Plasma - $145.50

I've always considered Camelid plasma a nice to have item for the alpaca owner. I never needed it, but did sell the bag to nearby farms a couple of times when they had a cria that needed a transfusion. That all changed December 28, 2004. I now consider plasma to be a must have item. (Update: I've needed it twice now, June 28th, 2006) That story is here

Cantana, a Cantano daughter, had been bred to MacGyver 333 days prior. Needless to say, we anxiously awaited the cria. We had heavy rains the days preceding, and we were only accessible by 4 wheel drive vehicles, and even in a 4 wheeler, it was a scary ride.

At 12:40, in the pouring rain, Cantana delivered a male cria. Normally, I'll leave mom and cria alone for a while, but with the rain, I took them immediately to the barn. After drying him off a bit, I just sat back and observed, as I always do. I did note that Cantana, a first time mom, didn't appear to have a lot of milk, but I wasn't concerned, as the cria's attempts to nurse would more than likely bring it in.

45 minutes post partum, the cria had not attempted to stand, despite my stimulation, so I dipped my finger in Karo syrup, and had him suckle it off, in an attempt to give him a bit of a sugar buzz. After trying that a couple of times, he only made feeble attempts to stand, so I knew we were in trouble.

I pulled the plasma out of the freezer and started to thaw it, and at 2:30, gave him Colostrix (bovine colostrum). He was having a hard time staying sternal, I didn't expect him to make it.

At 4:40, I gave him 3 oz oral plasma, with touch of Karo syrup. He immediately jumped to his feet for his first steps. He didn't stay there long though. At 5:30, a finger full of Karo syrup brought him back to his feet, we did warm compresses on Cantana's teats, and he made a feeble yet unsuccessful attempt to nurse.
He seemed hungry, so at 6:00 I gave him 2.5 oz of colostrum mixed with 1 oz plasma, again with a touch of Karo. We could see mom's milk starting to come in just a bit, but he wasn't going for it.

8::00, it was time for 3 more ounces of plasma, he still was pretty weak. At 10:00, he would only take 2 ounces, 1 plasma, 1 colostrix.

At midnight, I switched him over to goat's milk. He took 2 ounces, and then fought to get away from me. At 2:00 AM, he took a couple more ounces, and 3.5 ounces at 4:00 AM. At that point, he was much more stable on his feet, so I decided to leave him alone until 7:00 AM.

I went in at 7:00 AM, he was a bit sluggish, and took 3.5 ounces. He stayed active afterwards. Every time I would walk in, mom would stress, so I tried to leave them alone. I went in at 9:20, he was up, and at 10:00, he was still up, and would only take 1.5 ounces. Mom's milk was definitely in.

We named him MacGyver's Storm, he's doing great. His IgG was good, due to the oral plasma. (Bovine colostrum will not read on a camelid RID plate)

$145.50 for the plasma. Compared to vet costs and risks with transfusions, or the possibility of him not making it, I'd call that cheap.

The picture is when he is 24 hours old.