The poor girl was drenched by the time we arrived at the clinic. The heavens remained open for the entire day, offloading enough rain for the entire summer and the passing trucks ensured that Bella received a soaking through the side of the stock crate every few minutes.
There aren’t many vets around who have accrued more than a handlful of hours on camelids, especially those working on the fringes of society. The nearest clinic wouldn’t even look at a llama! Even so, Bella had the full attention of two terrific young ladies from NVAHS, which caters for large animals and were happy to tread this unknown territory. Despite the obvious pain and discomfort, Bella remained on her best behaviour throughout. I can think of one or two animals in our Llama herd that wouldn’t have been anywhere near as obliging and might have served up enough spit to put these people off camelids for life!
To get out of the rain, we parked under a barn and attached a hoist to a roof truss. Bella has been wearing a full body harness that we made a while ago to facilitate lifting her on the occasions that she cushed with her injured leg under her. She was lifted and secured in a standing position and apart from offering a few worried looks at the noisy machine that appeared to be amputating her heavy white leg, she didn’t flinch. Incidentally, she appeared to go into shock on the journey home and we feel that her ‘apparent’ leg amputation might have had something to do with it! I’ve never had need to wrap a llama in a blanket before, but together with a sprig of spruce, it stopped the severe shivering and settled her.Some swelling around the knee was apparent. We had expected there to be some ugly cast sores given her unwillingness to cush or move around, but only a couple of small sore spots were evident. However, a lot of chafing had occurred on the back of her thigh, which obviously hurt like hell and a thick fleece pad was used to stop the brace from rubbing this spot further.
The surgery wound had healed neatly and the two dozen staples were deftly removed.
The fun part was unraveling the bundle of straps and pads that made up the orthotic brace, the cute little bone motifs indicating that the manufacturer (http://k-9orthotics.com) are more used to treating dogs! This was their first ever llama orthotic and a big thanks to them for taking the job on!
The luxating patella was caused by a rupture of the patella tendon, very close to the tibia. This presented very little muscle to tie back to at the tibia and it’s anticipated that the orthotic will be necessary for at least a couple of months to prevent extreme flexing of the tendon, possibly rupturing the repair.
The biggest concern for us at the moment is the extreme swelling of the knee that is now bulging out of the brace and spreading down the leg. The cast has prevented the swelling from occurring and now the fluid is collecting rapidly.
Homeopathically, we have treated her with Arnica 200 for the pain and bruising. This is a really important remedy to have to hand, especially after surgery. We also gave her several doses of Rhus Tox 30 for the swelling. Had the swelling been accompanied by heat and possibly by rapidly changing symptoms, then Belladonna would have been more appropriate. There has been no improvement in the leg swelling, so we shall have to find another remedy, since continuing to administer a remedy that isn’t working may eventually lead to ‘proving’.
I also raided the flower garden for a dozen marigold flowers. The petals were spread onto a small square of muslin cloth and rolled into a sausage. The sausage poultice was then dipped in warm water and strapped around the inflamed knee. Marigold is probably the best herbal remedy for skin problems and swelling. The poultice has to be kept moist, but only time will tell if this old magic still works!
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