IgG testing.

The cost of this prolonged cold wet winter continues; Not only do I have extra feed rations of oats to cope with; It also allows me to justify my time spent on the Internet. Spent is the problem here. This morning’s purchase is an IgG testing kit and centrifuge ordered from America. This is something that we have been looking in to after the sad loss of a cria last year. I thought that I would share this story as it taught us many lessons.

Just a brief explanation of terms for the non- nursing and non-farming folks: IgG is a type of immunoglobulin (antibody) required to fight infection. Generally healthy adults acquire resistance to infection by contact with foreign antigens which results in the production of IgG. However cria (as with lambs) are reliant on the passive transfer of antibodies from their mother (dam) via the colostrum (first milk). It is vital that the cria receives the colostrum within the first 12 hours (ideally 6 hours) of life for the antibodies to be effective. After this time it is considered that there has been a failure of passive transfer (FPT). If this is recognised then the cria can be given plasma. Blood is taken from a healthy alpaca and spun to separate the red blood cells from the plasma. The plasma containing the antibodies can then be given to the cria (how this is given is too lengthy to debate here).

Nakita was our second cria to be born in 2009. Katkin, who had been a fantastic first time mum to Nimrod, had a text book birth at 11am on a lovely sunny day. Mum had plenty of milk and Nikita was seen on the nipple within the hour, with lovely milky chops observed. She weighed in at a healthy 8.5kg.

Nakita with Katkin (latched on to the milk supply)

As is our usual practice we weighed her again the next morning and she had lost a little (not so unusual for day 2) however on day 3 she had lost a further 0.5kg. We tried to bottle feed goats milk without success. We also telephoned the vet who was not especially concerned at this point. As you can see form the photo of her with Jenson on day 3 there was no reason to suspect anything was wrong and this could have been missed if it had not been for the fact that we were weighing her.

Nakita at 3 days old playing with Jenson.

To shorten a sad story we started to tube feed Nakita as she was refusing to be bottle fed (she was still strong at this point). Blood was taken on the morning of day 3 to measure IgG levels. On day 4 we were so concerned that we took Nakita to the surgery as it opened. She was given a glucose infusion and commenced on a Saline infusion and allowed home. Blood results that morning (24 hours since taken) revealed a low IgG and a frantic search for plasma began. We did manage to find some supplies and Mike and Mary from Greenside Alpacas kindly offered to set off on the hour and a half journey to our farm, but sadly were too late.

There have been some tears just in retelling this story but I share it in the hope that it might help. It may have been that nothing could have been done to save this particular cria as it has been suggested that Nakita may have lacked a swallowing reflex and therefore was not viable (offical results septicaemia secondary to FPT). However in future I want to be sure that we have done all that we can; Whereas on this occassion I was left doubting. We now have our own plasma supplies in the freezer; obviously sick cria will be given this without delay. It is also our intention to test the IgG levels on all cria at 48 hours so that we can pre-empt any potential problems. This is something suggested by our vet and is also recommended by Claire Whitehead in her neonatal text book.

Katkin, Nakita and Jenson.

Apologies for a rather serious blog today. I am even more depressing than the weather. Maybe I should do some retail pursuits that include shoes and handbags next time.