This morning I dropped off Justine and her cria, Starr, at the vet.  Justine has a bit of a tooth problem in that her ‘baby’ teeth never fell out.  I have been working on them for a few months by trying to wiggle them out but I was only successful with one of them.  Her bite is being affected by too many teeth in her mouth, so right now while she is not pregnant, the time has come for her to have some alpaca dental work. 

I am a typical protective ‘Mom’ bringing her ‘child’ to the doctor for surgery.  Since Justine had her cria with her, I was a bit concerned about that situation, too.  This little kid is such a mommy’s girl and I knew that when Justine was taken away for the dental work Starr would freak out.   I had to make it clear with the staff at the clinic as to where the surgery would take place and where little Starr would be during the surgery.  Luckily, Justine will have her dental work done right out there in the stall area, so Starr will be able to see her the whole time.  There was also a concern about whether or not Starr would ‘escape’ through the fencing.  To top it off, a BIG cow had just arrived at the veterinary clinic and I was concerned about whether the cow was healthy or sick.  

So, I found out the cow was in for horn trimming – not sick – good!  But, where do I put Justine?  She is a small female being only about 114 pounds and her cria is probably about 17 pounds.  All that cow had to do was sneeze and they would both be blown across the stall!  OK, the stall across the aisle was available – that is where Justine and Starr would go.  As I left the clinic Starr was nursing – that is always a good sign. 

Later this afternoon, I will go pick up my girls and hopefully Justine will have less teeth in her mouth and a bite that is adjusted correctly for her to graze.