ACUTE GASTROINTESTINAL-DISEASE IN 27 NEW-WORLD CAMELIDS - CLINICAL AND SURGICAL FINDINGS

Objective - To describe clinical and surgical findings from New World camelids with acute gastrointestinal disease. Study Design - Retrospec tive study. Animal Population - 20 llamas and 7 alpacas. Methods - Cam elids were grouped based on surgical lesions. Clinical and surgical fi ndings were compared between groups and between surviving and nonsurvi ving camelids. Results - Twelve of 27 initial celiotomies and 3 of 4 r epeat celiotomies were successful. Death occurred from euthanasia duri ng surgery (nine camelids), peritonitis or sepsis (five), aspiration p neumonia (one), and respiratory distress (one). Survival was lowest af ter celiotomy for proximal obstruction (3 of 10 camelids), ruptured vi scus (0 of 4), and necrotizing enteritis (0 of 2) and highest after ce liotomy for distal obstruction (10 of 13) and septic peritonitis witho ut ruptured viscus (2 of 2). Before surgery, camelids with proximal ob struction had significantly lower (P < .05) serum chloride concentrati ons (median, 97 mEq/L) than those with distal obstruction (median, 109 mEq/L) or ruptured viscus (median, 117 mEq/L). Serum bicarbonate conc entration also was highest (median, 34.6 mEq/L) and often greater than 28 mEq/L in camelids with proximal obstruction. Camelids with distal obstruction had significantly lower (P < .05) nucleated cell counts in peritoneal fluid (median, 700 cells/mu L) than those with ruptured vi scus (median, 20,600 cells/mu L) or septic peritonitis (median, 88,300 cells/mu L). Conclusions - Camelids with proximal obstruction often h ad hypochloremic metabolic alkalosis. Camelids with distal obstruction had less metabolic derangement and tissue compromise and a higher sur vival rate. Clinical Relevance - Awareness of the characteristics of t he various types of acute gastrointestinal disease in camelids will au gment veterinarians' ability to diagnose and treat these disorders. (C ) Copyright 1998 by The American College of Veterinary Surgeons.