The loss of your camel is a gut-wrenching experience. These warm, lovable animals camel-dance into your heart and because they have a life-span of potentially forty years or more, you feel here is a life-long companion that you can trust to always be at your side. To lose that life-long friend is saddening enough, to lose that life-long friend to something that was preventable, is heart-crushing. Below is a series of emails (slightly edited to preserve the privacy of the people and to keep things on topic) relating to the loss of camels due to selenium deficiency. Below that is a wonderfully informative article put together by Dr. Charmian Wright. Please read so that your life-long friend is just that--your life-long friend. - Becky R. Izen, Webmaster, AllCamels.com
Date sent: Fri, 2 Mar 2001 - ...I have a camel question. We had a 2 1/2 yr. old male dromedary camel die this week from a heart attack. Does anyone know what could have caused this? We have his "body" being examined at our agriculture dept.; they are still studying him, trying to find out what happened. It was totally unexpected and such a sad thing for us. We wanted to breed him with our two female camels. - M.
Date sent: Fri, 2 Mar 2001 - This is the second camel I know about who suddenly died of heart failure. The other one was 6 years old. His owner swears he died of selenium deficiency because he heard of someone else who lost five and had them autopsied. They were all low on selenium. I would love to hear what comes out of this as I am naturally concerned about our girl. I give her Stillwater Llama minerals with selenium daily just in case. Was your camel getting an adequate amount? So very sorry to hear about your loss! - T.
Date sent: Fri, 2 Mar 2001 - M. - am so sorry to hear about your loss. We also lost a camel to a heart problem. UC Davis Veterinary School & Hospital did an autopsy, and concluded it was most probably a lack of selenium in the diet. Selenium is truly a critical thing to keep an eye on. Levels can be determined by blood test. We ship our samples on a 6 month basis thru our vet down to UC Davis for testing. There are mineral blocks with selenium added, and I understand it is also plentiful in grains. Right now our camels get selenium injections to bring levels to normal. Good luck!! - D.
Date sent: Mon, 5 Mar 2001 - Thank-you for your help. We are having further tests run and low selenium has been mentioned as a cause or trace mineral deficiencies. I didn't know you could run selenium tests on a regular basis. We will definitely have our other camels checked. We feed our other camels a sweet goat feed to avoid any copper problems but have not been able to find a trace mineral additive without copper. We also give them free choice granular salt. Do you have any suggestions on this? Thanks again! - M.
Date sent: Mon, 5 Mar 2001 - Thank-you about your concern. We are having the selenium levels checked through the necropsy reports. It really hurts to think that his death could have been avoided.... We will definitely have the other two camels checked. Our older camel is 5 years old and has been very healthy but we will be having her checked also. Will keep you informed, - M.
Date sent: Tuesday, March 06, 2001 - M., I posted the following on this list a while ago. Perhaps you will find it informative. Selenium deficiency is very insidious and heartbreaking because the camels can look and act perfectly healthy until the day they die. (BTW, camels can tolerate copper excess or deficiency better than sheep or goats). Please let me know the results of your necropsy report -- I am trying to collect information on camel illnesses in the USA in order to better help people to keep their camels healthy. Also, I posted some information about selenium in the "Basic camel medicine tips" article published on this AllCamels website. The important points are to have your feed tested on a regular basis as well as your camels' blood. - C. Wright DVM
(From November 6, 2000) - "This is for a friend of mine who live in Santa Cruz, Ca. His five year old gelding died on him (literally) all of a sudden. My friend called him from the pasture. The camel got up in a normal fashion, hesitated a little at the gate, went into his stall and started to urinate. My friend, who is in a wheel chair, went over to the camel and while doing so the camel seemed to strain a bit at urinating, let out a sharp breath, shook his head vigorously from side to side, then fell down dead. He landed in a crash without slowing himself down; they think he died before he hit the ground. No thrashing or anything. Another thing I was told was that he didn't eat that morning and was laying down alot. He was on Ivermectin as a wormer and actually was called in for his worming. He was in perfect condition. No diarrhea, good weight. bright eyes... What could it be? It sounds like an aneurysm or heart attack to me. My friend is very worried because he lost his other camel three years ago in the winter. She was a three year old camel. We weren't worming them. She got diarrhea, very stinky, hardly ate, and on the fifth day walked out into the paddock and died. She also shook her head the same way before she died. Putting both of these together, does this make any sense? My friend was crying when I spoke to him and he asked if he would have to live his life without a camel." - G.
Date sent: Wed, 7 Mar 2001 - Thank-you for the info. The local agriculture dept that has our camel had not sent the necesary tissue off to get tested for selenium until I called and explained what I had learned from this website. Your information hopefully will save a camel's life! I really hope it is not too late! Would an injection of selenium be a good move? Thanks again! - M.
Date sent: Mon, 26 Mar 2001 - What are normal selenium levels in camels? Our camels blood work came back at 156 and 172 ppb normal in the cattle range. The camel we lost had a liver selenium level of 185 ppb. Also, how do your restrain your camels to take blood samples. That was quite a chore for us. Thanks! - M.
Date sent: Thu, 29 Mar 2001 - Although your blood tests on the surviving camels were normal, there is no question that the camel you lost was deficient in selenium. Also, his symptoms seemed to be consistent with other camels that had a similar syndrome. My personal belief is that selenium deficiency is one of the leading causes of camel deaths in this country, made all the more insidious by the fact that it may be difficult to diagnose; the animal may have heart damage as a youngster and have a 'heart attack' later in life even though the selenium is adequate at that time. I am very sorry to hear about your camel, and believe me when I say that I know exactly what you are going through. I still grieve for the two camels I lost years ago to the same syndrome. I only wish I knew then what I know now -- maybe I would still have those two lovely animals. I am glad you had the post-mortem exam done on the camel that died. I think this is so very important, if only to protect the animals you still have. Ask your lab if they examined microscopic sections of the heart, as this is where the damage can show up. - C. Wright DVM
And now, the article from Dr. Charmian Wright...
According to Dr. Hall, a mineral expert at the Utah State University Diagnostic lab (435-797-1895), the normal selenium concentrations for camels are as follows:
Keep in mind that these values are based on a small number of controls, so there may be some minor variations. Llama and alpaca normals, which may be used as a guideline and are based on higher numbers of animals, are as follows:
Some other species:
According to Thomas Herdt at the Michigan State University Diagnostic Laboratory (517-353-9312), the normal WHOLE BLOOD (not just serum) concentration for selenium in most species should be 120-250 ng/ml (ppb). He says that he is not concerned about toxicity unless the selenium level in WHOLE BLOOD approaches 1000 ng/ml (ppb). He also says that LIVER values (DRY WEIGHT) for most species are adequate if they are over 1000-1200 ppb (this equals about 300-360 ppb wet weight).
Measuring the serum selenium shows you the adequacy of the present diet of the camel for selenium. The whole blood measurement shows you how much selenium the camel had in his system when the red blood cells were formed -- up to three months ago. Thus, the whole blood levels may be a more accurate measure of long-term selenium status.
According to Dr. Hall, if the selenium concentrations approach the lower end of the normal range, the camel should be supplemented with selenium, as the animal may be headed for a chronic deficiency situation. On the other hand, the blood or serum can show quite an increase above the high end of the "normal" range without any ill effects. For example, he often sees healthy llamas that have SERUM selenium concentrations of 350-520 ppb (normal is considered to be 120-200 ppb). Horses, who have normal SERUM values of 140-250 ppb, start showing symptoms of chronic selenium toxicosis when their serum values are 1500-5000 ppb. Cattle will show symptoms of selenosis (selenium toxicosis) when their serum concentrations approach 2000 ppb.
As far as supplementation goes, a good guide is to give 3 mg selenium in the supplement per day to an adult 1000 pound camel. (An adult average-sized female dromedary usually weighs about 1000 pounds. A big male may weigh 1500 pounds or more). Adjust the dose according to the animal's weight (i.e., a young 500 pound camel would get at least 1.5 mg per day). Equine or llama supplements are the best choice. Cattle supplements should be avoided, as they may contain coccidiostats such as monensin or rumensen which are poisonous to camels. Some common equine vitamin / mineral supplements provide one mg of selenium per "scoop" (check the label!), so you would have to give a 1000 pound camel 3 scoops per day. (However, do not exceed the highest daily dose recommended on the label, as excess supplementation of the other minerals could cause overall imbalances). If you cannot find a good vitamin / mineral supplement that supplies enough selenium, add a straight selenium or selenium / vitamin E supplement as well as the regular vitamin / mineral supplement. To avoid overdosing, be sure to include all the supplement sources together when calculating the total amount of supplemented selenium your camel is receiving.
Of course the best thing is to have your hay analyzed (see the Basic Camel Medicine Tips article on the AllCamels website) and to adjust your supplementation accordingly. The whole ration should supply about 0.3 - 2.0 ppm (mg/kg) per dry weight of ration per day. In other words, each kg (kilogram) of whatever feed (dry weight) that the camel eats per day (either just hay or hay and grain combined) should supply between 0.3 mg and 2.0 mg (milligrams) of selenium. Thus, if you have a 1000 pound camel that is eating 15 pounds (1/4 of a 60 pound bale) of hay per day, that equals 7 kg (kilograms) of hay per day (1 kg = 2.2 pounds). Or if he is eating 6 kg of hay and 1 kg of grain, that is still 7 kg of feed per day. Since hay and grain can average 10% moisture, that means your camel is really eating 6.3 kg dry weight of feed per day. So he needs to be ingesting between 6.3 x 0.3 and 6.3 x 2.0 (1.89 to 12.6) mg of selenium per day. In other words, your 1000 pound camel who is eating 7 kg of feed daily should get about 2-12 mg of selenium per day in all his feed combined. If you have your hay analyzed and it shows that the 7 kg of the hay (or 6 kg of hay and 1 kg of grain, etc.) you are feeding per day only supplies 1-2 mg of selenium per day, you'd better supplement. On the other hand, if your hay provides 5 mg selenium per day but you don't know how much it has because you haven't had it analyzed, you will still be safe giving the camel 3 mg per day in a supplement. Furthermore, if the hay has almost no selenium in it (this is not uncommon, and is possible NO MATTER WHERE you live -- flood irrigation can leach all selenium out of the soil!), and you haven't had the hay analyzed, then giving 3 mg per day in the form of a supplement will keep the selenium levels adequate.
According to Dr. Hall, many species won't get into selenium toxicities until the ration supplies over 5 mg/kg, but he also states that feed concentrations greater than 2-3 mg/kg should be avoided due to individual sensitivities. In other words, assuming that camels are like other species in this regard, your hay and supplements would have to supply over 13-19 mg selenium per day to an adult 1000 pound camel who is eating 7 kg of hay (or hay and grain) per day in order for potential toxicosis to occur. If you are feeding grain as well as hay, the selenium content of the grain should be shown on the label, and you can add this figure to the amount of selenium provided by the hay in determining the total selenium intake. If the selenium content of the grain is not listed, you can contact the manufacturer. Some salt mixes have selenium in them also (but don't count on it). Again, the daily selenium dose of ALL the feeds and supplements combined should be between 2 and 12 mg for a 1000 pound camel who is eating 7 kg of feed per day. Because feeds vary wildly in their selenium content, having your hay analyzed is important. If you haven't had your hay analyzed, do it! If you can't get your hay analyzed -- supplement!!! DON'T assume that the selenium content of the hay is adequate just because you are not in a selenium deficient area. But remember, if you don't have your hay analyzed, selenium excess is still a possibility. Hay analysis is cheap insurance!
Keep in mind that selenium works synergistically with vitamin E. If you are feeding a supplement, use one that has a good vitamin E content, especially if the camel never grazes and is eating hay all year. This is especially important with babies and pregnant or lactating mothers. The supplement should supply more than 100 mg vitamin E per day (hopefully more), preferably in the natural form, as synthetic forms of vitamin E may be degraded in the rumen.
Testing your camel's blood several times per year for selenium concentrations as well as testing the feed is the ideal way to keep track of your camel's selenium status. Drawing blood from camels is fairly easy if they are properly trained for it (see Hobble Training Your Camel on the AllCamels website).
Since selenium deficiencies can cause heart damage in baby camels that may not show up until later in life (i.e. a "heart attack"), it is extremely important to make sure that pregnant or lactating camels and babies get adequate selenium in their diets. However, adequate selenium concentrations are important for the health of all camels, and selenium deficiencies can have heartbreaking and fatal consequences.
Other questions about selenium? Contact:
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