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When Sara Bender, owner of Foggy Bottom Farms in Isanti, Minn., had a distressed alpaca, she decided to bring her pet to the University of Minnesota. “When we got home from a show in Iowa, she wasn’t eating,” says Bender. “We knew we would get the fastest results at the U of M.”
Morning Sunrise was quickly treated at the Large Animal Hospital by Anna Firshman, BVSc, ’05 PhD, DACVIM, DACVSMR, the U’s go-to camelid specialist. “Generally, camelids are very stoic and are not good at showing signs of illness,” says Firshman. “We performed an ultrasound and found that Morning Sunrise had a large amount of fluid in her chest. We took a sample and identified the bacteria in the fluid as alpaca fever.”
More often than not, alpacas die from this bacterial infection if they do not receive appropriate care. “She needed her chest drained, fluid therapy, and around-the-clock care for about a week,” says Firshman. “She responded very well. She has the right owners who recognized the symptoms and the level of care that was needed.”
Firshman worked with Brittany Welch, DVM, and Christie Ward, DVM, PhD, MVSc, DACVIM, to provide Morning Sunrise with quality care. She and her team are eager to continue treating camelids in the future, as they make up roughly 20 percent of the Large Animal Hospital’s patients.
Meanwhile, Bender couldn’t be happier with the care Morning Sunrise received. “She made a perfect recovery, and she’s actually pregnant with her first baby,” says Bender. “We will continue to utilize the U’s services and will recommend them to other camelid owners.”
Illustration by Hairun Li