If you raise goats, sheep, llamas or alpacas you should know about Meningeal Worm. Meningeal worm is a parasite that can affect any of these animals and if left untreated will kill the animal. Unlike parasites that go into the stomach and can be fairly easily killed without harm to the animal, m-worm goes to the spine and brain and will kill the animal if it is not caught in time.
The parasite is usually found in deer droppings and while they don’t seem to bother the deer they can be very damaging to your flock. This article from A Thrifty Homesteader explains how the worm gets from the deer dropping to your animal’s spine. They also tell us the signs and symptoms to watch for and how to get a diagnosis.
Then they provide information on how to treat the animal or animals to kill the worm and hopefully save the infected animals. If you are raising this type of animal and don’t know about the m-worm you should read this and possibly even do more research on it. This does not sound like a very pleasant death for an animal.
