Death of a Cria

[millerEC]

We had a situation that I've never heard about and wondered if anyone in the guild could help. Crystal, our 4 year old Llama went into labor last Wednesday...she is a maiden Llama. Unfortunately, she didn't dilate. I got home from work (around 7P) and discovered she was in labor but it was apparent she wasn't dilating. The vet was called immediately but he was delivery a calf so he didn't get to us until 8:30P.

When he checked the little cria, it was already dead. We had a terrible time getting this little body out of Crystal. The good news is that we saved Crystal.

I asked the vet why she didn't dilate and he said sometimes a maiden's hormones are "off" and they don't dilate, although this type of situation is fairly rare. Since this happened, I've checked on the Internet and this appears to be called ringwomb. There's nothing that I've found about this regarding Llamas, but in some of the articles (especially in goats and sheep) it said this could be genetic.

Has anyone from the guild had this happen and if so, was the Llama, after this pregnancy, able to have an uneventful delivery? Believe me, I have no intention to breed Crystal for quite some time...want to make sure she is healthy after this terrible event. However, if there is a possibility of this being genetic then she won't EVER be bred nor sold in case someone else tries to have her bred.

Your thoughts or help with this problem would be greatly appreciated!

[OHL]

Do you know if the cria was presented toes and nose first? In my experience, ringwomb, or failure to dilate, is usually the result of a nutritional problem or a malpresented cria. In most species (sheep/goats/cattle/horses), a deficiency in calcium brings it on, if anything can be pinpointed nutritionally.

I don't know that I would assume it would happen again, but I also would weigh the relative value of the female for breeding purposes pretty carefully on the off chance you do end up with a repeat performance.

[millerEC]

I very much appreciate your reply and thoughts. I somehow posted my question in the wrong category on the forum...all it takes is a novice to a blog to mess something up!

The cria's was in the proper position with toes and nose first. We'll carefully weigh the value of breeding Crystal again...she does have a great lineage, but we sure don't want this to happen again...she absolutely loves people so even if we don't use her for breeding, she is a valuable member of the herd...with our cabin rental guests, she is a favorite.

I really wanted to see if there was something nutritional that we may have missed...maybe it was the calcium...we had three other pregnant females two who delivered normal crias and we're waiting for the third to deliver...they all had the same premium feed plus alfalfa/timothy hay as Crystal which should have given them additional calcium...maybe Crystal's system is just "off" when it comes to calcium.

Again, thank you for your thoughts. If we do breed her again, I'll talk with the vet first and see if there's some sort of calcium supplement that we could give to her.

[Linda586]

Hi,
We have a llama who was a maiden at the time and was 10 days past her due date so when she went into labor nothing seemed unusual except that she spent too long over the poo pile with just the nose slightly showing. We
called our vet who was able to come right away but by the time he arrived
the cria had suffocated in the birth canal. The 'mom' was a dark brown and
it was an unexpectedly warm day. The labor turned out to be heat induced
which is why she did not dilate. The vet recommended we rebreed her and
she had a perfectly normal delivery the second time.

[millerEC]

When Crystal went into labor, it was one of the hotter days of the season. Wouldn't it be something if this were an issue with the heat. We normally have our Llamas deliver sometime in April or early May, but last year it was so hot that our breeding program was delayed. I don't think we'll ever have it where our Llamas will deliver during the summer months...

Thank you for taking the time to share your experience!