Meet Little Prince and he lived up to his name.  He was a gentleman to all that greeted him and he loved the attention bestowed upon him.  He injured his back leg and though nothing was broken he could not get up.  Loyel and Carolyn had heard about our sling through friends of ours.  They contacted us on the 4th day of Little Prince being down.  Discussing what would be needed we gathered our items and Loyel purchased and gathered the other items. 

A 4 x 4 post was buried into the ground followed by boards fastened to the shed behind to keep the post solid.  With everything in place Denny & Loyel was able to lift Prince up off the ground.  Prince was very happy to oblige us with a nice big bowel movement not long after being raised. 

During the next few days the vet treated him for meningeal worm but they also suspected a sun stroke.  The days turned into weeks and Loyel and Carolyn would raise Prince off the ground twice a day for 2 hours at a time.  He continued to eat, drink and go to the bathroom and even started to get more movement in all 4 of his legs.  Since Prince could use his back legs more the vet concluded that it was sun stroke that affected his mobility. 

Unfortunately after 5 weeks Prince took a turn for the worse.  An injury that was covered up by fleece had become infected and the flies had done their work well.  Carolyn was broken hearted when she found the spot.  She had diligently cleaned all other areas daily and they were healing well.  With Prince not interested in food they call the vet out again to check on him.  The vet felt that Prince would not improve anymore then what he had and with the new problem that it would be best to let Prince go. 

 Prince is now prancing in heaven as of Friday September 9.  Reading words saying our sling can be used for a downer alpaca is one thing but with the vet very much involved Prince was able to live 5 more weeks whereas without the sling he would have been put down after only 6 days. 

This same week we have another male up in the sling, another case of sunstroke or meningeal worm.  This male was down on his side and could not hold his head up.  The next morning after getting him into the sling he is keeping his head up and eating.  The sling is not a fix all but it does help when there are problems.  We have worked with our own animals using the sling for toenail trimming, ultrasound and weighing.  There are so many possibilities for the sling and it is our customer who can tell us the advantage of having one and what it has been used for.