I am happy to report that Queen is doing much better. She had a more comfortable day yesterday with no need for any more shots or treatment. I will probably give her another dose of MSE drench today just to be on the safe side. MSE promotes healthy rumen function in alpacas and due to its vitamin and enzyme content it is good for alpacas who are under stress. I usually give my pregnant girls some MSE during their last couple of weeks of pregnancy and immediately after birth; it seems to help them bounce back from the birthing process quicker.
I will also treat Queen to another photonic red light treatment, I am sure she will not be fully appreciative of the special care, Queen is not a hands on alpaca, but I want to make sure that she receives the best care we can give her.
Queen spent much of yesterday eating hay and ate her pellets as she normally does. She is still lying around quite a bit, but considering how big her unborn cria seems to be that is hardly surprising.
On checking my records I can see that our computer program has based her due date on 359 days, which was the length of her previous pregnancy. A typical alpaca pregnancy is 345 days so she could have the cria in early May. As large as Queen is though, I would not be surprised if she ends up having the cria early so we will need to be prepared for that. Queen’s last cria Velvet was 14 lbs at birth and Queen looked enormous when she was carrying Velvet too, but she did not show any discomfort during that pregnancy. The cria Queen is carrying is the same breeding as Velvet (Queen and our herdsire Windrush Jennifer’s Zindel) and so far Zin’s crias have all been a nice size, ranging from 14 to 18 lbs.
Hopefully Queen will not have any more bad days between now and giving birth, and hopefully she will hang onto her cria until closer to her due date!