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Skin problems
Hi all,
We have a female, imported from Chile, that have always had problems with some areas of her body. We feel we have tried quite a few remedies and we have done some tests on her skin (scraping, for instance), but cannot seem to get the problem under control.
We have improved the situation for her feet. Where she used to have bare skin around her ankles and toes, she now have fleece. The insides of her legs, thighs and some parts of her stomach area are bare or almost bare. Her skin is really rough in some areas, but most of the skin gets rough if we do not soften the skin with oil or cream.
We have tried:
Eprinex (which we think might have worked to get her feet fleeced over again)
Dectomax (injection)
Nu-Stock
Safeguard spray
Moisturizing cream (aloe vera and others, just to soften the skin)
We have tested for mites, but the laboratory didn't find any.
She was one of our first alpacas, and we love her dearly. She is extremely patient when we treat her. We are a bit worried that the Norwegian winter might be a bit cold for an alpaca with too many bare areas.
Where do we go next in her treatment?
Thanks.
We have a female, imported from Chile, that have always had problems with some areas of her body. We feel we have tried quite a few remedies and we have done some tests on her skin (scraping, for instance), but cannot seem to get the problem under control.
We have improved the situation for her feet. Where she used to have bare skin around her ankles and toes, she now have fleece. The insides of her legs, thighs and some parts of her stomach area are bare or almost bare. Her skin is really rough in some areas, but most of the skin gets rough if we do not soften the skin with oil or cream.
We have tried:
Eprinex (which we think might have worked to get her feet fleeced over again)
Dectomax (injection)
Nu-Stock
Safeguard spray
Moisturizing cream (aloe vera and others, just to soften the skin)
We have tested for mites, but the laboratory didn't find any.
She was one of our first alpacas, and we love her dearly. She is extremely patient when we treat her. We are a bit worried that the Norwegian winter might be a bit cold for an alpaca with too many bare areas.
Where do we go next in her treatment?
Thanks.
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Jamie Clark on -
Sometimes even a skin scrape can come up neg even if the animal does in fact have mites. Sometimes they burrow so deep into the skin that just scraping the surface doesn't get to them. Try Ivomec- 2cc/75 lbs is the external parasite dosage. Once a week for 4 weeks. With the Ivomec injections, use Witche's Brew as a topical every other day for 2 weeks. Rest two weeks then apply every other day for another 2 weeks. Usually clears it up pretty quickly. It also looks like the skin could have a staph infection. Does it puss up or get pustules? Might be good to start her on Nuflor just in case. 6cc/100lbs every 5 days for 5 treatments. Even if it is not Staph, mites can cause secondary skin infections which nuflor will take care of too. Hope I have helped. Here's a link that may help...it also has the witches brew formula. We have modified how we treat mites since the article below was written, so what I have written here is the current treatment protocol.
http://www.alpacas.com/AlpacaLibrary/AlpacaSkinProblems.aspx
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Permalink Reply by Bonnie Klingman----Heaven's Gate Alpacas on -
Jamie,
Hi!
I was wondering can you use this on a pregnant female?
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Permalink Reply by Jamie Clark on
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Hello Bonnie! We do use it on our pregnant females and have not had any problems. I have heard other breeders who prefer not to use it on pregnant females because they heard it wasn't safe. I have probably treated a little over 100 pregnant females at different farms here in the Northwest with Witches Brew and Ivomec without any issues, so for me, I think it is fine. :)
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Permalink Reply by Diane Pedrotte on -
Hi Rolf,
I don't know if this will help you since you are in Norway and I don't know if you can get this product there. I have a friend with a female that sounds just like yours, all the same area too. She's done the skin scrapings and tried everything to help relieve this poor girls skin condition. One day she was in the barn putting some of Burts Bees Res-Q Ointment on her hands and she thought 'Why not try this on my alpaca?' She put some on her ears, stomach and inner thighs. She did this every other day. After just one treatment she could feel the difference in the skin and after just a few applications she now has hair growing in those areas.
You can read about the product on the Burts Bees website at www.burtsbees.com. If you can't get it in Norway you can make a list of the ingredients and maybe find something very similiar.
Good Luck and please keep us posted on anything you have found to be helpful!
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Permalink Reply by Kimberly Brummitt on -
Well, since you've seemed to have tried everything else, I have a suggestion. But first: from those photos it looks pretty bad to me. What are those red bumps? It almost looks like an allergic reaction or an infection. Do those areas seem painful to her?
I had a girl that had a spot on her that I couldn't figure out what it was. I tried nustock which always works wonders for me, but it didn't help. Tried a bunch of other remedies. Fleece wouldn't grow in, spot wouldn't go away. Had the vet out, she said mites (in a way that I could tell she didn't really know what it was) suggested Frontline spray. Didn't work. This is going on a year now of various treatments. Finally took her to Dr. Stachowski, he said fungal infection and to put miconozole on it 2-3 times a day, every other day. That's what worked.
I'm only suggesting this because you've tried everything else. Your girl's legs don't look anything like what my girl had, but miconozole isn't going to hurt. Miconozole is over the counter treatment for women with yeast infections. Whichever suggestions you try, try them one at a time for a couple weeks to see if they help.
Good luck!
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Permalink Reply by Rolf Barbakken on -
Thank you all for the advice. Our vet strongly suggested we give her a break from treatment for a while, as the continous treatment can ruin her immune system. Her skin problems have actually become worse of late.
We have below -20C temperatures here now, so we have given her an alpaca sweater for extra warmth. You can see her here:
http://alpakka.underlupen.no/2009/12/alpakka-med-alpakkagenser.html
Again, thanks. We will keep you updated.
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Permalink Reply by Lis DeFrancis on -
What ever came of this alpacas condition??
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Permalink Reply by Rolf Barbakken on
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We found, through bloodtests, that she was lacking zink and copper. It makes sense as we have very little minerals in our lands' soil. So we gave everyone more minerals in their feed and the girl with the problems got a lot better within weeks. All the bare areas now sees fleece growth and we hope she will be a lot better by next winter.
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Permalink Reply by Lis DeFrancis on
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YEAH Rolf!!!
Thank you for the update
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