Alpaca Eye Problems and an update on Meadow our LGD

For those of you worried about our dog Meadow, she is doing well, as her wounds have all healed nicely. We did hear a couple of coyotes yipping at dusk last night and the dogs all responded with loud barks to let them know that they are here to protect us and the Alpacas.  Our neighbors have been hunting coyotes and I heard gunshots this morning from the general direction that we heard the coyotes last night. I'll have to check with them to see if they shot any. In the meantime I am going to blog about my Alpaca's eye problem.

One of our studs named Woody has been having an eye issue ever since we started haying them this past fall. The Alpacas like to bury their head in the hay to get to the finer bit & pieces on the bottom (hay chaf).  Here is a picture of Lou doing just that this morning.

Lou eating the hay chaf

They will push all of the hay out of the feeder and onto the ground.  Woody will still bury his head even when it is on the ground.

Woody trying to get to the small stuff.

Because of this, Woody has an eye that has been really irritated.  He might have an allergy to something in the hay, but it only effects the one eye. 

Woody's eye with hay stuck to it.

This is his outer eyelid as Alpacas have two eyelids. Every morning we "clean" it out.  Now that it is below freezing temps all of the time, his eyelid is usually frozen.  Gary holds him, while I take a warm wet compress to unfreeze his eyelid, and then I wipe out the "puss" and clean it up. I flush his eye with Saline water, then we put an antibiotic cream into the corner of his eye.  Some of the other Alpacas get a little white in the corner of their eyes, but nothing like Woody's eye as seen in this picture.

Woody's eye

After cleaning it up he goes right back to eating with his head buried in the hay.  Somedays his eye is clear and other days, it is like this.  I can't wait to have green grass and pastures again. No more eye problems!