8 month old cria down - dying -- pls help! -- maybe it's the tree!

[Emmetts Dairy]

Im so sorry....it happened soo fast...???

 

[mully]

So sorry you lost him !!! God Bless!!

 

[Shiloh Acres]

Thanks for trying to help Karen. I hope your expectant alpaca is doing well.

And thanks to everyone for your kind words. I do appreciate it.

I've been over it a thousand times in my mind. In case it WAS worms, I'll get some Cydectin in the female as soon as I do a little research.

It did happen so fast though, with no warning of anything. I didn't see as much of him yesterday but he's always tagging behind me and looking over my shoulder. I run my hands over him every day or two and check under all that wool. I get a good look at his face and see him at the poo pile and urinating. I never saw ANYthing that concerned me recently.

I'm leaning toward poison for that reason. Not sure if it's a reasonable assumption. Yesterday a friend broke off a piece of that tree -- small stem with a few leaves -- and he and the goats ate a few leaves. They didn't finish it. The goats are fine. And I found a young tree of that type growing in the pasture. He's always had access to it. I can't see that any of the animals have been browsing this tree.

I found one source that cites the seeds as poison in large doses. The berries are a food source for birds. I don't even see seeds or berries on the tree right now. Maybe it's poison to llamas in particular. I don't know. I just don't know what else to think. I'll be cutting the sapling out of the pasture in the morning and monitoring to hopefully prevent more from growing just in case.

From here I think I need to look for more vets (one was closed on Thursdays, the other had no vets available and don't do visits). More importantly, I need to assemble more of a medicine cabinet for the animals. I have various things already but it seems I never have what I need. I can't believe I couldn't even find charcoal. I used to keep it on hand to treat myself.

I hope the female will be ok. She acted as though she didn't really have much use for him and only tolerated him, but he was her "herd". They shared the deeply shaded spot at the back of the pasture. That's where I found him. She stayed with him while he was down and spit the goats away. After he died she moved to another area and hasn't been back to her spot. I feel sorry for her too. But I sure am going to miss him myself.

Thanks again, everyone.

 

[Mama&thePeeps]

Oh, my. I'm so very sorry to read this.

 

[Shootingstars]

I just wanted to add my hugs and tell you I am sorry!

 

[ksalvagno]

The pregnant female ended up having a bladder infection. So some antibiotics and we are good.

It really is so hard to say what could have happened. If the female llama hasn't been wormed yet, it certainly wouldn't hurt to worm her. Also if you have whitetail deer, the fall months are good months to worm with an Ivomec product (not sure if Cydectin works on Meningeal Worm). Meningeal Worm is more prevalent in the fall/winter months when the deer are more active.

 

[MrsCountryChick]

So sorry of your loss. It's the worst to loose a beloved pet of any kind, even if it is a larger animal... I myself get so attached that it's aweful when something happens to them.

 

[Shiloh Acres]

Thank you all again for the kind words. I haven't been here in a little while. Working now.

I do still miss the little guy. The female seems to have adjusted. But thank you all so much.

 

[Whispering Winds]

So sorry for your loss, I understand. I lost two Alpacas this summer and two babies. . . broke my heart. The male had the Spinose ticks, if I am spelling them right and the female had the barber pole worm and cocci. I have 7 others and treated them with a horse wormer, 1200# dosage for the adults and 900#'s for my yearlings. Didn't make them sick, did it twice this month. One of my old girls tested positive for both, because she was so thin I was worried and my friend who has a huge herd told me to take a stool sample into the vet and so glad i did. She is sorta putting the weight back on, but read on the Alpaca site that superior senior horse feed is good and will not build up a copper toxicity in them. So, going to get a bag of that and give it to her every other day in her chow. They get very good Alfalfa hay, and think with our crazy weather I am going to feed them hay year round. Our pasture needs to be limed and seeded too, so have that on the list for next early spring. I know the mineral blocks are very important too, and I need to go pick up two more as they chewed the last two down to nothing!!

The barber pole worms do not show up in their stool, it looks normal. Google them, and read up because I guess sheep and goats have them across the country. My little herd is on the 21 day treatment for cocci now, in their water, so will take another sample of everyone in in 3-4 weeks and see what happens.

Good luck with your other Llama!! Is this the only one you have now? Gonna have to get another one to keep the lonely one company!!!