| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Smith Krekk |
Posted - 07/13/2007 : 08:18:25 AM
Hello Forum--
This is a warning to anyone who is using CORID. Please, Please watch your alpacas closely. And have THIAMINE on hand.
We lost a girl last evening to PEM (Polioencephalomalacia). She was 7 days post treatment with penicillin (PCN) for a uterine infection. Once the PCN was completed by 2 days, we treated the entire herd with a 5 day CORID treatment.
On day 4 of CORID I noticed a cria--who was walking a little "drunk". When she would get up from being cushed she would stagger a little. Do a little leg crossing but nothing severe. Once we was up--she played fine--pronked with the best of them. I went down to the paddock to give a B complex injection to both cria--better safe than sorry.
That is when I noticed my other girl--8 year old, unbred. Remember she had just finished up treatment with PCN. She was "high stepping", staggering, her gait was a little wide in the back, she had tremors, respiration's were 130, her sight seemed fine. We are in M-worm country, so I treated her as having possible M-worm--Panacur, Ivermec, Banamine and B-complex. I gave a HIGH dose of B-complex for the possibility that it was PEM. I had called the local dairy farmer to see if he had thiamine, he did not.
After I gave her everything I could, she seemed better in about 2 hours. Her tremors had stopped, her staggering seemed less. She did have a huge amount of hay in her mouth--which I removed, her respirations had dropped to 100. About 2 more hours I gave her more Banamine. Again she seemed to get a little better--respirations down to 80.
When I went back down in the AM she was down. On her side--legs straight--I looked like she was standing but on her side. The vet was on her way already (I had called the night before). I gave her all the B-complex I had--but the thiamine mg in the B-complex is too low. The dairy farmer came out with yogurt and cow cud (in case her rumen had stopped).
By the time the vet (whose only previous camilid experience was when she was out to our place two days before to do health certificates and cria checks) arrived (this is about 12 hours after the 1st symptoms were presented), my girl was not blinking, moving, swallowing--nothing. It was like she was frozen. She did have petit seizures (legs would tremble) if I would try to stimulate her.
The vet immediately gave 4cc of Dexamethasone IV push. There was immediate improvement--she started to move her ears, blink, swallow, move her tail, legs loosened up. She then gave thiamine and Furosaminde (diuretic) hooked up an IV with 10% dex. The vet stayed with us for 3 hours. After about 2 hours it seemed that the improvement stopped and that we were loosing ground. We tried repositioning my girl and we almost lost her to cardiac arrest. There was no way I could transport her 2 hours to the closest large animal hospital--she would not make the trip.
I continued with the treatments the vet left with me. At 8 PM (27 hours after all this started), I gave her a dose of Dexamethasone--her respiration's were shallow and erratic (prior to injection). She lasted another 20 minutes and died.
Please use corid with caution and please do not give corid after any other treatments. I believe that I had compromised her digestive system with the PCN and then the Corid was the final straw. She probably could have handled the Corid on its own.
Thanks for letting me tell my story. I hope it saves someone the grief we are experiencing.
Karen & Ron Smith
Smith KREKK Alpacas
Bangor, PA
610-588-5510
www.alpacanation.com/smithkrekk.asp
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| 10 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| vintagealpacas |
Posted - 07/16/2007 : 07:34:41 AM
Karen,
I do not have a good answer for your question. My animals have access to the pasture 25/7. So, as the grass was starting to come around in March, I think this entire grass tetney thing developed. By Easter (1st week of April) she was showing signs several days per week, and that is when my vet said it was time to take her to OSU. He had already treated her with Thiamin twice and it had no results.
Hope this helps!
Kim
Kimberly Rassi
Vintage Alpacas
alpacanation.asp/vintage |
| Smith Krekk |
Posted - 07/15/2007 : 07:50:45 AM
HI Kim--
Thanks for the info on grass tetany. How soon after being a lush pasture did the symptoms start. I will research that and keep it in my folder of things to know--my brain must be getting too full--because it seems like a lot is getting purged these days--maybe early "old timers"
My girl was on dry lot and was given daily access to pasture, for about 4 hours at the end of the day. She was on this routine for months.
Karen & Ron Smith
Smith KREKK Alpacas
Bangor, PA
610-588-5510
www.alpacanation.com/smithkrekk.asp
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| vintagealpacas |
Posted - 07/14/2007 : 10:22:38 PM
Symptoms of grass tetney:
High stepping
shivering and shaking (tremors)
staggering
glazed look in eyes (no blinking) - possible temporary blindness
cushing and can't get up
constant humming as if very scared
Caused by fresh, lush green pasture....happens mostly in spring. It reduces the magnesium levels in the animal to nearly 0, causing the bad reactions. Very similiar to PEM.
Kim
Kimberly Rassi
Vintage Alpacas
alpacanation.asp/vintage |
| thesilversuri |
Posted - 07/14/2007 : 07:22:28 AM
It's a great warning. I am so sorry you guys had to go through it.
Scott
The Silver Suri
Scott & Christina Campanella
1185 West Street Road
West Chester Pa 19382
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| Upperfarmnic |
Posted - 07/14/2007 : 06:01:36 AM
Could you give more info. on what they symptoms were for "grassy tetney", and what the cause was?
Thanks,
Nicole Carter
Upper Farm Alpacas
niccarr33@msn.com |
| vintagealpacas |
Posted - 07/13/2007 : 3:20:19 PM
Your syptoms were identical to the ones my female had but Ohio State diagnosed her with "grass tetney" and treated her with a product called Succeed and and IV for 3 days to increase her calciuma nd Magnesium levels. My farm vet suspected the polio....(whatever) but he told me he wanted me to take her to OSU immediately. OSU guessed it was grass tetney right away and that was conmfirmed on seeing the blood work on her.
Kim
Kimberly Rassi
Vintage Alpacas
alpacanation.asp/vintage |
| Springtime Farms |
Posted - 07/13/2007 : 2:19:33 PM
Thanks so much for the post. This is how we all learn. I gave Corid not too long ago. I'm so glad it wasn't in conjunction with another treatment.
I'm so sorry about your girl. You tried so hard, and I'm sure she did too.
Meredith O'Neil
Springtime Farms |
| pinkertondan |
Posted - 07/13/2007 : 10:33:37 AM
At least it was only one...but even that is terrible!!! 
Ouch!!!
Thank you so much for warning us!
Best Regards,
Sarah
The Pinkerton Tribe
Rockford Bay Ranch
14701 S. Heritage Dr.
Coeur d'Alene, ID 83814
www.rockfordbayalpacas.com
www.alpacanation.com/rockfordbay.asp
info@rockfordbayalpacas.com
(208)769-9999
Email me! I would love
to hear from you!
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| Smith Krekk |
Posted - 07/13/2007 : 09:41:50 AM
We only lost the one girl. Thank God--I couldn't handle it if it was more than what we dealt with yesterday.
Here is a link for a discussion on Corid.
http://www.alpacanation.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=4764
It gives other links for information.
Karen & Ron Smith
Smith KREKK Alpacas
Bangor, PA
610-588-5510
www.alpacanation.com/smithkrekk.asp
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| pinkertondan |
Posted - 07/13/2007 : 09:12:26 AM
I am so sorry for your loss.
So how many died from it??? I lost count.
What was wrong with giving the CORID???
Best Regards,
Sarah
The Pinkerton Tribe
Rockford Bay Ranch
14701 S. Heritage Dr.
Coeur d'Alene, ID 83814
www.rockfordbayalpacas.com
www.alpacanation.com/rockfordbay.asp
info@rockfordbayalpacas.com
(208)769-9999
Email me! I would love
to hear from you!
|
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