The Alpaca Vet

21/11/2025

Do you know your camelid terms?

🟢 Can you tell apart your crias from your tuis?
🟢 Geldings from your studs?
🟢 What about criating and unpacking?
🟢 Do you know your cushing from your C3?

Learning the correct terminology helps build your confidence as a responsible owner. Want to feel like a pro?

📚 The Camelid Care Handbook helps you get there.

👉 https://www.ukalpacavet.com/.../the-camelid-care.../
or from my own personal online bookstore if you’re outside the UK: https://books.by/the-alpaca-vet

21/11/2025

On Wednesday we had a couple of veterinarians come along for a practical session to complement their training on The Intensive Camelid Veterinary Care Course. This gives them an opportunity to practical basic on farm veterinary skills with alpacas...

We start off learning venepuncture skills using my training model then move onto farm to practice handling, body condition scoring, toenail trimming, dental examination and where to find the nasolacrimal ducts etc... We also then move inside to practice ultrasound techniques - both pregnancy scanning and routine abdominal ultrasound.

We always have great fun on these sessions and the vets find them very helpful! 😀

I was a little concerned about the weather at the start of the day - we had horizontal snow! But fortunately it cleared up nicely! Still super chilly though! ❄️🌬️

19/11/2025

LAST CHANCE TO REGISTER!

I'm hosting a free web class this evening on "How to Successfully Breed Alpacas & Llamas: A Practical 6-Step Guide" 🦙

FREE Live Workshop – 19th November 2025 @ 8pm GMT
(9pm CET | 3pm EST | 12pm PST | 7am AEDT)

Are you ready to take the guesswork out of breeding season?

Join Claire E. Whitehead BVM&S MS DACVIM FHEA MRCVS (The Alpaca Vet) for a practical, science-based workshop designed to help you achieve better breeding results with your alpacas and llamas.

In this free live session, you’ll discover:
✅ How to work with the camelid reproductive cycle for more predictable results
✅ The secret of the “7 Day Rule” and why it’s critical for breeding success
✅ Effective, welfare-friendly mating strategies that improve conception rates
✅ A clear, 6-step framework to plan and manage your breeding program.

Whether you’re new to breeding or looking to refine your results, this workshop will give you the tools and confidence to succeed.
🎟 Reserve your FREE spot today!
👉 https://us06web.zoom.us/.../reg.../WN_wofr_e7nRhCVOTIEn5JR0Q
Let’s make your next breeding season your most successful yet! 💪🦙

Zoom is the leader in modern enterprise video communications, with an easy, reliable cloud platform for video and audio conferencing, chat, and webinars across mobile, desktop, and room systems. Zoom Rooms is the original software-based conference room solution used around the world in board, confer...

14/11/2025

Here's the link to register! https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_wofr_e7nRhCVOTIEn5JR0Q

13/11/2025

👀 A reminder to register for my upcoming workshop! 😀

I also wanted to let you know that I'll be revealing an extra special offer during this workshop - but you'll only find out what it is if you register and attend the workshop!

https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_wofr_e7nRhCVOTIEn5JR0Q

10/11/2025

🦙 How to Successfully Breed Alpacas & Llamas: A Practical 6-Step Guide 🦙

FREE Live Workshop – 19th November 2025 @ 8pm GMT
(9pm CET | 3pm EST | 12pm PST | 7am AEDT)

Are you ready to take the guesswork out of breeding season?

Join Claire E. Whitehead BVM&S MS DACVIM FHEA MRCVS (The Alpaca Vet) for a practical, science-based workshop designed to help you achieve better breeding results with your alpacas and llamas.

In this free live session, you’ll discover:
✅ How to work with the camelid reproductive cycle for more predictable results
✅ The secret of the “7 Day Rule” and why it’s critical for breeding success
✅ Effective, welfare-friendly mating strategies that improve conception rates
✅ A clear, 6-step framework to plan and manage your breeding program.

Whether you’re new to breeding or looking to refine your results, this workshop will give you the tools and confidence to succeed.
🎟 Reserve your FREE spot today!
👉 https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_wofr_e7nRhCVOTIEn5JR0Q

Let’s make your next breeding season your most successful yet! 💪🦙

Welcome! You are invited to join a webinar: How to Successfully Breed Alpacas & Llamas: A Practical 6-Step Guide. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the webinar.

08/11/2025

Feeding your herd? Don’t overlook spacing!

Alpacas and llamas need at least 3ft (90cm) per head at troughs to avoid stress and competition. Tight feeding spaces = nutritional imbalance. Low ranking animals in the social hierarchy being pushed out.
Want more expert-backed care tips like this? 💗 The Camelid Care Handbook has you covered.

👉 https://www.ukalpacavet.com/.../the-camelid-care.../
or from my own personal online bookstore if you’re outside the UK: https://books.by/the-alpaca-vet

07/11/2025

💭 What does it really COST you to have a non-pregnant female alpaca?

It’s so easy to think, “Ah well, we’ll just try again next year.”
But that “wait and see” year has a price tag — and it’s probably bigger than you think. 👇

🌾 First, the basics:
You’ll still be paying for her feed, maintenance, and routine vet care all year — with no cria at the end of it.
That’s easily £400–£600 gone right there.

🐾 Then, the cria that won’t be born:
Even at a conservative £2,500 value, that’s another big loss.

🧬 And it doesn’t stop there:
If that cria would have gone on to have 10 crias of its own (worth £2,500 each), that’s a potential £25,000 in future income that disappears before it even starts.

✨ Add it up — that’s easily £28,000+ in lost value.
And that’s before we even talk about the genetic opportunity you’re missing — no progeny to assess, no progress in herd quality, no data for future breeding decisions.

So… maybe the real question is:
👉 Can you afford not to find out why she isn’t pregnant?

A reproductive exam can often pinpoint the issue — and many causes of infertility are treatable. Don’t lose another breeding season to “wait and see.” 💪

Book a female infertility examination now!

07/11/2025

In light of the new housing and biosecurity restrictions for poultry due to Avian Flu, even if you're a smallholder with fewer than 50 chickens and you don't need to house your birds, biosecurity is paramount to protect your birds...

If you don't keep poultry as well as alpacas or llamas, remember that biosecurity is vital for you too! Make sure that any visitors to your farm arrive in clean footwear and are prepared to clean and dip their shoes or boots before entering any animal areas.

Make it easy for yourself by using a foot dip that has a lid so doesn't get diluted by rain, and has inbuilt measuring cups and markings to make dilution of concentrated disinfectants super easy!

👉 Get your Footcheck Footdip today from our online shop! https://www.ukalpacavet.com/product/simplify-farm-biosecurity-footcheck-footdip/

06/11/2025

If you agree with the following statement, you probably ought to watch the video pasted below on my Youtube Channel !

"All my females are spitting off so I know they're pregnant."

Behaviour testing is a great tool! But it's not providing you with definitive confirmation of pregnancy....

👉 There's another step you need to take to make sure!!!

In this video I will talk about what behaviour testing alpacas and llamas really means. Although most of the time, spitting off behaviour of females tells yo...

05/11/2025

👀 Here's the set-up we use at my clinic for working with camelids that need a fertility investigation. This makes it so much easier and is why I prefer it for people to bring their females to us at my clinic for evaluation rather than working in the field. If you're struggling to hold a female for a vet to evaluate on the farm, this can be dangerous for the female and is the reason that many vets will not be comfortable performing re**al ultrasound which is needed for infertility work. It also makes it very difficult to figure out what's going on if you don't have sufficient time to visualise the uterus and ovaries on ultrasound....

👉 Then you need to have other equipment - a good ultrasound machine, diagnostic equipment and the right consumables - to complete the examination.

👉 Of course, knowing what you're looking at and when it's abnormal is also a KEY requirement. I spent 3 years learning these techniques under the watchful eye of my mentor during my residency and have continued to perform female breeding soundness examinations and fertility workups over the last nearly 25 years....

⭐ BOOK a female breeding soundness examination with us today to find out why a female you have didn't conceive this season!

[PS You'll also find this video on my Youtube channel along with other helpful videos!}