THE NEWBORN CRIA

Newborn animals of all species are born with a very immature immune system. The environment inside the uterus is sterile, then all of a sudden the animal finds itself in the big wide world, which is full of all sorts of nasty viruses, bacteria and other infective agents. If it is not quickly given some sort of protection, the newborn animal is susceptible to a large number of infections, many of which can be fatal. Fortunately, this protection is provided by antibodies in the mother’s first milk, or “colostrum”. However, the cria’s intestinal tract is only able to absorb these antibodies for the first 24 hours or so of life. After that time, any antibodies that the animal ingests are broken down in the same way that other proteins are digested. At the same time, the composition of the mother’s milk changes and the antibody level drops.
This is why it is so critically important for the newborn cria to get a good drink of colostrum within the first few hours of life. There are a number of situations where this may not occur:

1. A first-time mother that does not let the cria feed readily.
2. After a difficult birth, where the cria is too weak to suckle.
3. A mother with a poor milk supply – either too little milk, or colostrum with a low antibody level. This tends to happen more commonly with older dams. The older they get, the poorer the colostrum.
4. If the cria is premature or under-sized. Not only are these crias weak, they don’t seem to absorb the antibodies so well, even if they do drink an adequate volume of colostrum.

Alternatives to colostrum: There is no doubt that mother's milk is best. However, there are alternative sources of antibodies, should the cria not get access to enough of its mother's colostrum. In the dairy industry, both cattle and goats, many farmers keep a store of frozen colostrum to give calves or kids that do not feed well from their mothers. This is obviously not going to be as easy to do with alpacas, as they are more difficult to milk and you are not going to be able to collect a large volume of colostrum, but it might be worth considering if, for instance, you have a dam that loses her cria and has a big udder with lots of colostrum.

Alternatively, if you had access to a source of frozen cow or goat colostrum, this could be fed to crias. This would not necessarily be as good as alpaca colostrum, as all species' antibodies are different, but it should provide some protection. There are also artificial colostrum substitutes available on the market. These are usually a powdered formulation which is reconstituted with water. Although they may have a higher protein content than milk, they do not seem to contain many protective antibodies and, in my experience, are a poor substitute for the real thing. It is important to remember that, whatever source of colostrum you are using, the cria can only absorb the antibodies for about the first 24 hours of life.

Plasma Transfusions: The other way to provide antibodies to crias that have not received adequate colostrum is via a plasma transfusion. Frozen camelid plasma is now available commercially and most vets that deal with alpacas keep a supply of it. It is given as an intravenous drip and hence can be given at any age, not necessarily within the first 24 hours. The down side is that it is quite expensive, but it is definitely a life-saver. Not only does the plasma transfusion provide antibodies, it also provides a source of all sorts of other nutrients and the crias get a real boost from it. Most owners will only want to use plasma for a cria that is potentially valuable and if a blood test shows that it has a seriously low antibody level, but in this situation it is well worth considering. The alternative is to have a cria that has a poor chance of growing up strong and healthy and a good chance of dying within the first few weeks or months.