One of the most common—and frustrating—concerns for alpaca and llama owners is dealing with skin problems. Whether it’s scaly patches, hair loss, or incessant itching, skin issues can be persistent and difficult to resolve without the right approach. There are several potential causes of skin disease in camelids, including: Each condition can present differently, but…
Read moreWhat should you do if you have an alpaca or llama that dies? In this post, I will provide some helpful information about what you should do… Unfortunately, sometimes one of your animals will die. This happens. At the end of life, one might put this down to old age. However, for any unexpected deaths,…
Read moreIf you notice that one of your animals becomes suddenly lame on a forelimb, it is of the utmost importance to have the animal examined by a vet as soon as possible. It will need to be checked for fractures and joint swelling primarily. If fractures are ruled out, an important cause of non-weigh bearing…
Read moreWhy do I need to trim alpaca toenails? Trimming alpaca toenails is something that needs to be done fairly frequently in alpacas. How frequently depends a little on the individual animal and also how soft the ground is. Toenails will wear down more on their own if your animals on are hard ground. Black toenails…
Read morePlacing microchips in camelids is a really useful husbandry skill to learn. As an owner you can place microchips yourself. However, if you are not confident you can always ask your vet to do this for you or show you how! Microchips are used as a means of electronically identifying animals with a unique identifier….
Read moreKey Points A fundamental animal husbandry skill.Perform monthly as a routine procedure, in combination with mucous membrane colour checking. Perform more frequently in problem cases.Score on a scale of 1-10, where 1 is really skinny and 10 is obese. The ideal BCS is 5.5-6/10.Use weighing as well, to enable monitoring of young growing animals and…
Read moreFollowing on from our resource on Body Condition Scoring of Alpacas, this video demonstrates how to assess for anaemia in alpacas by checking mucous membrane colour.
Read moreBackground South American Camelids are susceptible to Vitamin D deficiency. In growing animals, this manifests clinically as rickets: affected animals exhibit stunted growth, angular limb deformities and lameness. They may also be lethargic, have depressed appetites, and may walk with a hunched back due to pain and are typically smaller than age-matched herd mates. Vitamin…
Read moreAlthough one always wishes for a trouble-free birthing season with easy birthings, good mothering and crias that are not only able to nurse, but their mother is able to provide all their nutritional needs, this doesn’t always happen. Occasionally a female dies and leaves an orphan cria or doesn’t have milk, or just doesn’t want…
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If you are a vet and your alpaca or llama client has asked you to collect blood to make plasma for this year’s upcoming cria crop, you will find this online resource really useful. As an advisor to the UK Pet Blood Bank service, together we have created a Camelid Plasma webinar which will provide…
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Plasma is used to treat crias that have failed to suckle sufficient colostrum from their mothers during the first 24 hours of life. This means that they may be deficient in antibodies that they need to protect them from bugs they will face in the first few days and weeks of life. You can check…
Read moreThis section is always being added to. Within each topic below you will find helpful information, how-to videos and free downloads.