Dreamcatcher Alpacas
Alpaca health · Weather & environment

Heat Stress & Heat Stroke in Alpacas

Updated 2026-10-02By the Dreamcatcher Alpacas editorial team6 peer-reviewed references
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Emergency — call your vet now

This condition can kill within hours. Get veterinary help immediately.

Alpacas come from cool high-altitude grasslands and overheat easily in hot, humid weather — especially in full fleece. Heat stroke can kill.

Category
Weather & environment
Urgency
Emergency
Also called
Hyperthermia, Heat stroke

Signs & symptoms

  • Open-mouth breathing and flared nostrils
  • Rapid breathing, drooling
  • Lethargy, lying down in odd positions, isolation
  • Body temperature above 103°F (39.4°C)
  • Swollen scrotum in males
  • Staggering, collapse and seizures (heat stroke)

Related symptom guides: Alpaca Not Eating, Lethargy & Lying Down a Lot, Drooling & Green Slobber, Fast or Heavy Breathing, Fever (High Temperature), Problems During Pregnancy, Sudden Death in an Alpaca, Swollen Scrotum.

What causes it?

High temperature plus humidity, full fleece, obesity, lack of shade and air movement, exertion and transport.

Risk factors

  • Temperature (°F) + relative humidity (%) above 150
  • Unshorn alpacas in summer
  • Dark fleeces, obese or old animals
  • Transport and handling in the heat

How vets diagnose it

Rectal temperature and clinical signs.

Treatment

Move the alpaca to shade with moving air, cool the belly, armpits, inner thighs and legs with cool (not ice) water, offer fresh water and electrolytes and call your vet if the temperature is above 104°F (40°C) or signs persist.

Do not wait to see if it improves. Camelids hide illness, and by the time signs are obvious the problem is often advanced. Call your veterinarian.

Prevention

  • Shear every spring before hot weather
  • Provide shade, fans and ground-level sprinklers or wading pools
  • Avoid handling, transport and shows in the heat of the day
  • Use the 'temperature + humidity' heat-stress rule
  • Keep animals lean

Background

Hyperthermia, also known as overheating, is a condition in which an individual's body temperature is elevated beyond normal due to failed thermoregulation. The person's body produces or absorbs more heat than it dissipates. According to the International Emergency Medicine Education Project, severe hyperthermia "becomes a medical emergency requiring immediate treatment to prevent disability or death". Almost half a million deaths are recorded every year from hyperthermia.From Wikipedia — “Hyperthermia”, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Research & references

PubMed lists 15 peer-reviewed papers on this topic in camelids. The most relevant include:

  1. Llama reproduction. Johnson LW The Veterinary clinics of North America. Food animal practice, 1989. PubMed 2647232 · DOI · cited 16×
  2. Camelid heat stress: 15 cases (2003-2011). Norton PL, Gold JR, Russell KE et al. The Canadian veterinary journal = La revue veterinaire canadienne, 2014. PubMed 25320390 · cited 4×
  3. Isolation and characterization of a novel nanobody for detection of GRP78 expressing cancer cells. Aghamollaei H, Ghanei M, Rasaee MJ et al. Biotechnology and applied biochemistry, 2021. PubMed 32270531 · DOI · cited 13×
  4. Camelid genomes reveal evolution and adaptation to desert environments. Wu H, Guang X, Al-Fageeh MB et al. Nature communications, 2014. PubMed 25333821 · DOI · cited 221×
  5. Noninfectious diseases, metabolic diseases, toxicities, and neoplastic diseases of South American camelids. Smith JA The Veterinary clinics of North America. Food animal practice, 1989. PubMed 2647230 · DOI · cited 45×
  6. Proteomics of old world camelid (Camelus dromedarius): Better understanding the interplay between homeostasis and desert environment. Warda M, Prince A, Kim HK et al. Journal of advanced research, 2014. PubMed 25685490 · DOI · Free full textOpen access · cited 14×

Frequently asked questions

What is heat Stress & Heat Stroke in alpacas?
Alpacas come from cool high-altitude grasslands and overheat easily in hot, humid weather — especially in full fleece. Heat stroke can kill.
What are the signs of heat Stress & Heat Stroke?
Open-mouth breathing and flared nostrils, rapid breathing, drooling, lethargy, lying down in odd positions, isolation, body temperature above 103°f (39.4°c) and swollen scrotum in males.
How do you prevent heat Stress & Heat Stroke?
Shear every spring before hot weather. Provide shade, fans and ground-level sprinklers or wading pools. Avoid handling, transport and shows in the heat of the day.
Is heat Stress & Heat Stroke an emergency?
Emergency — call your vet now. This condition can kill within hours. Get veterinary help immediately.

This page is educational and does not replace advice from a veterinarian who has examined your animals. Camelid medicine uses many drugs “extra-label”, so dosing must come from your vet. In an emergency, call your vet first. Read our disclaimer · How we write and review content.