My first llama patient in vet school was named Annie.  Kinda funny considering my childhood best friend is named Annie.  It just seemed like a funny name for a llama.  Whatever.  From what I remember, Annie was VERY underweight and we were trying to determine the reason.

She was a sweet, generally easy gotin llama.  Sweet meaning she never spit on me, at me or toward me!  Llama spit is the nastiest most vile substance…its basically stomach juice w/ some hay thrown in.  Did I mention you can hear them trying to “work-up” a giant wad of saliva?  This lovely sound is quite pronounced when your head is next to their neck…great way to start the morning.

Dude I looked rough!  I blame it on stress, NO sleep, and horrible eating habits.  But hey I have great memories of clinics.  Right?    Oh and I’m not hugging the llama, I’m holding her still.  Clinician instructions: “Just go in the stall, grab the llama around the neck and watch for spitting.”  Ummm….okay. Next week I’ll have to post the pics of my baby alpacca patient.   CUTE!!!!!

Want more photo fun?   Check out Wordless Wednesday or Seven Clown Circus!

I live in a small town.  This means in order to buy clothes (especially children clothes), house decor, baby stuff (I LOVE my new toilet lid latch for kiddos!) or to just go TARGET-ing, I have to drive an hour.  Don’t get me wrong I LOVE my little southern town, but man do I feel like a country mouse in the city.  More on that another time…

I took backroads on my way to said BIG city!  It was a beautiful day, blue skies, clouds, green grass, cows…ahhhh.  I rounded a bend in the road and noticed what appeared to be a male cardinal in the road:

Male Northern Cardinal

Female Northern Cardinal

I slowed down to make sure he flew away.  At the last moment, he flew up into the trees, and it was then that I saw the female cardinal lying in the middle of the road.

Admittedly, I am a total animal sap.  It truly hurt my heart to see that poor Cardinal checking on his mate.  Bless his heart, I wonder if somehow in his little bird brain he was thinking (with a Southern accent of course) “Caaar-leeeene wake up!  What are you doing in the middle of the road?  You gonna get squarshed.”  And yes, I did name her Carlene the Cardinal.  Sue me.

Northern Cardinals are monogamous, meaning they mate for life.  However, their life expectancy is around one year, so it’s not like they get around to celebrating their 25th anniversary or anything.

When I was baby we lived on a little farm.  Growing up I heard loads of stories about “The Farm.”  The cardinals reminded me of one of my dad’s stories concerning the difference between mama cows and mama goats.  If a goat’s offspring perished, often the doe would seem completely unaware of the deceased kid, and sometimes even traipse across the deceased animal.

Now I like goats.  But that said, I can’t say this surprises me.

Dad told me a particular story about a cow who lost her calf in the middle of winter.  He said that he and mom realized the calf had died around dusk, but decided to bury it in the morning, as the ground was frozen solid.  Well, the momma cow had other ideas.  He said she kept bellowing loudly and walking around the calf.  They went out to check on the cow and she had moved the hay into a ring around her calf.  At that point, Dad decided he would bury the calf.  Frigid temp and hard ground be darned.

Interesting to think about animals and their “connections” to their mates, their young or their “family.”  As a veterinarian, I’ve seen and heard of pets becoming depressed, lethargic, and anorexic in response to the death of their owner or another family pet.

I can’t say for sure what goes on in their little brains.  But, I believe their compassion, love, connectedness, or however you want to describe it goes much deeper than we know.