R.I.P. PoloPolo is dead.
Yesterday afternoon, Linda noticed Polo was staggering a bit and sitting down a lot.
This morning when I went up to feed the chickens, I didn't see any sign of him with the sheep. I found him lying down by himself. He was still alive but obviously very weak. I gave him some water to drink from a bottle and Linda rang the vet.
The vet came by 8:30AM and he was given some pain killer, antibiotics and a saline/glucose drip to help replace any lost body fluids. There was some clotted blood where his testes used to be and the vet got this out and disinfected him some more. I sat with him some more with a water bottle and gave him a drink from time to time. Whilst this was happening Lady and Patch stayed at the closest fence and were paying attention to him.
After about 30 to 40 minutes he would get up and stagger around a bit before sitting down again. I followed him around and it seemed like he was on the mend.
I decided to do some mowing around the fruit trees and saw him looking up every now and then, but still not very active.
I called the vet for an afternoon visit which he'd suggested if there was no improvement before the visit he planed for the next day with more antibiotics.
I went and gave him some water and then went back to my mowing.
When I next looked his way there was no movement, even when his name was called.
I went and checked and his neck was bent back further than usual, his teeth were bared and his eyes were hollow rather their usual black depth.
No breath although the body was still warm.
No response to my voice or handling him.
Polo is gone.
P.S. Linda told me that the vet commented before his visit that Alpacas are very stoic and hide any weakness until it's real serious.
