Here it is Friday already! I don't know where this week went. I feel like it is still Tuesday and I just took Tinker to the vet. It is Friday evening however. Tinker is doing better, a lot better than he was on Tuesday. He's walking almost normally again.

I delegated the job of giving Tinker his shots to Steve. I get very nervous and shaky when I think of giving shots. I've even stuck myself, but Steve is calm and steady. So I get to hold Tinker and twist his ear, while Steve puts two injections in his behind! The first night wasn't so bad. Tinker didn't know what to expect I guess. The second night was more difficult. Tinker twisted away and threw his head up and even reared a couple of times. I got a puncture from the fence and a scratch and a bruise. So tonight I decided to do it differently. I fed all the animals first. So everyone was calm. Then, instead of tying Tinker to the fence and holding him, I haltered him but did not tie him to the fence. I held him around the neck with one arm and twisted his ear with my other hand. It went a lot quicker. He did move forward a couple of times but he did not rear or throw his head around. Maybe tying him to the fence freaked him out. Anyway, we only have to do that two more times. Monday we go back to the vet and see how the wound is doing. I keep praying that it will heal quickly. I am also thankful that we haven't had any rain so keeping the bandage dry has not been a problem. That could change at any time.

One of the other alpacas had a problem tonight too. After Steve and I finished with Tinker, I noticed that Cimarron was in distress. His mouth was opened and green slobber poured from it. His nostrals were flared out and he was stretching out his neck. He had a look of panic in his eyes. He was choking from the pellets we feed them. It happened one other time. Steve and I went after him. He is not hard to catch especially when he is having a problem. We stroked and patted his throat and neck. Eventually, the panic left Cimarron and he coughed. The slobbering stopped and his nose stopped flaring and went back to normal. Kardigan, the black alpaca, ran up to Cimarron and chest bumped him, as if to say, "Hey Bro! Get over it!" They moved away from us. Posturing, the way males do, their heads up high, their spit flying, I knew things were back to normal.

I think that choking thing happens when they try to eat too fast because they are competing for the food. I will be more careful by making sure that I dump the pellets into a feeder full of hay instead of an empty feeder from now on. I am also going to have to figure out who to put with Tinker. He cannot stay by himself forever. Cimarron and Stewie are pretty calm. Kardigan and Prince seem to get along OK too. They are both pretty dynamic. Maybe it would work dividing them up that way. I won't know until I try it. I know for sure that I will not be putting Prince and Tinker back together. I would also like to get at least one more alpaca, a white one. That won't be for awhile though and, who knows what new problems a new alpaca would cause????