Possible Barberpole- we lost one

[sadie423]

We are fighting a case of (possible, not confirmed) barberpole worm. We are new to alpacas, but we lost one last night after finding him 2 days ago on the ground. And not moving. We got him up and he stood and walked away. We dosed him with Ivomec injectable, gave hims probios and checked his eyes- which were very pale. He made it through the night, and we found a knowledgeable vet who was optimistic since the ivomec worked on the goat (who they shared a pasture with for a month). We gave him redcell Saturday and Sunday. He was eating good- grain and hay- and his eyes were pinking up. He still had little energy though, but seemed to be improving. Last night we found him about 8, weak in the neck and refusing food and his eyes were back to white. We found a vet hospital who could do a transfusion, which was 2 hrs away. They had a donor, we didn't think the outlook was good but we tried to take him anyway. He didn't make it out of the state.

We have 4 others. We have given them all ivomec, and are picking up Quest. Should I go ahead and give the quest now? I also gave Midnight, the one we lost, LA200 as a last resort last night in hopes it might do something if it wasn't barberpole....All I have read in the past night say Quest is better for this worm. Can anyone give me a dose on this? And maybe the best way to estimate weight?

I have a 9 month old- est around 70lb, my husband can hold him and he is similar in weight to my 10 yr old
2 that are around 18 months, I would put maybe 150?
And one who is big and 7 yrs old, I have been dosing him at 200 lbs

Thanks for any advice. We are sending fecals, but I don't want to wait until they come back to treat.

 

[ksalvagno]

Barberpole is kind of new to alpacas. They have not been affected by it before. Last year was the first year of hearing about cases of Barberpole in alpacas. In Ohio we are dosing Ivomec at 1cc per 70 lbs injected. For barberpole, you would need to give it orally and I don't know of a dose for oral in alpacas. I would probably dose it at 1cc per 40 lbs orally. I have never used Quest so I don't know dosages. I would contact vets like Dr David Anderson at Kansas State University or Dr Norm Evans in Kentucky or even Cornell University in New York.

You would be surprised how heavy an alpaca is. It is better to overdose than underdose. I think there is a tape you can buy to get an estimated weight. I have a livestock scale so I can get a correct weight on my animals.

 

[Whispering Winds]

A friend brought back a large herd of Alpacas from Maryland 3 summers ago and I bought a bred female Suri with a cria at her side. We were good that first year, wormed them as usual, no problems. The following summer, in July, hot as blazes I come home and the little girl was down with heat stroke and while I was dealing with her I looked over and her mom was down. I thought that was heat stroke too, but soon realized that it was something different. My friend drove over from Missouri and we loaded this big Alpaca in the back seat of my Honda Civic and took her to the U of I, about 2 hours away. She went down fast when we got there; had been told the fetus was at least 11 months at that time, according to breeding schedule, so they did a c-section to try to save the baby and it was a 5 month fetus, so had to put both of them down. It was the barberpole worm, so the whole herd had to be wormed with horse wormer, and we didn't have any more issues. I think, and so does the other Midwestern Alpaca people I have talked too, that they actually came from the East coast, as we didn't even know what they were, until this happened and that whole herd was infected. Lost a VERY $$ animal, and a little baby. Sad times.