Llama drooling, won't eat or drink... Please help!

[1truephoenix]

This morning I went out to feed and found Lucy, one of our llamas standing there chewing cud and foaming at the mouth and drooling. I got ahold of the vet and she told us to check her mouth to see if something was caught and we couldn't see anything, it didn't help that she wasn't very cooperative. She told us to just keep an eye on her. Later in the morning I messaged the vet again to let her know that Lucy still wasn't eating and that she was just wandering around then she would kush in one spot for a little while then get up an go to another spot to kush and chew more cud. She got back to me this afternoon and asked more questions about neurological symptoms... Lucy didn't seem uncoordinated (she walks a little strange since recovering from m-worm a couple years ago) and she didn't act like she was blind. The vet thinks it's possibley an ulcer and we're also treating for PEM just in case as some of her symptoms match PEM subacute symptoms. Tonight she is no longer drooling but she's not chewing cud because she didn't eat all day and I didn't see her drinking. When my wife got home from work tonight, she helped me give Lucy her thiamine shot and shot of injectable pantoprazole both IM which Lucy was not happy about. She wouldn't even take her bedtime snack Graham cracker treat. She seemed like she wanted to eat it but couldn't. If anyone has any insight it would be greatly appreciated.

 

[purplequeenvt]

Llamas are prone to ulcers and they can be tricky to treat.

Has she been under any stress lately? Is she an only llama? If you have other camelids, is she getting picked on? Stress seems to be a trigger for them.

Personally, I’d drench her with a warm, flat dark beer. It can help stimulate the appetite and jump start the rumen.

I haven’t used it on llamas (it’s been almost 10 years since I’ve had any llamas), but I used beer with good success on my sheep.

 

[MuldrowHomeFarm]

@Bruce

 

[MuldrowHomeFarm]

@ksalvagno

 

[MuldrowHomeFarm]

I am tagging a couple that have more experience than I do

 

[MuldrowHomeFarm]

This morning I went out to feed and found Lucy, one of our llamas standing there chewing cud and foaming at the mouth and drooling. I got ahold of the vet and she told us to check her mouth to see if something was caught and we couldn't see anything, it didn't help that she wasn't very cooperative. She told us to just keep an eye on her. Later in the morning I messaged the vet again to let her know that Lucy still wasn't eating and that she was just wandering around then she would kush in one spot for a little while then get up an go to another spot to kush and chew more cud. She got back to me this afternoon and asked more questions about neurological symptoms... Lucy didn't seem uncoordinated (she walks a little strange since recovering from m-worm a couple years ago) and she didn't act like she was blind. The vet thinks it's possibley an ulcer and we're also treating for PEM just in case as some of her symptoms match PEM subacute symptoms. Tonight she is no longer drooling but she's not chewing cud because she didn't eat all day and I didn't see her drinking. When my wife got home from work tonight, she helped me give Lucy her thiamine shot and shot of injectable pantoprazole both IM which Lucy was not happy about. She wouldn't even take her bedtime snack Graham cracker treat. She seemed like she wanted to eat it but couldn't. If anyone has any insight it would be greatly appreciated.

How is Lucy doing?

 

[MuldrowHomeFarm]

Any update on Miss Lucy, @1truephoenix ?

 

[1truephoenix]

Lucy is back to normal... I had removed the clover hay that they had been getting Incase it was causing "slobbers". The next day she was back to normal... We still gave her a thiamine shot and a shot of pantoprazole that day but did not continue as I wasn't convinced it was PEM or ulcers and the shots seemed to be pretty traumatic for her (she has always thrown a fit about getting shots). Thank you all for responding the information and insight is greatly appreciated.

 

[MuldrowHomeFarm]

Wonderful!!!