[Alpacasite] Stubborn parasites and crusty mouth

Steve,

Thanks for your comments on both of these subjects.

I should have mentioned that we DID give double the sheep dose of Oxfen in
all cases. So, I think we will resort to the five-day treatment.

Regarding the cria with lesions as you suggest. We'll wean him today and
also have a look at his mother's udder.

Regards,

Chuck
-----Original Message-----
From: Alpacasite@yahoogroups.com [mailto:Alpacasite@yahoogroups.com]On
Behalf Of Steve Hull, TimberLake Farms. Inc
Sent: Monday, 12 December 2005 2:15 a.m.
To: Alpacasite@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [Alpacasite] Stubborn internal parasites

Chuck, the dose we use here in the states for fenbendazole - very
similar to oxfendazole (Oxfen) - is 1 ml/10 lbs. I just went out on
the web and there it was recommended to use Oxfen at one ml per 10 kg
(22 lbs) when used in sheep cattle and goats (in your country).

I would increase the Oxfen dose to one ml per ten lbs for three
consecutive days. This is about a doubling of the dose. Then
retest the fecals and make sure you are looking at what you think you
are seeing on the FEC. If you are still positive for FECs and they
are parasites susceptive to Oxfen, then go five consecutive days.

The reason I am recommending the higher dose, but for the standard
interval, is that drugs in this class are very safe. Try to kill the
parasites quickly with a high safe dose, rather than a long period of
treatment at a lower dose. This minimizes your time (3 vs 5 days)
and you can tell you vet that you "followed" his recommendation (but
with a higher dose) and I think you will get this beast. If you
still have a positive, then go for 5 days. Dr. Norm Evans has
mentioned that for some resistant parasites, that sometimes doses of
this compound need to be at even higher doses than the 1 ml/10 lbs.

I would rather go this route first rather than by combing two anti
parasitics at the same time. That can be down the road if need be.

As for crusty mouth, this is very often a viral disease and is often
effectively treated with a mild surface compound containing
chlorhexidine (Nolvasan ointment). Some of the cutaneous oral viral
lesions can be very contagious (think sheep "orf"), so be careful to
wash your hands carefully after treating. I have also found that
putting a bit of Nolvasan ointment on the dam's udder helps a lot
too. She may have a few crusty lesions there. It may be that she
gave it to the cria - or vice versa.

I wash off the cria's mouth with warm water/soft warm towel first and
gently remove the crusty bits (twice a day). Then just a thin film
of the ointment rubbed on the affected area worked well. If I
recall, I did this for about a week and it completely cleared up.

The Fowler book ("blue book") has some good further information on
these lip lesions.

Steve H.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

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