The Amazing Wilson ~ Our Miracle Cria
Meet Wilson, our cria born 7 weeks premature. We’ve only heard of two that have survived being born this early and he’s a fighter. Wilson’s dam, Kelly, was bred on August 29, 2007, giving her a 345 gestation due date of August 9, 2008. Wilson surprised us with his arrival on June 17, 2008! Wilson was only 8 pounds the day he was born. A “normal” cria is 15-20 pounds. Normal gestation is approximately 345 days and he was born on day 295.
I was keeping an eye on other dams that were close to their due dates when all of the females in that area disappeared into one of the barn stalls. When I went out to see what was happening, inside the stall was a tiny lump of black fur. My alpacas are not fond of cats and I instantly assumed the neighbor’s barn cat had been mousing in the barn and was stomped by the alpacas. Then up came his tiny head on a very wobbly neck!
I gently picked him up, feeling only skin over ribs. There wasn’t much muscle to be felt and no body fat to speak of. He was literally skin and bones. I placed a call to the vet and when I described what I had found, she was here within 15 minutes. His heart and lungs sounded good but Kelly wasn’t close to her due date so she didn’t have colostrum. Wilson had a plasma transfusion the next day.
He didn’t have a suckle reflex when he was born and we dribbled goat colostrum and goat milk into him every hour or two for the first 5 days. Then he started sucking. Huge victory ~ we could then bottle feed instead of using a syringe! Every little step was an accomplishment and we saw it as a challenge we just wouldn’t give up. We weighed him twice a day and he would gain an ounce, then drop 2 or 3. It was so frustrating not seeing a steady weight gain. Thankfully, Rick Horn shared his feeding and weight data with me from his premature cria and it helped to reassure me that this was not in vain; Wilson had a chance to survive but what an emotional roller coaster we were on! We were giving Kelly lactation herbs and gently milking her every day to get a few drops for him and encouraging Wilson to try to nurse for a few minutes every time. The stimulation should help bring in her milk and it worked.
Wilson couldn’t regulate his own body temperature yet and we had to be very careful to limit his time in the sunshine. Too much sunbathing and he got too weak to stand. When he looked weak and started breathing heavier, we moved him back into his stall and shut the bottom door. He’d rather be outside and our days were spent letting him in and out. Kelly was being very patient with us and is very attentive to him and thankfully doesn’t stress being apart from her herd. We made sure she could see them at all times and she had a lot of human attention and extra treats as well.
We had Wilson bedded down in hay for the first few days to keep him warm at night and then he started trying to eat it. His system couldn’t handle roughage and he was choking on it so we raked out the hay and switched to cardboard bedding. The next day we removed wads of cardboard from his mouth, the little termite, and he bit me which was really great because his teeth had now erupted. So out went the bedding and he and Kelly were now in a bare stall and we put a coat on him at night. I say bare, but Kelly dumped the hay out of the feeder constantly for him. She a fabulous dam, thank goodness. Wilson amazed everyone with his strong determination to survive.
More journal entries as Wilson continues the fight to survive...
June 25, 2008: Here he is at 8 days old. His ears are coming up and his legs are much stronger.
He’s holding his own and at 15 days has been gaining an ounce a day for the past 3 days. A normal cria will gain about ½ pound a day. We now have a small enclosure set up outside his stall door under the eaves so he can be inside or outside as he wishes until the hot afternoon sun moves around. He’s been getting a lot of visits and offers of help from friends and breeders in the area. We really appreciate all the support!
July 2, 2008: We got a picture of him today with Noah, a “normal” cria that was born 6 days ago. The picture of Wilson and Noah really shows how dramatic a difference we have been dealing with and Noah was just under 15 pounds at birth and is about 18 pounds now. Wilson weighed in at a whopping 8.6 pounds this evening!!!! Go Wilson!
He’s now above his birth weight again and his momma’s milk has come in strong and he is nursing constantly. We really think the lack of weight gain can be attributed to all his energy going toward developing his body that should have been done before he was born. While it is very interesting to see the development that should be taking place inside Kelly’s womb, we were in somewhat uncharted territory here. We are still bottle feeding 4 times a day but not at night for the last 2 nights. Sleep…highly over-rated once you get used to not getting any!!
We’re doing all we can and praying he’ll continue to thrive and we just take one day at a time and enjoy him. We’re all exhausted at this point.
July 9, 2008: Wilson had his last bottle yesterday! He is 3 weeks old and has been turning his little nose up at bottles all weekend. As long as he keeps gaining weight, we're done bottle feeding! Score!! I caught the little stinker running laps in his stall this morning which seems impossible until you consider 10.2 pounds running around in a 12x12 stall...picture a cat on long legs. He had me rolling. Go Wilson!
August 11, 2008: Wilson with his newborn buddy, McGyver. They are both 17 pounds. If Kelly had a normal gestation, he would be born around this time.
October 19, 2008: Wilson is now 28 pounds! He’s still smaller than his buddy, McGyver, but he’s strong and developing well.
We hope this story will help others that are unfortunate to find a preemie in their pastures. If internal organs are functioning well, with a lot of care and love, these little ones have a chance to survive and thrive.