Your support brought Monte the Alpaca special care he needed

A herd of alpacas, while undeniably adorable, can often feel like looking after a classroom of toddlers. Having experience with both, I feel comfortable giving a couple of examples. Besides being undeniably adorable, they are both highly food motivated, prone to messes and somehow get random bumps, scrapes and minor injuries without any obvious cause.

Wounded

Let me share a story about one such alpaca injury. In January we the alpaca caretakers at White Violet Center for Eco-Justice at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods came across a wound on the jaw of our handsome boy Providence Montaro, affectionately referred to as Monte, (or at times Montpellier, Montenegro or Montego). We investigated his environment to be sure there wasn’t something that could injure another alpaca. Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, we tried to figure out what might be going on. 

After cleaning examining the wound, we noticed that there was a significant lump around the injury. We called the vet, gave him some medication for inflammation and kept an eye on it for the next week. Instead of the swelling going down, like a typical bump, it seemed to get bigger and moved around. Our alpaca specialist, Dr. Nanci Richards, came to check out what was going on with Monte. 

She did a thorough exam, took some samples to be tested, got him started on antibiotics and kept up with our good cleaning regimen. The prognosis seemed to be infection in the bone. The only way to determine this for sure was to get radiographs taken. So we took Monte and his sidekick Iggy (Providence Ignatius) to the University of Illinois (U of I). They have a veterinarian teaching program so that students learn alongside the vets and lab technicians that work there.

Needed surgery

The diagnosis was confirmed. Monte was scheduled to return for a surgical debridement to get rid of the infected areas in the jaw. 

So on Feb. 25 we once again brought Monte to U of I. His bestie Iggy once again came along for the ride. Since alpacas are herd animals they are easily stressed when alone, especially in situations like this. Monte and Iggy were born a month apart and stick to each other like shadows in their barn and pasture. So when we knew Monte was going, Iggy being with him was the obvious choice.

Monte had been born with a heart murmur. So before surgery he had to have a cardiology consultation to be sure he could withstand surgery and anesthesia. This was another opportunity for students to come in and observe this on an alpaca, which is not a common livestock animal for students to see. We were able to see the small hole on the monitor and hear the heart murmur which was quite fascinating. Thankfully, Monte was cleared for general anesthesia and surgery.

Monte received the anesthetic and after I gave him lots of love and encouragement, they took him back to do the CT scan and start surgery.

After two hours when I was able to go back to see him, Monte was already up and trying to eat — a great sign! Once I saw that he was settling in, I came back to the Woods. Monte stayed for observation for three days.

On the mend

When I came back to pick him up the staff showed me how to care for his wound and gave me instructions for the next two weeks. Since then we have had a weekly phone update and I send pictures to the doctors. So far, the reports are that his healing progress looks great. We are hopeful that he will have a clean bill of health at his next appointment.

The question remains: how did he get the infection inside his jaw? We may not ever know exactly. The CT scan showed Monte was missing a molar on the same side where he had the infection. The doctor’s best guess was that he could have had an injury to the open cavity where his tooth had been or that something got into the hole and it got infected. The infection had nowhere to go, so it spread in his jaw. Alpacas are known to get tooth root abscess, but in this case, there was no tooth nor did they find a remnant of a root.

While we never suspected that Monte was going through all this, he has shown that he has a lion heart and has been so patient with us while we do everything we can to get him back to full health.

Thank you to all of you

We also feel very fortunate that we have generous, kind people in our community that help us care for our alpacas when they are in need and also support our mission to educate on how to care for all creation. From our staff, interns and doctors to our financial supporters, we couldn’t do this without each of you.

Last fall many of you our loving supporters donated to purchase an alpaca transport trailer so that our alpacas can travel comfortably. The money we raised over the cost of the trailer was used to cover the cost of Monte’s surgery.  So not only did many of you help our two alpacas travel to surgery comfortably and safely, you also helped Monte get the urgent care he needed. Thank you!!

Thank you to all who support our educational eco-justice ministry and their friendly, fuzzy ambassadors our alpacas.

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