Question: Feeding llama that chokes

My husband and I are searching for information regarding our 2-1/2 year old llama that has a choking problem, usually after she eats her grain mixture.  We found some info on esophageal choke and are quite concerned.  Can you help us??

The llamas receive a grain mixture daily, have plenty of fresh water and good quality hay.  She is the only llama with this problem.  She eats slower than the other two....we put the grain in 2 dishes.  We end up holding the dish to keep the others away long enough for her to eat.  She doesn't gulp as far as we can tell but shortly after eating or after she finishes she starts "urping" continuously.  Initially we thought she had a "spitball" getting ready to fire. 

Tonight when my husband went to feed, after eating grain, she was urping and foaming quite heavily at the mouth.  What can we do??  Might she have some type of obstruction, etc. in her throat??  We noticed the other day that her weight is also down from the other two.

Please, we hope you can help us or lead us to someone who can soon!! 

Answer:

My name is Dan Linden. I am a graduate student with Dr Anderson at Ohio State. Since my masters work is being done in camelid nutrition he forwarded me your questions.

First of all, since camelids are competitive eaters as long as the animals can see each other there will be dominance issues. Is there any way that the animals can be separated completely? This will help the animals slow the ingestion, which is one of the leading causes of choking. Another thing to consider is the type of feed. There are some feeds that are designed to reduce the risk of choke. I cannot tell you what to feed, but I can tell you a few of the products that are out there. These products do not stop it, but they do reduce it. Mazuri LLama Chews is one product. AgWay camelid feeds have had very low problems for us. Buckeye Feeds has a low choke product. One of these may help you as well. Try some of these ideas and we'll go from there.

Good luck.

Dan Linden