I need advice about a llama

[mychooks]

My recently aquired female llama (about 4 years old) Is pretty thin. She is a bad eater although on good grazing, free choice quality hay, alfalfa pellets and browse. My other llama is rather on the portly side (the female is the dominant one) They have been wormed with ivermectin and fenbeddazole and the droppings are normal. The llama is drinking several times a day
We are having a horrible heat wave here in N. Florida right now and the humidity ensures that we are all in a puddle of sweat. Could this have any bearing on the problem ?

 

[ksalvagno]

Is your llama fully shorn? If not, I would have her shorn from head to toe. Do you have fans going for them? What about a kiddie pool to sit in? My alpacas and llamas will actually kush in a kiddie pool filled about 1/3 to 1/2 full of water. I do dump the water every day because they may poop in it and their dirty feet make the water dirty.

Also do you feed a llama feed? When you feed, do you feed your girls separately? She may not be showing interest in feed because she is intimidated by the other female. I have alpacas that I feed by themselves because they are not aggressive with their food or they fool around and don't eat their food fast enough.

Did you have a fecal done 2 weeks after the last worming? Even if her fecals look normal, she could still be loaded with parasites. If you do the fecal then you will know which parasites are still present and can worm appropriately.

It also probably wouldn't hurt to give her Probios daily for at least a week. I would give her 10-20g per day.

Hopefully those things will help your female. I took in a pregnant rescue female that was body scored as a 1.5 out of 10. She was only 210 lbs. I got her in March and by the time she gave birth in November (last year), she was up to 280 lbs and gave birth to a very healthy female. Body scored at a 5 out of 10.

 

[farrier!]

Heat is pretty stressful on them.
You might want to worm her for tapeworms. These often will not show up in the fecal.