The swelling around the knee has subsided somewhat as multiple abscesses have burst, yielding huge quantities of thick, bloody, white puss. The pain that this poor llama must have endured from this infection whilst wearing a cast is unimaginable.
For a while the prospects have looked grim. Bella has laid flat out for up to 36 hours at a time and would only stand after encouragement using a supporting sling. Once on her feet now however, she moves around on her 3 good legs and occasionally rests her bad leg on the ground.
Following her last visit to NVAHS clinic to have the fiberglass cast and staples removed and the orthotic brace fitted, she became so ill that we thought she wasn’t going to pull through.
The veterinary advice was to return to the NVAHS clinic for biopsy and analysis. We doubted that she would survive the 8 hour round trip and turned our attention to other options.
Our immediate concern was the swelling which was becoming slightly lumpy. We decided to remove the brace which was certainly contributing to the pain and consider the herbal remedies that might help. The next day, Bella nibbled continually at the knee and eventually ruptured an abscess that had been forming. The volume of pus was astonishing and it was obvious that there was considerably more to come out, by the huge size of the knee joint and the numerous soft lumps adorning it.
Natural Healing
For nearly two decades we have lived according to the doctrine of natural healing. There is definitely a place for scientific medicine or allopathy, as it sometimes called by naturopaths, but having chosen surgery for Bella, we continued along the scientific route for the cure. Unfortunately, according to some research, approximately one in three hospitalizations result in infection and this appears to be Bella’s lot. She has exhibited adverse reactions to the penicillin and appears to have a deep wound infection, although this has not been proven by biopsy or laboratory analysis. With Bella in such a weak state, we must return to what we know and what has proven effective for centuries - the plants that surround us.
The first task was to gently deal with the infection with means other than drugs. Bella had shown marked side effects after several doses of penicillin, so we turned to some tried and trusted anti-microbial remedies.
Spruce Tea
Spruce is strongly antiseptic and camelids love eating spruce needles. Pine needles work too, but preference is usually given to the young shoots on the ends of spruce twigs.
Snip enough young shoots to fill a small pan to three-quarters full, add enough water to cover the shoots, place a lid on the pan and simmer for ten minutes. Strain and allow the tea to cool.
This is a POTENT brew and is best diluted about 1 part tea to 3 parts water. Try drinking some of the neat tea yourself – if you’re fond of paint thinners then you might even enjoy this! Diluted it becomes more palatable and to Llamas, the tea is just fine in its raw state….if they feel they need it.
Watching how animals graze can provide great insight into minerals and medicines that they need and can to a certain extent offer insight into their state of health. Bella drank deeply of the spruce tea on the first occasion, but since then only sips at it. Perhaps that one large draft was the best dose for her.
Echinacea
A well known immune system booster, the potent Echinacea tincture is made from the plant roots and a few drops in a glass of water is the usual dose for a human. Multiply that dose for a llama’s water bowl.
Ionic (Colloidal) Silver
One of most potent antibiotics known to man that purportedly kills 650 or more different types of bacteria. You can buy the ready made ionic silver water or you can buy the small machine that will make gallons of the stuff for all manner of household purposes. If you go this route, don’t just look for the cheapest one. There are many different types of ionic silver generator and recent new innovations have made them much more effective. We bought ours from http://www.silvergen.com
Silver is perfectly safe to use and as long as you don’t overdose (difficult), there are no side effects. Silver was the preferred metal for use for food storage and cutlery in days of yore because of its powerful antibacterial properties. In fact, in the days before hygiene was considered important, in order to avoid salmonella or other such beasties, royalty consumed so much silver from scraping silver knives on silver plates, that their blood developed a blue tinge and they became referred to as ‘blue bloods’. This habit of using silver for cutlery was also adopted by the ‘working classes’, but the silverware was only brought out on special occasions so as not to poison guests. Otherwise it was left in the cupboard to that it didn’t wear out. Good idea!?
Don’t expect your doctor to applaud your use of ionic silver though. You will find a great deal of resistance to this ‘quackery’ deeply embedded in places as popular as Ebay!
Killing bacteria doesn’t automatically make someone better though. The poison still has to be removed from the body and if the body has chosen to do this by abscess, then that process can be assisted by a poultice or cataplasm.
Comfrey is one of the greatest healers of body tissue and a comfrey cataplasm works extremely well in drawing out the pus and closing the wound cleanly and scar free afterwards. I hadn’t seen this demonstrated so effectively until we applied it to Bella’s knee. The process for making and applying a comfrey cataplasm requires a lot more space than I can provide here, so I will provide a special file that can be downloaded very soon.Changing the cataplasm (poultice twice daily has drawn a huge quantity of gunge out of the knee and Bella is finally beginning to put weight on the bad leg. She is also getting a teensy bit fed up with the leg handling and tries to runaway when we approach. She has got the fight back in her and that is the best news that we could hope for at this time!
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