Sad day, one of friends Llamas died giving birth......

[chickenzoo]

We have been happy with the birth of the little black cria, but today my friend lost her white female while she tried to give birth. It stormed really bad here last night and pounding rain. My friend had to go to work early so I went to check on the white llama female. She seemed uncomfortable but no signs that she had given birth at night and her stomach was still big. I felt around her belly,it felt hard. Her area around the vulva was soft . I stayed awhile but knew if they were anything like horses they would hold it till I was gone, so I left and came back about an hour ago to check on her. She was dead. I saw the placenta nearby but the baby had not come out the birth canal. She was still warm but her eyes were glazed over and I figure she had passed only a short time. I put my hand in and felt the babies head and mouth, but no movement. Nothing I could grab. I think she passed the placenta first and that cut off the lifeline to the baby...... correct? I wish I could have done more. What could have caused this? Do crias come out like horses, legs first?

 

[ksalvagno]

So sorry to hear about it. Most of the time you see a nose first then the feet.

There probably was a dystocia and the llama couldn't get the cria out on her own. After a while the placenta does detach and it was probably the easier thing to come out when she was pushing. But honestly with not being there, I have no idea. There are so many different reasons.

You can stay for the birth with llamas and alpacas. I do it all the time. They don't hold them back. I see quite a few dystocias and like to be there to assist if needed or get the vet out quickly if it is bad.

 

[Mama&thePeeps]

How tragic. Sorry to read this.

 

[MissDanni]

Wow that is truly heartbreaking....
You poor thing, you must have been at a complete loss to find such a terrible thing had happened.
Very sorry to hear it.

 

[Chirpy]

I just saw this and wanted to say how sorry I am. Losing a cria is terrible enough.. losing momma also would be just awful.

Crias "should" be born with their front legs on either side of their head. You will see the nose and then within a few minutes the front feet will also be there; or, you'll see the feet and then a few minutes later the nose will show up.

There is no way to know if you could have helped if you'd been there... don't beat yourself up over that, if you still are. It's very possible that the cria was just too large to be delivered or something else that wasn't fixable by anyone.

If you are ever in that situation in the future and can't grab anything you may have to push the cria back into the uterus (very slowly and carefully) and then - feeling around - rearrange the baby and then use the front legs to help pull it out. I've watched the vet do this with an Alpaca and he was able to save both the momma and baby after the momma being in hard labor for well over three hours!

Again... I'm very sorry.