Treating an alpaca jaw abscess.

Philly, the alpaca that we are treating for an abscess got weighed this afternoon and we were thrilled to find that she is absolutely piling on the weight.  She has gained 6 kilos in two weeks – amazing!  Since we spotted the abscess, we have been running her with the weanlings and feeding her separately.  I suspect that she gets rather bullied when she’s with the main herd as she is such a quiet, gentle girl and is easily pushed away from the feed trough.  She is given Naxcel every 5 days and was given Finadyne for pain relief, together with Combivit to stimulate her appetite for the first three days after diagnosis.  She has a coat on to keep her warm and is kept in at night and also during the day if the weather is wet or snowy.  We swab the wound with Hibiscrub twice daily.  We are quite confident now that she is on the mend.