Between shearing alpacas, llamas, and the occasional sheep, and trimming horses, I am working seven days a week, getting home after dark, and getting nothing done with my animals. Cody is feeling very neglected, he is threatening to remove some vital piece of equipment from my truck so I have to stay home. A good hard stare could drop vital bits off my truck, so I know he can do it.
Sonny is doing great, running and bucking like a crazy thing. It takes him a bit of steam to get going, but boy can he move when he does. He's keeping Honey in excellent shape for me, she's ripped.
Snap, Jodi, and Andy have been sheared. It was ungodly hot out, so I rushed to shear them, then it dropped to 40's and 50's. Yes, the weather is my fault.
Pocket, Jasper, and Pixie were wet the day we sheared thanks to a sudden downpour. Pocket and Jasper stood out in it, and Pixie threw herself in puddle when I haltered her to take her to the table. I made her go anyways, she was Jodi's emotional support. She was so pleased with herself for foiling my plans, she didn't mind hanging out in the barn a bit.
Poor wee Casey is too cold to shear. I plan to shop for him a small dog coat tomorrow and shear him then. He is cold in his own fiber. Suri's are not known for their weather tolerance.
During the sudden downpour Friday, Casey was outside. We had a week of solid poo, and no runny nose. He was apparently on the other side of the pasture at the time, and moved through the downpour at his usual toddle. I cam home to a soaking wet, sneezing, suri alpaca. I toweled him off and put him in the stall, but by that night his nose was plugged up and he was hacking and sneezing with diarrhea again.
I put him on a round of penicillin, which improved him greatly within the next day. I have since learned Casey hates shots. He doesn't have spitting down quite yet, all he does is spit air, no regurgitation. As soon as I begin parting his fiber he spins to begin "spitting" like mad, I give him the quick shot and let him go, and he immedietly "chases" me across the stall (at a speeding toddle) to rapid-fire spit until I am out the door. He then stares at me with a puckered "death to you" face, spins on his heels, and does the toddling-stomp back across the stall to his nest, where he resumes his meal, nap, and show.
He is improved again, just about back to were he was before the rain. Cody and Zecilly have rain-proof StormShields which they quite love, so I plan to see if I can get one in wee-paca size. He does not seem to have body temperature control down yet, he's young, small, and underweight. Hopefully we get some nice sunny days for him, I think he will be rebounding well again then.
Everyone else is well and happy. Here is Cody taking a bath on one of our miserably hot days.
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