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Rain Scald & Mud Fever |
Rain scald and mud fever are not common problems for llamas
and alpacas, as long as shelter is available for them. However, some
animals are more prone to it than others. One gelding here gets a bit of rain
scald every year between his ears, which we treat with anti bacterial cream.
However, I have seen one extreme case of rain scald and mud fever in an
alpaca. This started off as a rescue - someone was having major
problems and wanted to move away. The herd had to go. I bought
one female but was asked to come over and look at another - the owner hoped
I'd buy her as well.
I was unprepared for what I saw when I arrived. A yearling female was
locked in a small barn with a couple of stud males. When we entered she
wouldn't get up. Eventually we were able to pull her to her feet and I
was horrified to see that all four legs were bare of hair and beet red.
Around her feet was scaly skin, while the rest of the areas were covered
with yellow scabs. Worse yet were her ears. When we got her
outside, I realized that her ears were so thickly covered with scabs, inside
and out, and filled with pus that it was a wonder she could hear anything.
We took her home, and we discovered that she wouldn't eat or drink, and
wouldn't stand up. The prognosis was grim.
We covered her bare spots with anti bacterial cream - almost a whole jar the
first day, then gave her penecillin. We discovered weeping sores around the base of her ears,
dripping with pus.
She had to be force fed for several days. We had no idea when she had
last eaten or drank, so we just slogged on, trying to replace her calories
and keep her hydrated with our
restorative mixture. She was quite thin, and we were reasonably
sure she had never been wormed or given vaccinations before. so we had to
take care of those as well.
She had never been shorn and it was very hot, so we sheared her with
scissors in order to lessen the chance of causing pain to her skin.
The breeder had left the water running so that that animals could lie down
on the wet ground - rather than shearing the animals. We think that
this cria got an initial infection from that, then found it temporarily
soothing to the skin to lie down in the water again, thus making the
condition worse. She still has the habit of lying down in any water
spilled beside the water tank.
Finally one day she started to struggle when we put the cream on her, and
then she started to eat on her own. We knew she was starting to
recover.
Within a few weeks the hair was growing back in and her ears were returning
to normal. She has made a complete recovery.
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| Cria with rain scald and mud fever -
partially shorn |
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Her ear - encrusted with crud |
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Front legs - hair fallen off |
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Back legs - skin bright red |
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Rain scald extends down her face |
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Alpaca two months after treatment |
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Ears and face are healed up |
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Front legs are re-growing hair |
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Back legs have hair |
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Alert and gaining weight |
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