“Snots”

Posted 23 November, 2007 in Alpaca Health |

“Snots” is the nickname given for the respiratory virus going around these days. I have written more about it and you can read it at  www.desertmtnalpacas.com/respiratory-virus-snots.html.

Here are some thoughts that Tom and I have on the whole thing:

1. No one can say for sure what type of virus it is and if it is only virus affecting all alpacas nationwide. Based on this we do not understand why people have their alpacas and their ranches on lockdown. An example of why we say this:  Earlier this month we went to AlpacaFest West in California. We took 4 of our own alpacas and one from another ranch. To my surprise the four from our ranch arrived with a fever and the one from the other ranch had none. The vet then allowed our alpacas to attend the show stating that the thermometer she used previously was new and not working properly. This left us with doubts, especially since shortly after arriving home two of our alpacas had fevers. A day later they had snotty noses. Eventually all four alpacas that I had taken to the show had snotty noses. All were treated with Naxcel and the ones with fever with Banamine. All the while the alpaca we took from the other ranch and that continued to stay with us never caught the virus. Ok, so maybe that is a fluke and that one alpaca had a better immune system to begin with since she never showed sign of fever to begin with. I guess we will never know if the alpacas caught the virus at the show or actually caught it before going to the show with the initial symptoms appearing at the show in the form of fevers. I have my doubts. However, a friend of ours also went to the show without any alpacas. She never went into any of the alpaca stalls and never even touched an alpaca. After arriving home she didn’t go into any of the stalls until the next morning and after her shower. She wrote to me to advise that her alpacas too had a snotty nose. Hence remaining in lockdown didn’t help her alpacas and she now regretted not taking them to the show. As Dr. Pollard told me by phone, this is a virus that he believed will work itself over to every alpaca ranch one day. Hiding from it won’t be the answer, but to stay aware and treat as quickly as possible.

2. For the ranches that have stated that their alpacas had died from the virus, Tom and I are wondering what went wrong. We have read in the different alpaca sites that one day they were fine and the next they were dead. We wish we could understand this better. What we mean is did they show any symptoms of the virus beforehand? Did they have a snotty nose? Was their temperature taken? How soon before a vet was contacted? There are so many questions unanswered and we believe people can jump to hysterics without understanding the full problem.

3. The days of not quarantining your alpacas are gone. Everyone must take bio-security measures seriously and begin today. For new ranches just beginning it is no longer just thinking of the stall layout by itself. You must also include where your quarantine area will be. Especially with virus’ like the “snots” and BVD. It is just to risky to take chances and allowing your other alpacas and worse case other people’s alpacas that are agisting with you to get ill or die due to careless bio-security practices.  

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