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Archive for November 4th, 2025

Diary #801

Posted in Diary, tagged , , on November 4, 2025| Leave a Comment »

A week ago today, when I went out to feed the animals, I found Jonathan lying on his side in the stable.  That’s unusual for llamas; typically they rest sitting upright, with their legs folded under their bodies (the “kush” position).  When I went to investigate he tried to spit at me, so I figured he might just be not feeling well and decided to leave him alone to see what he’d do.  The next morning he was still in the same position, just chewing his cud and refusing to get up.  So I consulted a large animal vet who told me that older llamas (Jonathan is 19 and the vet said the oldest llama she ever heard of lived to 22) sometimes develop neurological issues, and the important thing is to keep him upright because lying on their sides too long is actually harmful to camelids.  So I went back out to the stable and tried rocking him and otherwise bothering him, to no avail; I then hit upon the idea of grabbing his right legs (he was lying on his right side) and flipping him over.  He struggled a bit, but it was surprisingly easy to flip him, given that he weighs in the neighborhood of 200 kilograms. Once on his left side, he started kicking and twisting and within a minute was in kush position.  So I watched him for a little while, and within another minute or two he started to list to the right; I grabbed a hay bale and put it on that side to prop him up.  But he didn’t like that either, and much to my surprise was soon standing again.  He was extremely wobbly, so I leaned against him to prop him up, and he took a few steps forward and leaned against the stable wall.  He then started slowly moving forward, leaning against the wall but remaining upright, and after a while I decided to go about my business and regularly check up on him.  About an hour later I returned to find he had left the stable and was browsing along the north fence; he stayed there until after dark, and would not come to the stable for a scoop of oats as he usually does when I call him.  Thursday morning I looked out about 90 minutes after sunrise and he was still in the same place, though in kush position; he later started moving around the paddock normally all day and came for his oats when called a little before sunset, and since then has behaved normally.  But apparently, I now need to expect occasional repeats of the incident or similar geriatric camelid behaviors, which I guess is only appropriate considering I’m starting to display geriatric problems and behaviors myself.

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