Tuesday, May 31, 2011... We’ve Lost A Good Friend In The Barn...Iggy Is Gone...

Iggy has gone to alpaca heaven.

Rest in Peace Iago...You were very Special...

This week has been a real bummer for us. First my aunt in Pa, died unexpectedly. She was sitting in their living room watching TV, when she got extremely sick. My uncle called an ambulance and they took her to the hospital and then flew her to another hospital, where she died five hours later....That was like right after midnight. Later that same day, on the way back from Lowe’s, I hit a beautiful cat as it dashed out in front of us from a bushy field...I removed the cat from the road and found the house where it belonged, telling the young woman that I just hot their cat. She came to the road side with me, keeping her two young sons in the house. As she was gathering the cat into her arms and thanking me for stopping to tell her, her two sons came out, seeing the cat and immediately starting to cry and run into the house. All I could do was say, “I’m soooo sorry.” What a sickening feeling... Later that evening, we hit a big frog that jumped up under the car...again making that sickening thump...and then today...we had to put Iggy...our Suri alpaca down. He has had some issues with his breathing since last year, but today he was down in the barn and would not get up. I wrapped my arm around his neck and pulled to get him up, but he would not stand. He was gasping for air and was drooling severely. Not a good sign with an alpaca. I immediately got the garden hose and soaked him down to help cool him off, but that did nothing for the breathing difficulties in the humid, hot afternoon heat. Iggy was slowly dying in the heat. We called Isabelle and she was instantly on-route to help. We also called Jillian, our Vet. She immediately made preparations to come to our aid, saying she would be here in an hour or so. She comes from Red Hook, forty miles away, across the Hudson River. Her examination showed only one functioning lung, and he was emaciated...which leads us to a root cause of the illness, because he ate normal all along and anyone who knows alpacas realizes this can happen, because they hide an illness or sickness until they can no longer function. Showing a weakness among herding animals makes them a target to predators, so when an alpaca looks or acts sick, there is probably nothing that a Vet can do to save them. Thus was the condition we found Iggy in today. He had hidden his illness well, except for the heavy panting he has done since last summer in the heat. Today would have done him in and he would have died a torturous, slow, agonizing death, but we decided to allow him to go and ask Jillian to put him down for us. End of story. Almost...
Even in our saddest moment of the day, though Vick had cried her eyes out several times this week...and I felt like a major vehicular killer... we were both pretty well mentally whipped by this development and in light of the sadness...was still faced with disposing of Iggy’s rather large body...and where?
Isabelle sprang into action, calling a friend and neighbor near her...while telling us all we had to do was get Iggy loaded into her truck and she would take him to her house where her neighbor friend would bury him in her horse/alpaca graveyard. We did and by 7:30 this evening, Iggy was buried and with all of Isabelle’s deceased horses and alpacas from the past. The man drove his truck, trailer and excavator to Isabelle’s from his house, unloaded it, dug the grave, filled it back in, smoothed everything down, smiled solemnly, waving good-bye as he slowly headed back to his truck....He asked for nothing from us for his services...What a special man...and Isabelle asked for nothing from us...She simply cried with Vick and comforted her and I.
When we left for home, we both got a hug from Isabelle, who said, “You two would have done the same for me.”
What precious friends we have.... praise God for giving them to us! Angels of God, one and all......




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