My Home for the Blind – Part II
Tre
No, I’m not breeding for blindness. lol. However, I have three wonderful alpacas with eye problems. Read My Home for the Blind – Part I (SiSi)
Beloved
This story begins with a wonderful fawn herdsire named Tre. After we had been breeding alpacas for a few years, we realized that we needed to beef up the density of our herd. (this means we needed our alpacas to have more fiber) We searched for a male who could help us with this goal, and we found an incredible one named Tre.
Tre was gorgeous and very laid back. He went to lots of shows. He would lumber into the showring, half-asleep with an attitude reminiscent of Eeyore. “I’m here. Thanks for noticing.” Never the flashiest guy in his class, but judges usually remarked that Tre had the best fleece in the class. He was often the bridesmaid with a multitude of 2nd place ribbons.
On the farm, Tre quickly became our favorite alpaca. He was so handsome, and so easy-going that my young children could walk him around and enjoy him. With his great personality and textbook perfect fleece, we expected to have Tre for years and years to come.
Then he injured his leg…We imagine that he was playing with the other boys when he tore his ACL. The injury seemed to bother him while breeding so we opted to have it surgically repaired. In hindsight, this may have been a mistake. Tre’s laid back personality lacked the fighting spirit he needed to overcome the complications that followed his surgery. Tre never recovered from the surgery, dying a few weeks later back at the farm.
Losing Tre at age 4 was heartbreaking. It was truly tough on everyone at the farm. His funeral was attended by our family and farm manager, Jeremy. The children made a cross on his grave with the petals from a nearby gardenia bush. We had worked hard to save him. We had loved him so dearly. And we hadn’t bred him nearly enough.
When Tre died we had only 2 of his cria in utero. When the first one came due, we had a horrible situation where a veterinarian (not my usual one) and I disagreed on whether or not the female was in labor. In the end, it turned out the female had been in labor but she wasn’t progressing because the cria was breech. The cria died during the vet’s attempt to deliver the cria from a breech position a day later. (Note: Do not try to deliver an alpaca in the breech position. Experts recommend a c-section for a full breech.) The stillborn cria was a girl who looked just like Tre. The vet and Jeremy tried to revive her for 30 minutes. It felt like an episode of ER. Many tears were shed. The disappointment surrounded us and weighed us down. We cut a lock of her fleece, and buried her atop her father’s grave.
When it came time for the last Tre cria to be born, I was more than excited and nervous. I dared to hope. My heart had been broken twice that year. I was ready for anything, but I was also hoping so hard for a beautiful fawn female who could carry on Tre’s bloodline. The dam carrying this last cria was Earth Angel, one of the best females we have ever had the pleasure of owning.
Finally, the baby was born. It was fawn and it looked just like Tre! And it was a girl! I remember openly crying with joy, tears streaming down my cheeks. It felt as though I would never stop smiling. As my children looked on, my son, age 5, explained to his 3-year-old twin sisters, “Sometimes, grown-ups…when they’re happy…they cry.”
Finally, my Tre baby! She was stunning. I named her Beloved. Her eyes were a bit cloudy. Sometimes a rough birth trip can cause corneal ulcers and eye ointment usually cures it. I called the vet to come over and check her out and to give us some drops for her eyes. He said he wouldn’t be able to come out until later. Other than that minor thing, she was perfect.
That night I went out to dinner with my husband. Sitting at a steakhouse enjoying a celebratory dinner, Dr. Stewart called me from my barn. “Katy,” he said. “This animal is totally blind.”
“Do what?”
He proceeded to explain to me in both veterinary and layman terms that Beloved could not see a thing. She was born without the structures one needs to be able to see. He wondered aloud if we might want to consider putting her down. “No!” I said. “I think I’ve heard of blind alpacas. Let me look into it.”
Beloved
And look into it I did. Sweet little Beloved was bottle fed for the first 2 days. From then on she latched onto her dam. The two of them were thick as thieves. We separated them from the herd in a small pen for 3 months so that Beloved would always be able to find mom and be able to nurse. They were near other alpacas and she could hear, smell, and touch them through the fence.
I did some research and looked for some tipson how to manage her. There wasn’t much available. Beloved has always walked around with a Stevie Wonder-looking head bobbing and weaving thing. As a cria she would run in circles playing with…herself. It was cute and pitiful at the same time. Poignant, really.
Beloved constantly surprised me. I read that I would have to teach her how to drink water out of a bucket rather than from her mom. Just as I was getting ready to do so, I saw her drinking from a bucket. The same thing happended with teaching her to eat pellets. Um, she just did it. Taught herself. I had also read that you couldn’t halter train blind lamas (lamas with one “l” refers to both llamas and alpacas – a little trivia for you). I halter trained Beloved in less than an hour, though I prefer to hook her head in the crook of my arm (very loosely) and I can move her anywhere. She and I both prefer this snuggly, seeing-eye person, way of moving over longer distances.
Beloved loved her mom. We put a bell on Earth Angel for a while but it didn’t jingle much when she walked and the two of them always seemed to know each other’s whereabouts even without the bell. When it came time to wean Beloved, I felt like the most evil person in the world for breaking up their happy twosome. Earth Angel agreed with that assessment as she spit all over me and had to be practically dragged away from Beloved. She looked at me, pleading, “Don’t you know she’s special? You can’t take me away from her. She needs me!!!” I felt guilty and my stomach was in knots over the weaning.
Interestingly, Beloved didn’t seem to notice her mom was gone. At least, not at first. It took her a day or more to notice. She looked for her for a few days, and then she moved on. By that time she was in a field with alpacas her own age that she knew and she seemed to be well adjusted. This was when I started to realize that she had inherited Tre’s gentle laid-back spirit. For Beloved, her temperament is an exquisite blessing. When she bumps into something she doesn’t get upset. She just rolls with it.
Leading Beloved
Every day, Beloved inspires me. The way she knows a gate is open and swings wide of it… the way she befriends the younger, more insecure alpacas … the way she trusts me and is not afraid for me to lead her into the unknown…all of these things bring me immeasurable joy and satisfaction.
Sometimes visitors to our farm are shocked made uneasy by Beloved. They feel sorry for her. I don’t blame them. It would be nice if she could see. But that is not her lot in life. I believe she has a happy life, and I see her triumph every day.
With one of the best fleeces on the farm and no clear answer as to whether or not her blindness is heritable, we decided to breed Beloved. Most people who have seen this type of blindness say that animals like Beloved have sighted cria. They chalk it up to some sort of environmental problem rather than a genetic one. We will have to wait and see.
Read SiSi’s story in My Home for the Blind – Part I.
December 16th, 2008 at 2:23 pm
Beautiful story.
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December 16th, 2008 at 7:08 pm
I can’t wait to hear about her birth!! She sounds like such a lovely addition to the herd.
Jennis last blog post..Saturday….
December 16th, 2008 at 8:45 pm
Sniff.
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December 17th, 2008 at 7:19 am
This is so touching! Thanks for sharing.
December 17th, 2008 at 8:53 am
I can’t wait for the new cria to be born!
December 17th, 2008 at 12:40 pm
Oh my…I love the “special” ones! You are pretty special too for working with her instead of taking the easier way out.
Hoping you (I mean Beloved) have a beautiful healthy cria soon!
Cynthia
December 20th, 2008 at 8:16 pm
Did Beloved have her cria?
What a great story. You and your family are just awesome to go out of your way to take care of her.
Blessings to you all,
Renae
December 20th, 2008 at 8:52 pm
Thanks Renae, Cynthia, and the rest of you for your nice comments. Beloved is still gestating at 371 days. I took her to the vet. He x-rayed her and said the baby looks fine. We just have to wait. Sigh.
December 30th, 2008 at 10:29 pm
Touching, and caring. Well written and thought provoking as well. I partner with Lorraine Loperfido, whose son, Joey, was run off the road and into a tree by an overanxious shopper cutting across Joey’s car from an outter lane. He was left in a coma, severe brain damage (since March, 2000). Now, eight years later, he mayhave opportunities to qualify for experimental deep brain stimulation programs at U of Miami, but the Madoff scandal has affected the funding for that. Lorraine and I got into the alpaca business to eventually raise money enough to try these programs, stem cell injections and other things to help out Joey and/or others suffering from brain damages. When it comes to how a blind animal makes visitors feel, you should try having people meet the largely quadraplegic Joey. They want to block him out of their experience. I suppose we all crave good health and something like “perfect critters” whether farm animals or people. Somehow our human minds greatly fear inperfect things affecting each of us personally in negative ways forever, and we tend to shy away, at least most of us do. Bothering to work with the less than perfect animals, or people, is a real struggle even when you love them and want the best possible for them. So, whether it is a blind alpaca or a brain damaged son, we try to make things as best we can for them, and for us. As for how those efforts affect our visitors, well, I suppose we are part of an extraordinary educational system for compassion, care and unconditional love. In today’s world, where greed and envy are so prevalent, such lessons are not wanted to be shared by many. Let’s assume that there are rewards to be had eventually by those who do learn the lessons of hardships suffered.
December 31st, 2008 at 4:33 am
Chuck, Thank you for your thoughtful response. One of the things I love about farming is that it is very “real”. There is no getting away from life, which is sometimes heartbreaking. Thanks again for sharing your story. We will keep Lorraine and Joey in our thoughts and prayers.
December 31st, 2008 at 5:29 am
Hi Katy,
I just knew this story had a happy ending…371 days and counting! Will be anxiously awaiting. I think Beloved’s story would make a great children’s (and adult) book. Beloved is just waiting to ring in the New Year. Hope you have a happy and healthy 2009!
February 5th, 2009 at 9:08 am
What a lovely story! Your blog is a great one to follow.
Thank you.
June 1st, 2009 at 7:27 pm
What a remarkable story. Your blog is wonderful…
Karin
July 11th, 2009 at 2:58 pm
I almost cried. What a lovely story. I’ll second Leanne’s thought. Here’s to the successful delivery of a healthy cria and your new, additional career as a children’s book author. (As if you needed yet another career–but some people are just talented.)
August 25th, 2009 at 11:58 pm
Hi,
Thank you for the great story. Your experience encouraged us to keep a blind alpaca. My mother in law breeds alpacas and we were there for a holiday. She was born three weeks premature and couldn’t stand. She couldn’t get up to feed so I milked the dame ( not easy ! )so she would get the benefit of the first milk. Also gave a boost of extra colostrum. We gave her regular antibiotics and vitamin injections. I got spat at and kicked many times since the mum was not used to being handled and very protective of her baby. Then the cria got fly struck. We cleaned her up but because of her weak state we had to seperate her from her mum so we could make sure she didn’t get fly struck again and could regulate her temperature better.
We bottle fed every 3 hours. (last feed at midnight first feed at 6 am). Then we discovered she was completely blind. My mother in law was going to put her down. We pleaded with her not to and decided to adopt the cria ourselves. After travelling with her for 2000 kms (and countless toilet stops) she is now home in her own paddock. She is now 7 months old and knows the paddock so well that people don’t believe that she is blind. She is very friendly and curious. She is halter trained but prefers to snuggle up close and walk beside us. In the paddock she just follows us. She has no problem finding her food or water. She does sometimes find it hard to find shelter from the rain so she has her own raincoat that we put on if it is a stormy day.
August 26th, 2009 at 5:58 am
Jerry,
Thanks so much for sharing your story. It sounds like your little alpaca has a great life with people who care about her. Can’t wait to tell Beloved that she has inspired others. She has been a joy to us.
August 26th, 2009 at 7:31 am
Hey Jerry,
We have a 6-mo-old girl who is blind. Does miraculously well, but won’t come in out of the rain. Can’t tell you the number of times I dash out in a storm to walk her into the barn — which she stubbornly hates! LoL Do you seriously have a raincoat for your girl?
Our Isabella is an absolute delight. She has done so well in the “older cousin” role since we had another cria born that we believe she will someday make a great mum.
September 20th, 2009 at 12:00 pm
Your stories are so inspiring and so sweet. You have a huge heart, Katy. Thanks for sharing it with the world. ::hugs::
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October 25th, 2009 at 5:17 pm
Hi bareftbeachbaby,
Yes we have a thermal raincoat for our Alpaca. It is one that is designed for dogs. She now has grow into her third size of cover. Because her fibre is reasonably long now we don’t bother putting her raincoat on unless it is a torrential downpour or very cold at night. Growlith is waiting at the gate if we approach the paddock except when she suspects she is being brought inside because it is raining. Early on we used to bring her inside when it was cold and wet but we noticed that she likes a bit of rain so we have stopped bringing her inside. I used to slide around the paddock like a mud monster trying to catch her, much to the delight of my kids who would be watching from inside the house(our paddocks are on a slope).Despite being totally blind – Growlith is hard to catch if she doesn’t want to be caught.
She quite happily lets us to put on the raincoat.
My nine year old son named her Growlith (a Pokemon).