10/03/2025
Yesterday was an extremely difficult day on the farm. I went out for morning chores to find Rose not acting herself. She didn’t come up for feed, she was kushed in area near the lagoon that she didn’t usually hang out, and when I went down to her, she refused to get up, her demeanor was way off. I immediately went back to the house to call the vet hospital to see about a farm call (thankfully they squeezed us in the calendar for that afternoon), I returned down an hour later to check back on her, and she was gone down hill fast, laying laterally in the hot sun. I called the vet back and they were able to change their schedule and rush out (they arrived 30mins later). In the meantime I painstakingly moved her to the shade and offered water and sat with her, she seemed to be some type of GI stress. The vets arrived and began working on her immediately, exams, ultrasound, etc. they had lots of information but were unable to identify what exactly was causing her such distress and pain. With limited options left on the farm, we discussed options for transport and intensive care, but given how fast the onset of her crash was and how down and painful she was, the prognosis was unclear. After speaking with multiple specialists, we made the difficult decision to euthanize so she would no longer be in pain. It’s such a hard situation and the choice is never easy, especially when you don’t have answers for why or what was wrong. These alpacas kind of fell into our life, and they became such sweet pets, they are unique creatures and have been a joy to have on the farm. Rose has always been so personable and she loved to watch people, she loved excitement. We will miss her dearly. We now just have Lorelei (Rose’s mother), and if you know much about pacas, they are herd animals and don’t do well alone. We are keeping a close eye on her for signs of depression and will likely need to consider finding an alpaca farm where she could be placed with another female companion who ideally is also retired. 😔 these silly pacas found their way into our hearts and gosh does it leave a giant hole to have lost sweet Rose.