Diarrhea in Alpaca

[sadie423]

I am new to alpacas. Ours have been with us about a month and a half, their previous farm had very little/no grass and they ate mostly grain/hay. They have been in a yard that had some forage, not a ton, shared with our buck. Who has been fighting worms the past few days. We have been working as fast as we can to get them into their new pasture with more forage and no sick goats. We moved them on Friday night, so they have been in their new pasture for 2 full days now. I noticed this morning an area of really watery diarrhea. I watched on and off all day and finally found out which alpaca is suffering from the diarrhea. He is about 1 yr old, a suri. He had a particularly hard time moving pastures (is rather untrusting and didn't like being haltered. Ran off before I got it off him so I had to catch him the following morning and remove it) so he has had a stressful couple days. He is also in a pasture now- about half an acre of all forage, which is new to his system.

I know all of that stuff- lots of greens, stress, etc can cause digestive upset, but I am also a little worried he picked up something from the goat. But it was really watery. And lots of it. I have ivomec injectable if I need it, and I sprinkled some of my herbal wormer that I use for the goats on their grain today. I am not sure what else I need to do? If it's greens will it subside on it's own once he gets used to it? He was wormed, vaccinated, etc just before he was delivered here.

Thanks
Sarah

 

[purplequeenvt]

My guess is that it is just the change in diet and that it will subside in a few days. It could also be stress. I had a llama that would get diarrhea every time something changed in her life, no matter how small.

It wouldn't hurt to deworm him again. You could also offer him some hay so that he isn't filling up on all that wet stuff.

 

[ksalvagno]

The drastic change in diet could do it. I would get probios into him once a day for at least 5 days. What was he wormed with and how much and when? How much does he weigh?

 

[sadie423]

He was wormed with Quest, I don't know how much. He's standing off to himself this morning. On hand I have safeguard and ivomec and molly's herbal. I have probios and Corid drinking water soln. My husband works for the Farmer's Co-op so he can bring me home most anything tonight too. I don't know how much he weighs for sure but I would estimate around 100 lbs.

 

[ksalvagno]

I would worm him for 3 days in a row with Safeguard. I would probably put his weight more like 120 or 140. You would be surprised how heavy they are. Dose the safeguard at 1cc per 10 lbs and do it for 3 days in a row. I would also give him a shot of Ivomec and that can be done at the same time and then follow up with another shot of Ivomec in 14 days. 1cc per 70 1lbs, so I would just give him 2cc of it. I would inject that and give it SQ. Once you get done with the Safeguard, then do the Corid in the water according to instructions on the label. Do that for 5 days.

You could take a fecal sample in and have it tested too. The above is the shotgun approach to take care of any worms. I would start on the Safeguard and Ivomec right away. You could also give him some BioSponge to help firm up the stools.

Do you have a vet? I would also get some Sulcrafate and give him 1 tablet per 50 lbs twice a day for 14 days. This helps with ulcers. Alpacas get ulcers easily. You dissolve the tablets in water and give it to him orally. Get a dosing syringe, it makes it much easier.