 Natasha was a beautiful black, heavy wooled, one quarter Chilean, tufted eared llama that my daughter and son-in-law had given me for Mother's Day. She was pregnant with her first cria and as I always spent a lot of time in the barn or pasture with the llamas I knew them pretty well as they knew me very well. I noticed Natasha kicking at her stomach with her hind legs while she was eating. They kick their undersides when flies are biting but this was the wrong time of year for flies. Something was wrong!
I called the clinic, but as luck would have it our vet who was more experienced with llamas (which was rare then) had the day off and was not at home. A vet who was not familiar with llamas came out to the farm. Well, he didn't know what was wrong with Natasha so he gave her mineral oil and said to call our regular vet the next morning if she was still kicking her underside. I guess you know what mineral oil does, well now so did Natasha! The next morning she was still kicking and now she was humming. I called our vet and he came right away, took one look at her and knew what was wrong. Her uterus had twisted!
We loaded her into the llama trailer and took her to the vet clinic. The vet worked so hard trying to turn her uterus without doing surgery, but it was hopeless. Every time he thought it was turned back right it would flip again. Nothing to do but surgery and he said the cria probably wouldn't survive. The next morning he called with the news that the surgery was successful and so far the cria was still living which was a miracle. We brought Natasha home and gave her tender loving care while her incision healed. Since she had two or more months to go in her pregnancy the vet said she would be healed by then, and he couldn't believe the cria was still living because he had had the cria in his hands while he turned the uterus and tied it so it would stay in place.
Natasha didn't go the full two months and the beautiful little cria was born a month prematurely, and she was perfect! Black like her mother but petite. She was strong and had a strong will to live. Our vet's name is Michael so guess what we named the cria.........Michaela! The feminine form of Michael, because he saved her life. It made him proud to have a llama named after him and he was so good with llamas.
As she grew she was such a joy to watch playing with her brothers and sisters, but she was very shy around people. It was so endearing to watch her hide her face in her mother's wool and peek around to see if we were looking at her, and if we were, that face would go right back into mother's wool. Just like a shy child hiding behind mother's skirt and peeking around to see if anyone was looking.
I cried when we sold her but she went to a good home. A young woman who was the Mother Earth kind of person and was so good and kind to her animals, fell in love with Michaela. When I handed the lead rope to her and Michaela leaned into her that was it! Love at first sight.
JB Moore
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