Tiara Kat

Tiara Kat

Woolly Llama Whisperers

4-H Club

BAL A WHIST-O-KAT, Katrina & Gary Capasso

Tiara - The Miracle Baby, owned by Trina Capasso

"Tiara Kat" is probably one of the most beautiful crias ever born on our farm. At one week old she suffered an incredible injury to her left front elbow joint. After x-rays were taken it looked as if she might have a small fracture. She was put in an isolated area with her Mom. After a week went by there was no change and the elbow joint actually started to get hot and swell. Tiara ended up with an infection in the joint and her lameness continued. She is truly a miracle baby and we cannot believe we still have her! Please read the following excerpts from an email I sent to all of the boarders at Dakota Ridge Farm to fill them in on her prognosis after a visit with a large Vet University:

Dianne Martin, Gary and I took Tiara to a local University yesterday for her leg. The prognosis is guarded to grave, but we are going to try a few things to save her. If we had left her at the University for surgery they were not optimistic even with surgery (which would have cost minimally $4000.00).

Her Diagnosis:

1. Severe arthritis and ankylosis, presumably septic - left elbow joint.

2. Sever forelimb/carpus contractural deformity - left front, possible subluxation of the radiocarpal joint - left front.

1. The severe arthritis/ankylosis was most likely caused from the infection (septic). No one knows yet how it started, but we're assuming that it was from the initial injury. The infection "ate" away the cartilage between the bone and now the bone has "fused" together in an incorrect position. Antibiotics may not get rid of the infection. If the infection gets worse it may get into her bloodstream. This will cause her to not want to eat or stand up. That of course means only one thing and we have lost all hope at that point and cannot make her suffer. We are going to give her stronger antibiotics and just hope that she'll have a chance.

2. The second problem is secondary to the first and caused by non-use of the leg. We are going to try and rig up some type of weight to hang on her fetlock area to pull the leg down. They were actually going to "rip" this tendon under anesthesia. They've never done this to a llama before and were worried about breaking the leg. I think we can correct this problem, but need to get started on it asap. If you have any ideas, please pass them along...

Thanks everyone...

With the help of Sharon Lapier, Dianne Martin and Lisa Brown, we did various physical therapies to Tiara and helped her regain strength in the leg. We also hired a professional massage therapist to work on Tiara. Every day we'd give antibiotics, pain meds, ulcer preventative, clean out the infection, apply icthammol, and work on this front leg. Tiara couldn't get her foot any closer than 2-3" to the ground back in December 2004. By March 2005 she started to actually tap the foot on the ground! The boot that we used on Tiara, thanks to Gary's clever idea, was about 3" off the ground. It was a boot made for a llama, but with added rubber mat pieces and foam wrapped with duct tape, it turned into a medical miracle!

More emails from the winter:

"Tiara Kat" is doing well and fighting the good fight..........although there seems to be some swelling in the elbow area again.

We're not sure if the weights on Tiara are working or not, but we are getting her carpal joint to bend more. The weight on her leg is up to .2lbs now (1/4 of a pound). I had thought that I might wrap her knee up with a horse bandage and then some vetrap to give her more support. This will not let her bend her knee though, but she can still lay down with it somewhat straight.

Hi Di!

Glad to have you back in town...

I need to ask you a BIG favor. I'm going to NYC with my family tomorrow to see the Christmas Show and won't be back until late. Is there a possibility that you could give a shot of antibiotics to Tiara tomorrow (Wednesday) afternoon/evening? She is quite the kicker now and you'll probably need Gary to hold her for you. (She kicked the syringe right out of my hand last night and I had to put a new needle on!) The good news is that she's still alive and wild! Gary is going to put new rubber on the weight thing you made as it's deteriorating and filthy from the icthammol. It does help, I feel, in pulling her leg down. THANKS SO MUCH FOR IT...maybe you'll have to patent it??

Hi Taz:

I would do whatever you think you can whenever you can do it. I can hold her by myself and do stuff with her for a few minutes too here and there. Sharon and I worked on her for about 45 mins. last night. She gets really edgy after about 20-30 mins.

I need to get the weight thing put back on her I think too!

xoxoxox

Katrina

Tracy's (the massage therapist) email to Katrina and Katrina's reply:

You're on for next Tuesday at 5:30, then. I'll see if I can bring my little noodle with me -- I know she'd love to meet the llamas and horses too. Looking forward to it!

Hi Tracy...

I hope you had a nice weekend. We rigged up a "llama boot" with some weight on it that goes over Tiara's entire foot and up her cannon bone. She wore it today and it made her keep hitting the ground, so maybe we're making some strides! Let me know your thoughts and we'll go from there. Thank you very much for everything!

Katrina

In December 2004, Dianne Martin was kind enough to make a weight that wrapped around the tendon to pull the leg/shoulder down. It really helped. Then later on Gary transformed a llama boot into a "lift" that was about 3" off the ground. It was a boot made for a llama, but with added rubber mat pieces and foam wrapped with duct tape, it turned into a medical miracle! By March 2005 she started to actually tap the foot on the ground!

Tiara's Boot

Tiara's Leg (before surgery)

Dan Goodyear, of Berry Acres Llamas, stopped by for a visit in early June during the New York Classic show. After looking over and manipulating the leg, he recommended having the tendon cut (in the back of the leg). Our veterinarian, Dr. Teddy Smith Vallone readily accepted the idea and as you'll see in the following photographs, did a very successful surgery only a few weeks later!

In June Tiara's leg was operated on the try to improve movement. Two tendons were cut vertically, which still did not allow the leg to straighten. The muscle was then cut horizontally. Tiara appears to have about 20% improvement in the leg and will hopefully be bearing more weight soon!