Not the man he was...

It was a big day for Sirius, our younger alpaca today. Although he looks like butter wouldn't melt in his mouth he's been growling at the other animals sharing his hay and becoming more and more aggressive. It's understandable that endless raids on his supper would make him cranky, but Siri has a neat little sideways kick with the speed and punch of a martial arts master. The more cheeky lambs had learned to dodge it but they could not always dodge his teeth.

Those snappish tendencies were also aimed at the dogs on occassion, which bodes well for Siri's fox-repelling abilities, however we still have to feed and handle him in the meantime. This meant he had to be desexed: wethered in sheep and alpaca parlance. Whilst this is a simple procedure in young sheep, for various technical reasons that I won't go into, wethering alpacas means surgery, anaesthetic and an attendant vet.

So the date was set, Siri confined in a clean shed, Ori confined to keep him company and they patiently lounged in our makeshift waiting room

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At the appointed hour our cheery and chatty vet rocked up and knocked Siri out. I got all worried and motherly seeing little Siri down for the count but Dr Vet Senior reassured me saying he'd done hundreds of these routine ops. He also remarked that this was the first time he had heard an alpaca snore.

Ten minutes later with the able assistance of SO and the deed was done. It would have been five minutes but ever since I'd mentioned my life-long desire to be a vet, Dr Vet Snr has enthusiastically described every procedure he's been called out for whilst I plagued him with questions. We talked over the procedure thoroughly while Siri demonstrated.