Vets delighted as Delia bounces back 

Staffordshire vets have kept a baby alpaca on its feet after it was born two weeks premature and too weak to stand or feed.

Within 12 hours, staff from Shires Vets were able to take the baby alpaca from a weak and lethargic state to up and “bouncing around”.

Transfusion

Owner Angela Wilson called in Shires Vets to Acton Hill Alpacas where the newborn cria, named Delia, needed a transfusion of plasma into her jugular vein.

Shires’ associate clinical director Jennifer Roberts and vet nurse Lorna Motherson spent a little more than an hour nursing Delia back to health.

Low levels

Dr Roberts said: “She was very weak at birth, so we took a blood sample to check she had received adequate colostrum from her mum.

“However, the blood sample revealed her total protein levels were low, therefore a plasma transfusion was required as plasma is the part of the blood that contains antibodies.”

Close observation

Using a stored supply of plasma, kept on hand from the farm’s other alpaca, the vets were able to use a plasma transfusion to increase the amount of antibodies in Delia’s blood.

The vets held baby Delia in place as an IV catheter was used, and her heart and breathing rate were closely observed.

Dr Roberts added: “Everything went well and we were able to reunite Delila with her mother, and with Angela and Stuart, later that day.”