Short and sweet

Lost Creek Ranger Toiyabe
03.03.2011 — 04.04.2011

Toiyabe was found dead in the stall last Monday morning. There was no warning whatsoever, no sign of trauma. She had obviously just passed because the body was still warm and floppy (small animals lose body heat very rapidly).

Toiyabe had gone (with Tokatee, her mom) to see the local vets on Friday for a follow-up exam and referral to OSU for a CT scan preparatory to reconstructive surgery. Both of the vets continually commented on Toiyabe's vigor compared to perfectly normal llamas. Despite her slow weight gain and projected eventual small size as a result, nobody expected that she would not live a normal lifespan since all other systems had to have been properly formed and functioning in order for Toiyabe to live past the first couple of days.

Tokatee is still calling for Toiyabe — every noise MUST be her baby ... every place Tokatee can't access MUST be where her baby is stuck. It's heartbreaking.

Toiyabe's loss has hit me very hard. She had incredible stamina, was always cheerful, and had as wonderful a disposition as a llama can have, and I don't mean the "cooperative sick animal syndrome" either — no, Toiyabe never could go in for the night until she'd played running-from-the-human games for 15-20 minutes.

OSU-VTH is doing the necropsy and although that should give me a definitive diagnosis of Toiyabe's defect (which is still presumed to be partial choanal atresia), it may or may not indicate why she died.

Goodbye, you silly, happy little sprite.

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OSU got the necropsy done in some kind of record time (for them). Toiyabe had (as diagnosed) one completely blocked (not formed) choanal (nose-to-throat) opening, and the other was just a narrow slit ! It's amazing how energetic she was given the severity of her deformity. However, the super-small opening does explain why she was able to nurse but didn't really gain much weight — although the tiny opening made it possible, nursing still could not have been easy for her.

The actual cause of death was pulmonary edema (fluid-filled lungs). In adult llamas, pneumonia is very quickly fatal (they generally just up and die overnight), so she probably didn't suffer very long if at all, and there was nothing that could have been done to prevent it (she was on antibiotics at the time). There was no mention of ingesta (milk or grass) in the lungs, so exactly why the pneumonia developed is (and will remain) a mystery. All other systems and structures were normally formed.