Lenny's Story
As the largest camelid rescue organization in North America, The Llama Sanctuary manages a lot of animals each year, but 2024 is hotting up to be one of the busiest on record. Already this year, 7 llamas and 8 alpacas have been rescued or surrendered to The Sanctuary, including 10 over the last week or so; Lenny and Edie collected last Saturday. Edie is a shy llama/alpaca hybrid. Lenny is an unmanageable, high-energy, intact male of about 15 years and it’s clear his life hasn’t been altogether easy, since his ears appear to have been deliberately cut off.
Sadly, his high
energy status landed him in big trouble on his first night at The
Llama Sanctuary. Sunday morning we found Lenny in distress with a
broken leg! Once we had carried him off the field and transported him
to the Sanctuary Intensive Care facility, we called the emergency vet
to stabilize the broken humerus as much as possible. The vet gave a
very poor prognosis for Lenny, since this type of injury is not
generally accepted as being treatable. But then the vet did not know
about Toby!
An experimental orthotic brace was created for Toby at a cost of around $2000 and we anticipate that Lenny will be travelling the same road to recovery. Several vet callouts will easily push the cost of treatment to over $3000. Once more we lean upon the support of Llama Sanctuary devotees and llama lovers everywhere to help Lenny through this process.
The vet will be back in the next day or so to remove the strapping, take a cast of his leg as a template for a bivalve orthotic brace and then recast the leg to keep it stable whilst the brace is being made.
Toby the Rockstar
A few years ago, Toby the fence-jumping llama, broke his humerus. We discussed his options with K-9 Orthotics, a Canadian company that makes orthotic devices for dogs and small animals and together we came up with a plan to treat Toby’s broken leg using the same method as would be used for a dog. After three months of care, Toby made a fantastic recovery and now joyfully pesters every visitor for cuddles and carrots!
If you broke your humerus (upper arm), the hospital would typically just apply a cast to immobilize the joints above and below the break and you would go about your life. The humerus in a large animal is integral to the musculature of the body and cannot be properly immobilized. Cats and dogs are treatable, because you can apply a cast to the body and you can pick them up and lay them down, but a full body cast on a llama is out of the question and a llama will try to stand by itself, risking further trauma. Toby however, broke this perception that a large animal could not recover from a humeral break and his successful treatment has become a case study, presented at veterinary conferences in North America. Since that time, the same treatment has successfully been applied to a horse, a cow and a 900lb pig. And these are the cases we know about! Toby is a rockstar!
Now Lenny must go through the same treatment, requiring multiple vet visits and lots of handling to keep him comfortable. Your tax-deductible donation not only helps Lenny, but like Toby, can inspire other vets to try this treatment and save the lives of many other animals. This is not just a one-time gift. This is a legacy of care and compassion.
