# Constipated Alpaca?



## alpacamom (Jan 28, 2007)

I think there is something wrong with one of our girls. She hasn't eaten much yesterday or today, seems to strain at the poop pile (I haven't seen her poop in about 24 hours, but she is still peeing) and will stand there on the pile for 30+ minutes. She doesn't seem to be straining this entire time, but just assuming the position for that long. Her stream doesn't seem to have as much force as the others have, either. When she isn't at the poop pile, she's kushed and will let us come up to her and scritch her neck. Not normal behaviour for her as she will usually move away from us if we come up to her to scritch her neck. I was able to squat down next to her, talk to her, scritch her neck and touch her anywhere I wanted to. 

I'll put a call in to the vet in the morning, but is there anything else I can do? What could be wrong? She's an older girl...about 14 years old, not pregnant (has polycycstic ovaries and has never carried a pregnancy to term), and has only been on our farm since December 16. She gets 1 1/4 cups of Dr. Evans maintenance every morning and has Stillwater minerals, grass hay, and clean water available at all times. Other than calling the vet, what would you do?


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## carellama (Nov 12, 2007)

SHe definitely has something going on. I wish they could talk and tell you where it hurts but all we can do is trial and error. Mineral will dislodge a blockage, if that is what it is. Take rectal temperature, should be no more that 101 to be normal. That will tell you something. If has a temp blockage is not it. Good Luck


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## alpacamom (Jan 28, 2007)

Thanks for that info! I'm going to run out and check on her in a couple minutes, so I'll take her temp then so I have that info when I call the vet.


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## Annie in MN (Oct 15, 2002)

Has she been under any stress besides the fact that she is new to your farm? Is she at the bottom of the eating chain? Is it possible that she is being crowded out at feeding time? Has she been on m-worm prevention? No lameness, even a slight dragging of the hind legs? Have you seen her chewing her cud? 

Please let us know what the vet says. I am worried about your alpaca! (I just lost one of my llamas, so maybe I'm overly sensitive right now.)


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## alpacamom (Jan 28, 2007)

Nope, no stress, just the really cold weather. I'd say that she isn't very assertive when it comes to food, but she doesn't usually have a problem sticking her head in there and eating anyway. What would she be getting for m-worm prevention? We gave her Ivermectin at the beginning of January, but that's it so far. She's not really dragging her back legs, but she is walking kinda stiff-legged and prefers not to get around a lot. She'd rather kush or just stand in one spot. I haven't seen her chewing her cud either. When I took her temp this morning, it was 98* and I took it twice just to make sure I did it right. She just stayed in one spot and didn't fuss at all with me taking her temp. She seemed to be shivering a little after awhile, so I put a coat on her and she wasn't shivering anymore when I went in there after dinner. 

I'm so sorry you lost one of your llamas! :hugs: I don't blame you for being very sensitive right now! Llamas were my first love and I would love to have a few. Thanks for your help and I'll let you know what the vet says!


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## alpacamom (Jan 28, 2007)

Update Wednesday: K seems much more normal today. She got up when ds and I went in to chore this morning, but we got her temp and it was 98.8*. She was walking around not as stiff as she looked the past couple days, looked like she wasn't depressed, and she had her head in the hay bucket. Her eyes were goopy, so ds wiped them out and I put Terramycin in them, but we got her moving around and she actually wanted to hang out with the other alpacas and she even wanted to go outside when we opened up the big door. 

I still put in a call to the vet with all my observations and he said that we were observing her well and that was important and very good, so just keep an eye on her another day and if she continues to get better, we won't worry about it, but if she gets worse, call him right away. He thinks she may have just had a virus and they usually take about 3 days to get out of their systems. I'm sooooo relieved!!! Thanks for your help here! I really appreciate it!


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## Ross (May 9, 2002)

Thanks for the updates!


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