Health

The first thing to remember when it comes to the health of your alpaca is that prevention is always better than cure! In most cases, unnecessary pain, injury and disease can be prevented through regular veterinary check-ups and making sure your alpaca receive routine health treatments such as vaccination, drenching and vitamin injections.

Second, early detection of a problem is a key part of ensuring a fast and successful recovery, especially as alpacas are very good at hiding health problems. The quicker you are able to detect an alpaca is unwell and seek treatment, the faster the alpaca will likely recover.

Just like you have a family doctor that you see when you are unwell, your alpaca will need their own doctor too - a veterinarian is an animal doctor. It’s a good idea for your family to find out which veterinarian they plan on using before you get your alpacas. Not all veterinary clinics specialise in alpacas, so it is important you find a veterinarian that is experienced at treating farm animals.

Vets that specialise in farm animals like alpacas will usually come to your house instead of you having to transport your alpaca into a veterinary clinic. Once you get a new alpaca, your family should have your chosen vet do a health check-up straight away. Your veterinarian can give any preventative treatments or medication that may be required.

Your veterinarian should also be able to give you lots of advice for properly caring for your alpaca, including their diet and nutrition, how to do regular health examinations, and tips on helping them to settle in. Make sure you ask the veterinarian any questions you have about caring for your alpaca.

Your alpaca will need regular preventative treatments to make sure they do not become sick. This is the easiest way to make sure your alpacas stay healthy.

Drenching (or worming) helps protect alpacas from internal and external parasites, like lice, ticks, mites, and worms. Vaccinations protect animals against the things that can cause illness or disease. Talk to your veterinarian about the vaccinations and supplements (such as Vitamin D) needs of your alpacas.

Your veterinarian will be able to tell you all about what vaccinations and drenching your alpacas require.

Alpacas do not have hooves – they have nails like us! And just like your nails are always growing, so are alpacas.

Foot care is very important in maintaining the health of your alpacas – if their nails are not regularly trimmed, it can be very uncomfortable, can lead to lameness, and/or cause injuries.

When trimming your alpacas’ nails, any dirt stuck in their nails and feet should also be cleaned out. Damp and wet feet can attract bacteria that can lead to foot rot. It’s always good to check and clean their feet frequently.  

A veterinarian can show an adult how to trim your alpacas’ nails so that it’s a quick, easy, painless, and positive experience!

Facial eczema is a common and potentially dangerous disease for animals, that is common in New Zealand (especially in the North island) during the summer and autumn months.

Facial eczema is caused when grazing animals, like alpaca, eat the *spores produced by a certain type of *fungus found in pasture, especially in dead leaf litter. These spores contain a *toxin that travels in the alpaca’s blood stream to their liver. This can make your alpacas very sick and can even lead to death.

Alpaca guardians living in areas affected by facial eczema should do regular pasture spore counts, so they know if and when they need take steps to manage the fungus and spores in their pasture. Adding zinc alpaca nuts or kibble to your alpacas’ diet can help prevent serious effects of facial eczema, and removing dead plant material from your alpacas’ environment, especially when it is warm and humid, is an important step in preventing facial eczema. Talk to your alpaca veterinarian about other ways you can protect your herd from facial eczema.

Glossary:

*spores – a tiny cell, like a seed, of a non-flowering plant.

*fungus – group of organisms that eat organic material i.e. mould, mushrooms, yeast, and toadstools.

*toxin – a poison that can come from a plant or animal.

Vitamin D helps alpacas develop and maintain healthy bones. Alpacas can get some vitamin D from plants, but they also rely on producing vitamin D by the action of UV light on their skin. Rickets is a condition that can happen when an alpaca does not have enough vitamin D. Rickets causes soft and deformed (not properly formed) bones. The first signs of rickets are often lameness and hunched back, followed by weight loss.

Preventing rickets is much better for your alpaca’s welfare than trying to cure it, so talk to your alpaca veterinarian about whether your alpacas need vitamin D supplements and when.

Ryegrass is a grass that can be found in pastures in New Zealand. Ryegrass produces a fungus and if alpacas eat too much of this, they can develop a dangerous disease called staggers. The toxin from the fungus attacks the alpaca’s *central nervous system. The first sign of staggers is a head/neck tremor.

Fortunately, alpaca’s can recover from staggers if they are treated at an early stage. At the first sign of illness, your alpaca must be removed from the affected pasture immediately. They should be fed on lucerne or good quality hay (not made from ryegrass pasture) and provided with water. Then contact your alpaca veterinarian for further treatment advice.

Pasture management is key in preventing rye grass staggers. Over-grazing, meaning your alpaca eat too much of the rye grass, can cause them to graze right down to the base of the plant, where the toxin is much stronger, so care should be taken to move your alpaca around your pastures to keep your pastures as leafy, as possible. Removal of dead plant litter and growing other pasture forage can reduce the amount of rye grass and the toxin your alpaca eats, this is especially important in the summer/dry months.

Glossary:

*central nervous system – The brain controls what an animal thinks and feels, how they learn and remember, and the way they move and communicate. Think of the brain as a computer that controls all the body's functions. The central nervous system is like a network that sends messages back and forth from the brain to different parts of the body. It does this using the spinal cord, which runs from the brain down through the back. 

Not only is grazing a natural alpaca behaviour, but it’s also how alpaca keep their teeth from getting too long.

Alpaca’s teeth continue to grow into adulthood, and some alpacas’ teeth may grow faster than others.

To ensure they do not become overgrown, check your alpacas’ teeth often and talk to your vet if you’re concerned.

An alpaca’s hair or coat is called fleece. Because alpacas do not shed their fleece, it just keeps growing longer and thicker, so it is necessary for their wellbeing to shear them.

Shearing is the process where animals, such as alpacas, have their fleece removed. Shearing is similar to someone getting a buzz cut at a hairdressers or barbers. Shearing alpaca’s thick fleece helps stop alpaca from overheating in the summer, becoming weighed down with fleece, and developing skin conditions and/or other related illnesses.

It is very important to consider the weather conditions of your area when it comes to shearing your alpaca. Alpaca need their fleece when it’s cold, while shearing them helps them to keep cool in the heat. In New Zealand, alpacas are usually shorn in late spring or early summer (ideally November) to avoid them being heat stressed during the warmer months.

Shearing alpacas requires special equipment and skill. Although shearing doesn’t physically hurt or harm alpacas in any way, alpacas do not have flexible spines, so this needs to be taken into account when they’re shorn so that they do not get injured during the process. Therefore, it’s a good idea to hire a professional shearer who is well trained and experienced in shearing and handling alpacas.

Most alpacas don’t particularly enjoy it and some can become very stressed. Knowing your alpacas’ personalities, likes and dislikes, can help you use positive reward based training to get them to use to being shorn and find the experience less stressful.

Just like other animals, alpacas are really good at hiding when they’re sick or in pain.

This is why it is important to know the signs of a healthy and unhealthy alpaca. It’s also key to get to know your alpacas and what kind of behaviours are normal for each of them. If they are doing something that is out of their normal behaviour, this could be a sign that they’re sick or injured.

The best way to catch an illness or injury early is by getting to know your alpacas, checking on them every day, scheduling vet visits, and performing regular health checks. If you suspect anything is wrong, talk to your alpaca veterinarian right away.

Healthy alpacas should be active, social, have a clear coat, eyes, nose, and mouth, as well as toileting and eating normally. Even though alpacas are good at hiding their illness or injuries, there are still signs you can look for. Some of these can include:

• Lethargy (extreme tiredness)
• Moaning
• Teeth grinding
• Odour from the mouth
• Gagging or retching
• Unable to move, stand and/or walk
• Falling over
• Extreme weight loss
• Hunching over
• Falling and/or staggering
• Head shaking
• Drinking more or less water
• Decreased appetite
• Breathing heavily/panting
• Decreased grazing
• Change in normal droppings
• Swollen feet
• Not toileting normally
• Stiff posture
• Discharge from eyes, nose, or mouth
• Sneezing, coughing, fever
• Kicking their own stomach
• Rolling
• Cuts, scabs, abscesses, bleeding, etc.
• Excessive drooling
• Swollen jaw
• Muscle twitches
• Change in dominance
• Lagging (i.e. animals who used to arrive to eat first are now arriving last)

If you ever notice any of these signs, or that your alpaca is behaving differently, contact your alpaca vet immediately. Old and young alpaca can be more vulnerable, so be sure to keep a close eye on them!