s e v e n i s a j o u r n e y

Yesterday I took a little road trip with two alpaca. I loaded up Hankyo and Hyouki and drove them up to Otaki (about an hour north) for a vet visit. The trip was for Hankyo, Hyouki was just along to keep him company.

The time had come to get Hankyo snipped. This was very important, as he was starting to feel the testosterone, and was getting stroppier by the day. His “play fights” with the other alpaca were getting much more vigorous (picture him running around mouth agape, biting anything he could get in his mouth), and he ever tried a test-orgle at the females over the fence.

The hardest part of the procedure was getting the needle in the jugular vein for the Ketamine injection. Alpaca have protected/armored viens- see the mouth-agape fighting reference above. Once the drugs went in he dropped right off, and the surgical procedure took all of 4 minutes- whihc is good as the Ketamina only last 10-20 minutes. And when it wears off the first indication can be the patient climbing to his feet! Apparently alpaca are very much an on/off sort of species when it comes ot anestesia.

It was educational to watch the little surgery. If I had the ketamine and the nifty suturing tool I could totally do that. Have to check the MAF regulations some time and see if I would be allowed to.

Hankyo is much more reserved today. Some combination of sore nther regions, and a strange sense of loss. Hopefully as the testosterone fades from his blood stream he will lose some of his ardor. Being less fighty and spitty would be a good thing.