CHAPTER 50. Camelid Medicine and Management
Margaret A. Masterson
GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT CAMELIDS
South American camelids have become popular livestock in North America over the past couple decades. The South American camelids consist of four species: the llama, the alpaca, the vicuña, and the guanaco. The vicuña and guanaco are not as popular as the others in North America. The llama is the largest, weighing 325 to 550 lb on average. It has an undercoat with long guard hairs and banana-shaped ears. The alpaca is smaller, averaging 125 to 275 lb. It has two recognized breeds: the suri has fiber that lacks crimp and hangs in ringlets, and the huacya, which has fiber that sticks up from the skin and has crimp.
Llamas are important in South America as pack animals and as meat and fiber animals. Alpacas are the major fiber-producing animals in the Altiplano region. In North America both species are used as companion animals and for showing. Llamas are becoming important as guard animals for small ruminants and alpacas are working toward creating a commercial fiber industry in North America.
VITALS AND TERMS
I. Temperature: 99° to 101.5° F
II. Heart rate
A. Adult: 60 to 80 beats/min
B. Cria: 70 to 90 beats/min
III. Respiratory rate: 20 to 30 breaths/min
IV. C1 contractions (ruminations) 3 to 4/min, weaker than in ruminants
V. Male or stud: Male camelid
VI. Female: Female camelid
VII. Maiden: Young female
VIII. Gelding: Castrated male camelid
IX. Cria: Baby camelid
X. Cush: Term used for sternal recumbency
PHYSICAL RESTRAINT
I. Many domestic camelids are halter trained. They can also be handled in a chute
II. Restraint can often be done by holding them around the neck and applying pressure over the withers to prevent jumping
III. Unruly camelids often respond to grasping the base of the ear as is often done in equine restraint
IV. Camelids can often be herded into a smaller pen by pulling a rope taut between two people and then using it as a movable fence. Most animals will not try to cross the rope
V. Often when a llama or alpaca feels stressed or threatened it will lie down in sternal recumbency, or cush. This position can then be maintained by applying pressure to the withers
VI. Irritated camelids can kick; however, because they lack a hoof, their kick is not as painful as that of a horse or cow
VII. Their most common defense mechanism it spitting, whereby they regurgitate ingesta and “spit” it at the offender. Although their spit has a very offensive odor it is not painful
NUTRITION
I. Body-condition scoring
A. Scale: 1 to 5, with 1 being thin and 5 being overweight
B. Very important because the dense fiber can hide the animals’ true body condition
II. Crias should be weighed daily for the first 2 to 4 weeks of life. This is the only accurate way to be sure they are receiving adequate nutrition
A. Llama crias should gain 1 lb/day
B. Alpaca crias should gain at least 0.5 lb/day
III. Water
A. The most important nutrient
B. Camelids require about 1 to 2 gallons of water per 100 lb/day. This can vary greatly depending on weather and feed intake
IV. Protein requirements vary from 10% to 16% of the dry matter feed, based on growth, gestation, and lactation. Growth and lactation require higher protein levels
V. Energy
A. Requirements are between 61 and 85 kcal metabolizable energy/kg body weight
B. Camelids are considered better at utilizing poor quality forages than are traditional ruminants
C. They will get a significant amount of their nutrition from quality pasture if it is available
D. In general, adults require 66% to 70% of their diet as forage and 30% to 35% as grain or supplement
E. Forages with 10% to 14% crude protein and total digestible nutrients at 55% to 62% are preferable
1. Therefore, grass hays are better than legumes
2. Alfalfa, clovers, and endophyte infected fescues should be avoided or fed at low levels
UNIQUE ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY
I. Split upper lip
II. Figure 8 chewing pattern
III. Fighting teeth
A. The canines and the single upper third incisor (six teeth total)
B. These are sharp, pointy, curved fanglike teeth
C. Erupt in males at 2 to 3 years of age and some older females
D. Males will use these teeth to slice each other’s ears, necks, and testicles
E. These teeth are usually removed in males to prevent them injuring each other. They are removed by cutting the tooth level with the gum, often with obstetrical wire (OB wire)
IV. Three-compartment stomach
A. Compartment 1 (C1) and compartment 2 (C2) are anaerobic fermentation compartments where microorganisms produce microbial protein and volatile fatty acids
B. Compartment 3 (C3) is the true stomach
C. Camelids do chew their cud and have four to seven forestomach contractions per minute
V. Feces is usually pelletted, and animals use a common dung pile
VI. The foot has two digits each with a pad and a toenail
VII. They have true valves in the jugular vein
VIII. Erythrocytes are small and oval. They have a high oxygen-carrying capacity and low viscosity, making them well suited to high altitudes
IX. Crias are dependent on passive immunity through colostrums
VACCINATION
I. Camelids in the United States are generally vaccinated for the following:
A. Clostridium perfringens type C and D and tetanus
B. Rabies (killed) in endemic areas
II. Other optional vaccines, depending on the area and disease situation, include the following:
A. Eight-way clostridial vaccine
B. Leptospirosis
C. Equine herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-1)
D. Escherichia coli
INTERNAL PARASITES
I. Meningeal worm: Parelaphostrongylus tenus
A. White-tailed deer is the primary host; snails and slugs are the intermediary host
B. In aberrant hosts such as camelids, the snail or slug is ingested and the larva is released in the stomach
C. The larva migrates to the spinal cord or brain, where it produces neurologic signs, dependent on its location
D. Common signs are ataxia, lameness, paralysis, recumbency, blindness, and abnormal head position. Secondary complications of being down are common such as pneumonia
E. Death is possible
F. Presumptive diagnosis is based on history, season of the year, and possible eosinophilia in the cerebrospinal fluid
G. Once the animal is down, prognosis is guarded
H. Treatment consists of multiple days of fenbendazole or ivermecterin or both
I. Prevention includes frequent (i.e., every 4 to 6 weeks) dewormings with Ivomec or Dectomax, excluding deer from pastures and avoiding wet pastures where snails and slugs might be present
II. Coccidia
A. Several species of eimeria have been identified in camelids, including Eimeria lamae
B. Most infections (except Eimeria macusaniensis) are self-limiting and cause diarrhea and enteritis only in young animals
C. Diagnosis is based on fecal flotation and identification of oocysts
D. Treatment is with amprolium hydrochloride (Corid) or sulfa drugs
III. Eimeria macusaniensis (E. macusaniensis, E. mac)
A. Coccidian of all ages of camelids
B. Different from E. lamae and others in juveniles
C. Often found in conjunction with other Coccidia spp.
D. Can cause a spectrum of disease ranging from subclinical shedding to severe protein-losing enteropathy and death
E. Signs include lethargy; decreased appetite; severe weight loss; severe watery diarrhea (37%), especially in young animals; “cobblestoning,” or white plaques on intestines; hypoproteinemia, usually without anemia; hypoalbuminemia; and hyperglycemia
F. 50% to 70% of all cases result in death, even with aggressive treatment
G. E. macusaniensis has a long prepatent period, 32 to 40 days after first ingestion. Severe clinical disease may develop before fecal tests are positive for oocysts
H. Treatment includes coccidiostats such as amprolium hydrochloride and sulfa drugs as well as plasma transfusion
I. May want to institute treatment in any severely hypoproteinemic animal
IV. Nematodes
A. Haemonchus, Ostertagia, Trichostrongylus, Strongyloideia, Nematodirus, Camelostrongylus, Cooperia, Capillaria, and Trichurus spp. have all been found in camelids
B. Levels are often low as a result of the animal’s use of the communal dung pile and owners frequently deworming for meningeal worm
C. Parasitism can be a problem in poorly managed pastures or if animals are housed with sheep
D. Treatment is best based on fecal egg counts (Stolls or McMasters) and deworming only when indicated rather than routinely as resistance to dewormers is beginning to become more prevalent in camelids
V. Cestodes: Tapeworms
A. Moniesia spp. and Thysaniezia spp.
C. Treatment is with fenbendazole or praziquantel
VI. Trematodes: Liver flukes
A. Fasciola hepatica is found in the western and southern parts of the United States
B. Snails are the intermediate host
C. Signs can include acute hepatitis or chronic bilistasis with hepatic fibrosis, anemia, edema, and ill thrift
D. Diagnosis is based on fecal sedimentation technique
E. Treatment is with clorsulon or albendazole
INFECTIOUS DISEASE OF CAMELIDS
Camelids are susceptible to many of the same diseases as other domestic animals, including viral diseases like blue tongue, rabies, and rotavirus; bacterial diseases including E. coli, clostridial diseases, tuberculosis, and Johne disease, and many fungal infections.
The following is a list of infectious diseases that have unique presentation or importance in camelid medicine:
I. Bovine viral diarrhea (BVD)
A. Recognized as a disease problem in camelids since at least 2000
B. In cattle BVD can cause abortion at any age. Infection with non-cytopathic strain between 40 and 120 days’ gestation results in a persistently infected calf (PI)
C. Crias infected in utero can become PIs
1. PIs do not mount an immune response to BVD and therefore shed virus their entire life
2. PIs are a major source of acute infection for other alpacas in the herd
D. Signs of acute BVD in camelids are oral ulcers, uncomfortable eating, off feed, death (due to hepatic lipidosis), abortion, stillbirth, and PI crias
E. No animals have been reported to have diarrhea
II. Mycoplasma haemolamae
A. Formally called Eperythrozoon
B. Red blood cell (RBC) parasite
C. Surveys suggest that 25% up to 80% of camelids may be infected
D. If infected, most animals eliminate the disease without signs; however, some become asymptomatic carriers. Some animals, especially if immunocompromised, develop symptoms
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