering if my caretaker was feeding him treats while I was gone. He's been trying to mug me over the stall wall way more than normal.  I'm also wondering if switching stalls and having Cinderella locked up has stressed him a bit.  It looks like he may have started to rub out his mane again. Last year, he started doing it in February. This year, he hasn't been doing it at all until now. It could also be the new fly spray I put on him before I left, or there are some new, irritating bugs beginning to emerge.

He was so happy to get some grass after a week that he didn't move far from this spot. Note the scraggly looking mane.

Friday, I'll have a continuation of the horrible Monday and some vacation photos.