Re: [AlpacaTalk] BVD
In a message dated 10/7/07 10:54:36 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
wyattblack@earthlin
> My best wishes for you, and I am not a vet, so I will be praying you can
> find a good one near you.
> I am here if you want to talk, we lost a preemie cria this year and I know
> how hard it is.
> Slainte~
> Rachelle
>
Thank you Rachelle,
The cattle vet I have been using all these years never had a word to say
about all my losses. It seems crass to talk about money when one's heart aches so
much but the reality is these losses were alos a HUGE financial hit as well.
I purchased a trio 2 yrs ago, 2 females and a male, that I am still trying to
pay off and now one of the females is already dead and both new females have
lost babies. My original female has lost 2 babies (one was 8mos old when he
died and the other was the stillbirth) as well. The first baby born was the
one that has survived but had such a iffy and difficult start. So the problem
has been here from the original pair. The female (Allie) has always been
healthy (I got her very young); the male (Charlie Brown) was constantly having
various health problems and was the reason for every vet call. He has now died.
So I am suspecting him as the source.
I started calling around this summer after my relatively new female died so
suddenly leaving her baby behind nearly dead as well. None of the vets in the
area were interested. I found a new guy in a large animal clinic almost an
hour from here. I had heard the main vet there had some experience with
llamas.....but also had a severe personality "disorder" that makes her extremely hard
to work with. I left a message as to my needs and this young new guy
returned my call. When I told him what had happened and how many I had lost he got
busy doing research and called me back several days later with this BVD info
and suggestion that I test my herd. He was suggesting a skin biopsy.....or a
blood draw which he said was not as accurate and seemed to be confirmed by what
I have read so far.
He said BVD has not been thought to be a problem in camelids but there is
increasing evidence that it is. I had never heard of it but it sounded
plausible. That is when my computer whiz friend got on line and came up with tons of
info and copied and sent to me. I am still trying to read thru it all, but am
horrified at the implications.
My vet has never done a blood draw or even suggested one in all these years.
That was one of my frustrations with him......if I didn't ask for something
it didn't get done. I had to know enough to tell him what to do. When I would
ask him what he thought was going on he would just shrug his shoulders and a
say a bad run of luck.
Anyway, this summer when this info first came to me it was blistering hot and
everyone was hanging on by a thread. I expected to lose others to heat
stress and was not going to do a thing to increase their stress by having them
caught for an exam or blood draw. We were just trying to survive the summer.
Now that fall is here and it is trying to cool off (still 89 here the past
few weeks and into this week) it is time for me to get back to deciding what to
do. So I guess I will get him out here. He has no experience with camelids
but has shown he is willing to learn and interested enough to put some time
into research. I am sure being new and probably not very busy helped. But he
made calls as well and gathered info for me. He bemoaned the fact that the
cattle people in this area never want to have their cows tested for anything; so
we have no info on the prevalence in this area of BVD. He suggested a few
other possibilities that I don't remember now but when he called back he had been
able to rule them out from his phone conversations and research.
I guess I am afraid to have the testing done. What do I do if my remaining
ones (2 breeding females - both of whom have had small babies that have not
made it; 1 young unproven stud - the stud that fathered all the babies is the one
that laid down and died in January; and 1 gelding that is the only surviving
baby of my original female (still here) and the deceased male. He is the baby
that had so much trouble when born but pulled thru) test positive? I know I
have to know, but what does one do if they test positive?
Thanks, Janice
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posted by Chaddo at 8:08 AM
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