OUCH!!

Poor, poor Atticus.  Though he is the Alpha 'Paca, and is demonstrating wise, amiable leadership, he still has his bad days.  Take last Saturday, for example. 

All was quiet in the pasture in the afternoon.  Jerry was in his office, hiding from the rest of the family, who had threatened him with torches and pitchforks because he was being a total tyrant during a brief, scary logging event (more about that another time).  I was in the house, trying to figure out my new "smart" phone.  The girls were hiding, wherever it is that they hide when they think they might be press-ganged into working.  And that's when I heard the scream. 

It was unmistakably an alpaca, and it was also unmistakably Atticus.  He has a warning screech that sounds like Goodyears squealing on the road.  I sighed.  What now?  I'd had it with cranky men for the day.  I didn't need to referee another one of the boys' spats. 

I stomped out to the pasture to see what the ruckus was about, and noticed Atticus and Solomon panting, as if they'd done a few laps around the field.  Great, I thought, that's all we need.  Stupid boys getting heat stressed because of some sort of testosterone overload. 

As I looked closer, I saw that Atticus' right eye was shut.  What was going on??  I walked slowly into the pasture, because the last thing I wanted was for the boys to start running again--it was way too hot for that kind of exercise. 

Of course, Atticus wouldn't let me get close enough to him to see what was going on.  I did notice, however, that there were an inordinate number of wasps in the area, and I put two and two together and realized what had happened.  Atticus got stung in the eye by a wasp.  Poor baby.

My mind raced, as I calmly tried to get close enough to Atticus to see what was going on.  Are alpacas allergic to bee stings?  What happens if he goes into anaphylactic shock?  Benedryl works for the dogs--would it work for alpacas?  What if he stops breathing?  How do you do CPR on an alpaca???

Kayla wandered out to see what was going on.  She stood at the fence, and once Atticus' attention was focused on her, I was able to come up behind him and do a light bracelet hold on his neck.  He stood still and let me examine his eye.  It was swollen, but I couldn't see that there were any foreign objects in the eye.  I think his eyelid was stung.  I patted his neck and spoke softly to him for a few minutes, and he seemed to settle down.  Pretty soon, he laid his head on my chest. 

We stood there for a little while.  The other boys came up behind us, humming in support, as I double-checked Atticus to make sure nothing else was wrong with his eye.  Once I released him, he wandered back into the herd. 

His eye has become less swollen in the last couple of days.  I think he's almost back to normal.  I put up a wasp trap, and was surprised at how many we've caught so far.  We've worked hard to get a handle on the fly population, but until this weekend, we hadn't seen many wasps.  Now, it's war.  I don't ever want that to happen again.