RE: [AlpacaTalk] Copper Boluses
Well, here’s the thing. We had a yearling Suri alpaca show signs of illness last November. My husband told me at 5pm that this girl had been cushed at the hay bin and stayed inside the barn while everyone else went out. That isn’t normal. I went to check on her and couldn’t get her to stand up. We had to pick her up. I took her temperature and it was low—she was cold. We fed her some warm grain and brought her into the office with the heat. She did eat a bit. Called the vet and she said put a coat on her and keep her warm. We moved her back out to the penned area and hung a brooder light that I use for young ones when the weather is cold. The vet would be by at 8am the next morning.
I had a prior commitment and left my husband home with her. When I got home at 10:30, he said he had checked on her every hour and she seemed better but at 10pm she was dead.
The next morning the vet took a look at her – she was anemic and we sent a fecal in. We didn’t do a necropsy, but I regret that now. The fecal showed brown stomach worms and BPole.
After that, we ran fecals on several and checked eyelids, lips, body monitoring, etc. NONE came back with BPole. The worst we had was a light load of strongyle and a light load of coccidian. We treated them all.
I guess my fear of BP is showing because this happened so fast and furious.
This yearling’s 1st birthday was the day after she died. L
I am not planning into adventuring into boluses with the alpacas. I just wanted to find out if there were farms doing it. My mini Nubian goats were copper bolused as babies, and I intend to continue with them. Just hearing that the copper is a deterrent for BP made me have a knee jerk reaction to the idea of treating the alpacas.
Thanks for your reply and concern, but no worries. I am not shoving anything down their throats at the moment!
Laura
Laura Roberts
R Half Pint Farm
From:
Sent: Sunday, May 27, 2012 1:06 PM
To:
Subject: Re: [AlpacaTalk] Copper Boluses
Hi Laura, The number of things that play part to copper toxicity are complex.The c.Boluses from what I read is only going to cover barber pole worm.The first question after that is:Are you having problems with b.pole,like high fecal counts,anemia alpacas or even deaths and chemical wormers are not effectively controling the issue. Due to all the factors age,level of copper in feed,acitidity of soil,amount of copper intake as youngsters(young obsorb more copper),cop levels in hay,minerals used,draught conditions,even cop water pipes,levels of zinc,and the list goes on much farther then that. How would you ever begin to determine these factors on your herd,it would have to be per animal,The risk to me is way to high. Now if I had animals dying of barber pole and determined by nycropsy that is cause of death.I would do fecals and blood work to determine who in my herd was at risk and nothing else was working then perhaps I would risk the copper as a last stitch effort to save the indivual at risk of dying from barber pole. I would not treat the entire herd with copper boluse.it appears to be very effective in goats for barber pole worm and it is considered safe used on goats from what I have read.Sheep like Alpacas are subject to copper toxicity and it seems to be a last stitch effort to save a sheep like it would be in alpacas. I would not at this time use it on my herd,easy for me to say because I am not having an issue with barbe pole worm.just my thoughts! I am not a vet,I know a few and I have read some studies.I have never used it myself on any livestock.I would possibly used it on goats if need be.I will pose this question on other lists and see what comes back!!Tina Travis in
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From: "Laura A. Roberts" <laura0554@hughes.net>
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Date: Sun, 27 May 2012 11:08:15 -0400
To: <
ReplyTo:
Subject: [AlpacaTalk] Copper Boluses
Hi,
I am beginning a miniature dairy goat herd and have learned about
copper boluses for parasite control. The theory behind them sounds
excellent and with Barber Pole worms being such a threat, it made me wonder
if alpacas and/or llamas could handle them.
I am interested in hearing from anyone who has actually used copper
boluses on their camelids. I realize it is a risky venture if done
improperly in the wrong amount and copper toxicity is a huge issue, but if
anyone has used them, I would like to hear of their experience.
Thanks, folks!
Laura
Laura Roberts
R Half Pint Farm
posted by Chaddo at 1:29 PM
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