I received a two year old male about 6 months ago who was surrendered for aggressive tendencies. I gelded him about 6 weeks ago and have not been giving him much grain and never by hand to not encourage aggressiveness. That all may be beside the point unless he is deficient in nutrients. He has a very dry looking and cracked - or is it caked or scales- front right foot. He let me soak it for 5-10 minutes in a bath of diluted betadine. I took pictures and sent them to a vet tech who’s veterinarian contact said mineral deficiency. Also they said to scrape it off(?) Its not scrapable that I can tell - but i haven’t tried seriously. Only one foot is affected. he lives with 6 other geldings on an acre that is very dry and we clean their beans up very regularly. He is not limping and doesn’t seem to mind when I touch it. Two other geldings in the same field came from starvation situations (I am a llama rescue so I see a lot of tough cases) and their feet are fine. I haven’t seen this in 15 years of llama rescue and 90% of them are neglected and 20-30% undernourished and a few die from the extended starvation conditions. So I’m wondering if it is dietary. He is not actually that interested in the stock feed (12% protein) or llama maintenance feed. But will eat a little. The vet also suggested he could have a heavy parasite load so the reason for deficiency. I put out some loose minerals but I don’t think he is interested. I gave him B complex injection. I also have A/D but have not given it. He came from the Boulder Colorado area and was the only male in a herd of 12 llamas where he was born. He was slightly spoiled from what I guess is hand feeding and petting. He is overly assertive but with the right hand communication he is ok and easy to handle. Any inputs are appreciated. I think Marty will add my photos. thank you Lynda at Llamas del Sol, a 501c3 Llama rescue
