A drenching success story I have four alpacas, three of which are very tolerant of any husbandry, but my forth (Socrates) is less accepting and dislikes restraint. Unfortunately, he’s had numerous episodes of colic and following the most recent the vet took bloods, saw that Socrates liver enzyme count was very high and recommended a daily drench for four weeks, which ended up being 3 months! I wasn’t at all experienced or confident giving drenches so, to begin with, a good friend who has an alpaca farm came to help (thanks Kate!) but I had to learn to do it myself. So, my husband came to help and held Socrates with a handler helper while I gave the drench. As we don’t give drenches routinely, I don’t have a drench gun but use a drenching syringe instead. Socrates was becoming more agitated with the drenching as days went by and eventually, I asked my husband to let go and leave me to it. To start with I just stood next to Socrates shoulder, looking in the same direction as him. We both had a few deep breaths and calmed down. I held the handler helper loosely and put the syringe at the corner of his mouth facing forwards and let him feel it on his face. Then I turned the syringe round, slipped it into the corner of his mouth, gave the drench, unclipped the handler helper and left the catch pen. The difference was incredible – it was one of those times when I wished I’d been videoing! Socrates was less concerned about the drench than he was about the restraint. I won’t pretend it was plain sailing from then, but we came to an understanding. Socrates likes going for a walk without his alpaca friends and has a favourite scratching bush that he can’t get to from his field. So, every morning I would put his halter on, he would have his drench and immediately we would go out for a short walk and a scratch on the favourite bush. Thankfully, Socrates is now healthy and hasn’t had colic for nearly a year so no more drenching is necessary but I learnt a valuable lesson – less restraint is more!
