Constipated Alpaca

Today when I was checking my herd of alpacas I noticed a 7 month old female cria behaving abnormally.  She was constantly standing up and sitting down, rolling around, then she would go strain over the poo pile. Eventually she stretched out on the ground and lay perfectly still.  (I thought she had just died in front of me).  As you can imagine I was feeling rather distraught and dashed over to see if she was still breathing.  She was very co-operative and lay still while I checked her out but when I could find nothing obviously wrong with her, I stepped back and she jumped up and started the process all over again.  What to do???  I was thinking that I had seen this behaviour before in pregnant females who were due to "unpack", but knew that an 8 month old couldn't possibly be pregnant, and then it clicked.  Maybe she was constipated
 
After consultation with an experienced alpaca breeder I proceeded to help her in the following manner.
First, I gave her some electrolytes mixed in with boiled water (150 ml cooled to body temperature).  She seemed to really appreciate this and was almost suckling the syringe I was using to give her the fluids. This could possibly be a sign of dehydration.

Once I had rehydrated her, I got another syringe with the warm boiled water (approx 10mls) and gently applied the liquid up into her anus.  I was told that if she was dehydrated that this first dose would probably just get absorbed into the body through the colon so I may need to apply another dose after a few minutes if she didn't have a bowl movement.  This is exactly what happened so I gave her a second dose then took her to the nearest pooh pile to see if we had achieved the desired result.  Within a very short time we had a good bowl movement and a very happy little alpaca.
 
I have been told that this method of relieving constipation in alpacas works on all ages.  Just adjust the dosage according to size/age.  E.g. a new born cria may only need 5 ml applied up it's anus and an adult alpaca would probably need 15 ml.  Use only sterile syringes, and boiled water (cooled to body temperature).
 
Possible reasons for constipation?
 
Several contributing factors could be suggested.  She had been weaned only a couple of weeks ago so maybe she was not in the habit yet of getting the required amount of water from the trough instead of from mum’s milk.  Also, I had recently started feeding out some hay which of course is very dry so she would not have been getting any liquids from her feed in the way that fresh grass would have supplied it.  And finally, once she had begun to get constipated, her stomach ache would have made her less inclined to eat or drink so would have compounded the problem at this point.
 
I must admit I felt very pleased with my morning’s efforts and the results achieved.  I hope this little useful tip might help someone else with a similar problem.

Don’t forget though     If in doubt, get the vet out.

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The information presented here is from our own experiences, adapted from others to suit our situation, property and our animals. We don’t claim to be experts and you are welcome to disagree, if you find something useful – great. Everyone is welcome to comment and provide feedback – see Contact Us.