Meningeal worm

[Callie]

One of my little alpacas (Dottie) was diagnosed with Meningeal worm today. I've only had them a month.  I feel soooo stupid.  She has always walked a little odd.  She had a bad delivery.  The previous owner put a halter on her and she threw a tantrum.  Refused to stand.  They put her in a sled to get her uphill to the trailer.  During the 2 hour trip, she layed on her side exactly as she went into the trailer.  When we tried to get her out, she threw herself down in the driveway and rolled over and refused to get up. So we picked her up and put her in the garage while we walked the others to the barn on leads.  It was amazing how fast she got up off the floor and followed us.  

So, I figured that her wide-legged stance and walk was due to her hips being bruised in transit - or something.  Then, yesterday, I watched her lean over to eat some grass and she just feel completely over on her side. She got right back up but obviously, something was wrong. She was stumbling all over.  I had the vet out and we have her under treatment now.  $$$

I tried calling the previous owner/breeder.  Does she have any responsibility here?  She hasn't called me back. The vet said she had to have contracted it at the previous owner's place.  Or it is my problem since I was supposed to be dosing them with ivermectin monthly ( I don't have deer on my place so I didn't worry about Mw).  The previous owner had 2 alpacas that had meningeal worm when I was there. I assumed that they couldn't give it to each other but didn't think that one of these could have contracted it just like the others did.  (duh....)This one was just born last July so she's pretty small still.  Yes, we will start immediately dosing the others monthly until I am sure they do not have this horrible parasite.  I am not sure if she has responsibility or not since neither of us knew the alpaca had this problem and I am sure she wouldn't have sold her to me if she had.  I should have been a smarter buyer.  Dottie is a fiber animal. I didn't pay $5000 for her or anything. What would you do?

  

[Callie]

No one???

The treatment we are giving her is 1.5 cc ivermectin
5?cc Dex
1/2 tube of panacur
each once a day for 5 days.

We're doing fecals on all the rest of them to see what kind of load they arrived with. Alas. My sheep never had a parasite problem here. Or, there was enough pasture for them and rotating them around keep it down to a minimum.

Dottie seems to be responding though it will be a long time before we know for sure. She is certainly leery of coming into the barn now! Unfortunately, I have a couple males that are just beginning to act like males so I have an appt to have them gelded next week. I had to separate them because (and this I didn't know) her hunched back gave them the idea that she might be willing to be bred. We can't have them messing with her when she's so unstable.

I did hear from the breeder. She said that Mworm is unavoidable and to call the vet. Oh well.

[bergere]

Sadly, a lot of breeders and/owners have no clue about the Meningeal worms. Preventative maintenance is always required. The Alpaca and Llamas, do not have the resilients to worms like sheep do. The high dry plans of south America do not have the pests we have here in the states.

How well she can recover, will depend on how long she has had the Meningeal's in her system.

Sorry you are having to go through that.. Though it might explain her behavior.


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Tools to minimizing risk and minimize use of drugs:
Placing a deerproof fence may offer some protection, but many fences do not present a sufficient barrier to prevent movement of deer. A true deer proof fence is 12 feet high and of woven wire not high tensile fencing.
Eliminate organic matter. Snails and slugs prefer dark, damp areas. Thus, these pests will accumulate around leaves, buildings, wood piles, compost, etc. Keep areas around pasture and barns clear.
Thick ground cover can be removed to expose the environment to fluctuations in temperature, and vegetationfree buffer zones (i.e. gravel, limestone) can be placed around fence lines to reduce migration of snails and slugs into the pasture.
Fowl (e.g. Guinea hens) may be used to help decrease pasture contamination with snails and slugs. Molluscicides may be considered to destroy snails and slugs which serve as intermediate hosts, thereby interrupting the life cycle of the meningeal worm and preventing infection in aberrant hosts. However, molluscicides can not be used in heavy amounts or frequently without creating a build-up of toxins in the environment. Drainage should be established in low lying areas and access to swampy areas may be restricted by fencing off these areas. These compounds present a potential environmental risk from contamination of ground water and may be toxic if consumed by camelids or other animals.
The slugs and snail that transmit meningeal worm larvae include a large array of arboreal slugs not aquatics. Thus, pastures with leaf piles, etc are equally at risk as pasture with ponds or streams.
Geography: If you live in an area where hard freezes (Ohio from Dec-March) and dry summers are severe, transmission is at a minimal risk during those periods. In spring, slug and snail contamination is minimal as the over wintering is harsh. In these geographic areas, more than 85% of transmission occurs during Sept-Dec and we can selectively target long acting avermectin drug prevention during those times. In geographic areas of high deer density and established meningeal worm in the populations, these seasonal effects are unlikely to be relevant.
Using Drugs to Plug the Holes:
Based on 30 years of field experiences and our clinical and pharmacologic research, prophylactic treatment against migrating larvae may be achieved by administration of ivermectin (0.3 mg/kg) every 30 days during the high risk periods or throughout the year in regions which have mild summers and winters. Anthelmintic resistance is unlikely to become a problem in the meningeal worm because these infections do not become patent in llamas and alpacas.Meningeal worm infection has occurred in some herds that maintain vigilant prophylaxis. These "breaks" in prevention of the larval migration may have been caused by insufficient dosing of anthelmintic, accidental failure to administer the anthelmintic, or extremely high environmental contamination. Employing environmental management tools will reduce risk and help maintain a healthy meningeal worm free herd.

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