[Alpacasite] Inner Ear Infection

Hello all Alpacasiters especially Homeopaths,
To start off, this is a lengthy post regarding a chronic, lingering
illness with a young cria. Please, if you are not interested in a
long journal of our experience with multiple treatments feel free to
disregard. It has been such a puzzle for me that I am hoping that
some of you more seasoned alpaca breeders may have some input to
share. Conventional medicine has been given ample opportunity to
help this little girl, so now we are on the homeopathy road, and I
would love to hear from anyone who has had similar experience, and
any of you who are experienced with homeopathy, I would welcome any
input. I am currently monitoring this animal with both the input
from my camelid vet, and the homeopathic vet so believe I am doing
what I can, but I would be interested to hear from anyone else who
has dealt with a similar situation.

I KNOW that inner ear infections are not rare in the alpaca
community, and our vets have plenty of experience with them with
both positive and negative results. I'll try to sum up our
experience:
5/14: cria born at 14 lbs with very low IgG. We transfused her with
1 pint of plasma, and she was an active, healthy cria, growing
sometimes 1 lb a day, but given her low numbers we were not
surprised with her low immune system.
7/19 to 8/1: 28.9 lbs at two months old: She presented with elevated
temp, head tilt and 2 lb weight loss. A CBC showed an elevated white
blood cell count 3x's normal. Put on course of Nuflor antibiotic
every 4 days for five injections till 8/1. We knew we were working
with some internal infection either ear or other head area abscess.

8/5 to 8/18: 35.5 lbs New CBC, levels just slightly on high side of
normal, but given her history we put her on another course of Nuflor.

9/4 to 9/24: 40.5 lbs Elevated Temp. New course of 5 shots Nuflor
over 20 days. At approx. 10-12 days after the last shot, her temp
would spike, and she would begin to lose weight again. We tried a
third course of antibiotics, at which point we opted for an x-ray
which confirmed an inner ear infection.

9/28: 45.3 lbs Elevated Temp. She was taken in to clinic to x-ray to
see if we could pinpoint infection. We were referred to OSU for the
possibility of surgery in an attempt to drain fluid shown in her x-
ray. This was not a surgery that had been done at OSU, and they were
hesitant to go down that road. I consulted on the phone with WSU,
with a similar response. They did respond that Ohio State had
performed such a surgery, but with not much success.

10/2 to 10/23: Weight down to 44lbs. After the economics VS emotion
lecture from my vet, we decided to give her one more round of
antibiotics, and let nature take it's course.

In the meantime I decided to investigate the Homeopathic route, and
consulted with a local vet. Given our long course of antibiotic
treatment, there was some "normalizing" work to do. Now, I need to
say here that I have NO experience with homeopathy, so am following
instructions, but not really sure about how to interpret the
observations in her behavior.

The homeopathic treatment to date:
10/28: Silica 2x day for 2 days (51 lbs)
Thymus 1 tab per day
White Spleen 1 tab per day
Colloidal Gold 2ml 2x per day
10/28 to 11/8: Low appetite, still nursing. Lost 6 lbs over 10 days.
11/2: Spike temp to 103degrees
11/5: Temperature normal, nervous eye twitch on side of ear
infection with green drool on stall floor where she was laying down.
Consulted with vet, and increased Thymus to 2 tab per day, and
Silica 2x day for two weeks.
11/5 to 11/23: Stabilized weight after gaining back 2 lbs.
Complications of raspy breath, and gunky discharge from nose and eye
on affected side of head. She seems to not have any immunity to any
thing that comes along.

11/28: Slight unsteadiness in walking. Still runs to catch up with
mom, but when walking slight toe dragging is noticed in right front
leg.
12/3: Head tilt seems to be gone, some favoring of right ear but
much improved. Not drooling when awake: We are on a wait and see
path. She seems comfortable, I am keeping her blanketed and in the
barn with her mom whenever it is raining. (often this last couple of
weeks.)With any breaks in the weather she is out with the herd,and
keeps up with the group.

Anyway, she seems to be in a holding pattern, weight has leveled
with no gain, and we are in a two week wait and see before we make
any changes. I know the homeopathic route is not at fast as I am
normally used to in our American medical system of medicate or cut,
but my hope is that some of you more experienced homeopaths out
there might have some experience you might like to share.

Feel free to contact me off list.

Thanks,
Linda Buttolph
Stonyridge Alpacas
www.stonyridgealpacas.com
stonyridge@bctline.com

------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~-->
Put more honey in your pocket. (money matters made easy).
http://us.click.yahoo.com/F9LvrA/dlQLAA/cosFAA/jO1qlB/TM
--------------------------------------------------------------------~->

Opinions and postings on this list are the sole responsibility of the person posting the message. The accuracy and content of each message in no way reflect the opinions of the administrator or Yahoo.

List administrator - Rick Horn - All American Alpacas alpacas@alpacaweb.com
http://aaalpacas.com

TO CHANGE OPTIONS visit http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Alpacasite/join
Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Alpacasite/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
Alpacasite-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/