[Alpacasite] Re: Stubborn internal parasites

Chuck,

This is the kind of question that a primary care physician faces
virtually every week ;-)

The simple answer is that given the treatment is benign and the
animal is otherwise healthy, you can do any of your options and
observe the results. You don't know what you are dealing with and you
don't know for sure if the alpaca got a full dose of treatment the
first time (could have gotten an inactivated or inadequate dose).

Ideally, before proceding I would prefer to have better information
about the infection. If I knew with more certainty what the parasite
was I would have a better idea how to treat it, resistant or not.

Trudy's point about about a compromised immune system is very valid.
Checking a CBC, protein level, and even immunoglobulins could help to
determine if this were a problem.

Finally, if my veterinary collegues are anything like the infectious
disease specialists I consult, if you ask 5 different docs your
question you will likely get 5 different answer (with good reasons
for each different solution!).

My personal take on it is this, if you can't easily get more
information, if the female is otherwise healthy, and if the various
treatments are benign.........I would go with the "throw the kitchen
sink at her" method of treatment, which would be option 5 plus a
third therapy if it were available. My reasoning would be that with
triple therapy, full course treatment you are very unlikely to
produce a new resistant strain (the worm would have to develop or
maintain resistance to 3 different treatments at the same time).
Further, this option is probably cheaper than sending slides off to a
university for further identification or expensive labwork. Plus, if
you do have a resistant worm in this particular female, you have
removed a potential source of a nasty worm from the herd more quickly
than if you waited for more information. See what your vet thinks
about that option.

My 2 cents and the reason why.........

Best of luck,

Neil
A Paca Fun Farm
Mt. Airy, Maryland
Sugarloaf Mountain, Maryland
www.apacafunfarm.com

--- In Alpacasite@yahoogroups.com, "Chuck Rademacher"
<chuck_rademacher@x...> wrote:
>
> Hi all,
>
> As I mentioned previously, I feel like we've almost won the war
against our
> internal parasite problems. We've lost a few battles along the
way, and I
> have one female at the moment that isn't responding to the
prescribed
> treatment.
>
> This girl is seven years old, pregnant, with no cria at foot. She
is in
> good condition with a high body score. She had a fairly high fecal
egg
> count and we gave her the three-day treatment with Oxfen, a "white"
drench
> similar to Panacur. This treatment has worked quite effectively
on 45
> other alpacas in our herd. Three weeks after giving her the three-
day
> treatment, her FEC is through the roof again. My best guess is
that the
> parasites are Haemonchus, but I'm not really qualified to say with
> certainty. The rest of the herd have almost zero FEC's.
>
> Why didn't the three-day treatment work on her? Her FEC wasn't any
higher
> than others where the three-day treatment did work. Is it possible
that her
> internal parasites are resistant and those in the other alpacas are
not? I
> know that she did not spit out any of the drench.
>
> At this point, she is on day two of a multi-day treatment using the
same
> oral drench. Here are my questions:
>
> 1. Should we just give her a repeat of the three-day treatment or
>
> 2. should we give her a five-day treatment or
>
> 3. should we give her a three-day white drench treatment plus a
Dectomax
> injection or
>
> 4. should we give her a five-day white drench treatment plus a
Dectomax
> injection or
>
> 5. would you recommend another course of action.
>
> Our vet recommends the first course of action (#1 above). I prefer
either
> #2 or #3. Ignoring the indicated preferences, what would you do?
>
> Regards,
>
> Chuck Rademacher
> Auckland, New Zealand
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>

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