Do Alpacas Need Worming?
As a General rule – Alpacas are also susceptible to getting affected by worms like sheep and other domesticated animals. The breeding alpacas must be vaccinated against worms before sending them to the herd. There are various tests for liver fluke and other parasitic presence. The parasite egg count in healthy adult llamas or young alpacas will tell you about the gravity of their condition.
Panacur wormer for alpacas is a great drug, but you must use it on vet recommendation. These hardy animals may repel external parasites, but for internal ones, they are pretty vulnerable. The parasite drug resistance is also an issue in these herd animals. Male alpacas should be kept away from the female until you get them tested for these tiny creatures.
What Worms do Alpacas Need Worming For? – Check With Your Local Vet
Worms are responsible for weight loss in animals, and the most common parasite is a meningeal worm for herd animals. To control parasites, you must erect a deer-proof fence to ward off white-tailed deer. The liver fluke might have low egg counts expected. When your alpacas are suffering from these tiny creatures, you should focus on providing good quality hay.
Do Alpacas Need Worming – The orchard grass infested with feces of other animals is not a good choice. The best approach against parasites is periodic fecal exams. Many tiny creatures show increasingly diagnosing resistance, but their presence can be harmful to both the baby and the mother in pregnant females. You should provide frozen colostrum to cria, which is helpful for most alpacas in such situations.
Following is the list of the worms and parasites that alpacas have to suffer in their life:
- Meningeal Worms
- Controltips
- Coccidia
- CYSTICERCOSIS
- Tapeworm
- Hemonchosis
- CRYPTOSPORIDIUM
What Wormer do you use for Alpacas?
When you have high or low egg counts in fecal samples or follow up fecal exam, you cannot start giving any medicine to your animals. Vet recommendation is the essential thing that you need for anthelmintic drugs. Meningeal worm and liver fluke mostly affect the normal appetite of grownup and new cria.
Following is the list of most prescribed de-wormers for alpaca:
- Ivermectin
- Baycox Bovis
- Albendazole (Valbazen)
- Doramectin (Dectomax)
- Fenbendazole
To fight parasite problems, you need to identify the kind of type of these creatures, whether they are meningeal worm categories or some other types of worms. The main problem parasites cause in the herd is weight loss immune deficiency in alpacas of 3 months of age to adults. The worming medicines must be used with care under vet instructions.
Meningeal Worm Symptoms – Medicine
Meningeal worm infection is not like a liver fluke in alpacas. When your alpaca suffers from these worms, their body condition changes slower than it does in liver fluke. These parasites will affect the body weight, and you will see weight loss in alpaca. The meningeal worm can transit to other animals in the herd as it does to sheep and other animals. If you are worried about the good health of your herd and your animals, keep a vigilant eye on the following symptoms and consider the use of the medicine.
Symptoms
- Head tilt
- Internal trauma
- Internal inflammation
- Arching of the neck
- Gradual weight loss
- Incoordination
- Difficulty getting up
Medicine
- Anthelmintics
- Steroids
- Supportive therapies
- Levamisole
- Ivermectin
- Albendazole
Prevention of meningeal worms
Meningeal worm prevention is better than seeing your alpaca suffer. The meningeal worm symptoms are easy to diagnose. You need to provide medication through injection in the fight against the meningeal worm. Sheep and white-tailed deer could affect the good health and body condition of your alpaca. A change in alpaca bodyweight could be because of meningeal worm infection. That’s why you should administer Ivermectin or Doramectin after every 30 to 45 days.
Controltips – Medicine
Meningeal parasites and other worms can cause weight loss and affect the body condition of an alpaca. When you are worried about the good health of your herd, keeping an eye on their body weight is the best thing you can do. You can use Control tips to protect your alpacas from meningeal and other worms.
Coccidia – Medicine
Worms have a direct relation with the weight loss of sheep and alpacas. The good health of your alpaca doesn’t necessarily mean the absence of worms. The body condition and body weight remains good at the begging of worm infestation. That’s why you should use Corid™ (Amprolium) to stop the reproduction of Coccidia in the early stage.
Cysticercosis– Medicine
0.2 mg/kg Ivermectin is the safest dosage prescribed by vets. When you are worried about your herd health against CYSTICERCOSIS. Using this medication will increase their health and lower the infestation rate in non-affected alpacas. For an alpaca, medicine and care are the most important things.
Tapeworm – Medicine
The most annoying parasites for alpacas and other members of the herd are tapeworms. These parasites can cause severe damage to the intestinal tract and affect the health of your alpaca seriously. You need to administer Albendazole (e.g., Valbezen) to the alpaca in case of tapeworms.
Haemonchus – Medicine
Corid™ (Amprolium) is a trusted medicine to ward off the symptoms and growth of this category of the worm. The alpaca needs regular administration of this drug. You must consult your vet before giving this medicine to alpacas.
Roundworms – Medicine
Ivermectin or doramectin is medicine and preventive drug for alpacas against roundworms. You need to provide your alpacas with the injection after every 30 to 40 days.
Cryptosporidium – Medicine
Flunixin Meglumine, along with vitamin A/D/E/B complex, is great for alpacas suffering from these tiny creatures. You must take care of every single alpaca if you find any presence of these parasites.
How do you Deworm alpacas?
Liver fluke is the most dangerous one in the parasite category, then come the meningeal worm. The tiny creature from white-tailed deer affects spinal nerves and affects the intermediate host. The deworming medication must be given twice a year to individual animals. The birth weight of cria must be noted, especially in the winter months, to know if they lose weight.
A blood sample is not the only test for alpacas and other species; you can also get a fecal test for small ruminants to control the increased risk of worms in these animals. The weight loss will make it difficult to keep straight legs in the same position.
How often do you Deworm alpacas?
Internal parasites and worms are not easy to diagnose. To eliminate these worms, you need vet prescribed medication. But twice a year, testing is a must thing for the breeders. Meningeal worm infection can also herds from other farms due to rain or other sources. The deworming efficacy depends on your management practices and efforts tailored specifically for alpacas and their needs.
Sexual maturity is also an important factor that you must keep in mind in the medication process for obvious reasons, of course. When the animals show ringworm presence, things could get out of control a bit. White-tailed deer parasites, meningeal worm, and liver fluke is the most common one to affect alpaca. The medication for these tiny creatures is not a supplement you can give to your alpacas at your discretion.
Do you Worm Crias?
Guinea hens can transfer to cria as the meningeal worm infection does. You need to kill snails to prevent parasites from white-tailed deer. The individual farm must be given treatment to prevent adult and newborn animals from a liver fluke, meningeal worm, and gastrointestinal parasites.
To protect the central nervous system of newborns for their entire life cycle, you must save them from internal parasites. The testing for intestinal parasites is not difficult. And you should also protect medicine to your crias against worms. The limited stocking density will prevent heat stress in the alpacas.
Worm Medicines especially for the United States?
Parasite control will include guinea hens removal; you will need to kill snails and save your alpacas from heat stress. The central nervous system and spinal cord can get highly damaged because of these vicious creatures. Stocking density according to the farm size is an excellent way to manage diseases and their spread. The intestinal parasites, meningeal worm, and liver fluke can be treated with the help of the following medicines for your animals.
- Avermectins (e.g., Ivomec, Dectomax)
- Albendazole (e.g., Valbezen)
- Fenbendazole (e.g., Panacur, Safeguard)
Worm Medicines especially for the United Kingdom?
Most of the time, the weather conditions in the United Kingdom remain quite damp and offer a suitable environment for meningeal worms and other categories` life cycle alpacas and other animals are also susceptible to gastrointestinal parasites and liver fluke. Parasite control with appropriate measures is essential for every individual farm and breeder. The spinal cord infection and damage to the alpaca could lead to death.
The medicines used for deworming in the United Kingdom are:
- Avermectins (e.g., Ivomec, Dectomax)
- Albendazole (e.g., Valbezen)
- Fenbendazole (e.g., Panacur, Safeguard)
Worm Medicines especially for Australia?
In many places in Australia, the weather is a bit harsh, and you need to provide ample water to alpacas. Instead of the big reservoir or open-source, the use of water buckets for animals can reduce the risk of meningeal worm and liver fluke. You can use measures against parasite control to save the spinal cord, CNS, and gastrointestinal health of every alpaca on the farm. The use of the following medicine will improve the health of your alpacas in Australia.
- Avermectins (e.g., Ivomec, Dectomax)
- Albendazole (e.g., Valbezen)
- Fenbendazole (e.g., Panacur, Safeguard)
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Final Thoughts
Meningeal worm and liver fluke are the most common and disastrous parasites that affect most of the alpacas and llamas. The responsible way will require dosing of vet recommended medicine and regular testing. The animals should be given a clean water buckets with fresh water to reduce the risk of these creatures.
