CamelVet.com

[Stella's MOM]

Hi -
I am worried. In january my beloved, best friend - a 41/2 year old female bactrian camel named Stella died ( was euthanized ) at the UW-Madison Vet Hospital due to liver failure. 5 of the 6 camels - both bactrian and dromedary - that have been brought to the UW have died of LIVER FAILURE - all with the exact same diagnosis of CHRONIC LIVER FIBROSIS. a grey area for us all - the attending vet at the UW sent me the necropsy that stated this as one of many reasons why she died - perhaps being the underlying reason because the rest of the necropsy read like a domino effect ( and - to boot my sweet gilr was pregnant with a female - too much to bear... VERY sad ).

Stellas symptoms were as follows - shivering in the cold - ( we figure it was from the start and strain of the pregancy - she also was growing ) we upped her intake of good quality hay, a special feed mixture aproved by our vet and access to clean water and salt at all times. All of our other camels ( all bactrians )are in perfect health. There were NO PARASITES and her blood work came back fine one week and then the following week she had a low protein and albunium level - but nothing off the charts... then the following three days she crashed and we took her in our trailer two hours away to the UW - Arrived at 8pm and euthanized at 10pm. She was dying and rather than having her suffer any more...

It kills me - she was in pain the last day - grinding teeth, she was " vomiting " as best as a ruminant shows and had diarrhea. No temp. They cannot tranfer plasmam in a camel. They can in equine and now in llamas..... not camels.... that has to change! I know that camels have extraordinary tolerances to everything - and by the time they show desperate signs they are dying...

HELP ME FIGURE OUT WHY the camels in Wisconsin are dying. I am sending the copy of the necrospy report and liver hisopath report to the UW with water, soil, feed, grasses,trees, weeds samples to see if there is ANYTHING she ate to create this.... Chinese medicines say that fibrosis means dampness in a body - camels live in arid conditions - intuatively their bodies are geared for that lifestyle - Wisconsin is damp... are we killing our own animals by placing them in these circumstances? I am working with achinese herbalist to fins natural foods/hers/plants that will draw the internal dampness out of the internal organs for the animals - all natural - no side effects - we are cross referencing it with the toxic lists to make sure nothing is included in this possible feed/ top dressing.

1. have you ever heard of this
2. Are there any other parts of the counrty that is experiencing this ( damp - or arid areas? )
3. Can you get this information out to vets and others to help me discover why my girl died... it's the least I can do for her....

[camel2]

I'm sorry to hear about Stella. I'll pass the info on to the vets I know that occasionally treat camels.