Dreamcatcher Alpacas
Alpaca health · Nutritional & metabolic

Selenium & Vitamin E Deficiency in Alpacas

Updated 2026-10-02By the Dreamcatcher Alpacas editorial team6 peer-reviewed references
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Not usually an emergency, but it needs a diagnosis and a plan.

Low selenium and vitamin E cause muscle damage (white muscle disease) in crias and reproductive and immune problems in adults. Large parts of North America have selenium-poor soils.

Category
Nutritional & metabolic
Urgency
Book a vet visit soon
Also called
White muscle disease, Nutritional myodegeneration

Signs & symptoms

  • Crias that are weak, stiff, unable to stand or suckle
  • Trembling and difficulty breathing
  • Sudden death (heart muscle damage)
  • Adults: retained placenta, poor fertility, weak immunity

Related symptom guides: Hind Leg Weakness & Wobbly Walk.

What causes it?

Forage grown on selenium-poor soils, combined with low vitamin E from old hay.

Risk factors

  • Low-selenium regions (Pacific Northwest, Great Lakes, Northeast, Atlantic Southeast)
  • Hay-only diets without supplements
  • Stored hay older than a year (low vitamin E)

How vets diagnose it

Whole-blood selenium or glutathione peroxidase and serum vitamin E levels; test several animals in the herd.

Treatment

Injectable selenium/vitamin E by your vet plus dietary correction. Selenium has a narrow safety margin — never give extra on your own.

Prevention

  • Feed a camelid mineral or ration formulated for your region
  • Blood-test a few animals each year in low-selenium areas
  • Know your hay's origin

Background

Nutritional Muscular Dystrophy is a disease caused by a deficiency of selenium and vitamin E in dietary intake. Soils that contain low levels of selenium produce forages and grains that are deficient in selenium. Similarly, if the forage is of low quality or is not stored properly, it may be deficient in vitamin E. If an animal consumes this type of diet without additional supplementation they become susceptible to this disease. This condition often affects young ruminants, such as calves and lambs.From Wikipedia — “Nutritional muscular dystrophy”, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Research & references

PubMed lists 14 peer-reviewed papers on this topic in camelids. The most relevant include:

  1. Blood mineral and vitamin E concentrations in llamas. Smith BB, Van Saun RJ, Reed PJ et al. American journal of veterinary research, 1998. PubMed 9706214 · cited 13×
  2. Morphology and Immunoexpression of Selenoproteins in Term Placenta of Alpaca (Vicugna pacos) from the Peruvian Andes. Navarrete Zamora MB, Acuña F, Duarte da Silva M et al. Biology, 2025. PubMed 39857295 · DOI · Free full textOpen access
  3. Characterization of Asia 1 sdAb from camels bactrianus (C. bactrianus) and conjugation with quantum dots for imaging FMDV in BHK-21 cells. Yin S, Yang S, Shang Y et al. PloS one, 2013. PubMed 23737944 · DOI · Free full textOpen access · cited 11×
  4. Blood selenium and zinc concentration of female alpacas (Vicugna pacos) and their offspring during different physiological conditions. Mendivil SAV, Rojas MGE, Bravo CAG Open veterinary journal, 2023. PubMed 38107221 · DOI · Free full textOpen access · cited 1×
  5. Fructosamine in llamas (Lama glama) is associated with sex, body condition score, and hematologic and serum parameters. Wagener MG, Kiene F, Buchallik-Schregel J et al. American journal of veterinary research, 2024. PubMed 39047779 · DOI · cited 2×
  6. Measurement of cardiac troponin I utilizing a point of care analyzer in healthy alpacas. Blass KA, Kraus MS, Rishniw M et al. Journal of veterinary cardiology : the official journal of the European Society of Veterinary Cardiology, 2011. PubMed 22030292 · DOI · cited 14×

Frequently asked questions

What is selenium & Vitamin E Deficiency in alpacas?
Low selenium and vitamin E cause muscle damage (white muscle disease) in crias and reproductive and immune problems in adults. Large parts of North America have selenium-poor soils.
What are the signs of selenium & Vitamin E Deficiency?
Crias that are weak, stiff, unable to stand or suckle, trembling and difficulty breathing, sudden death (heart muscle damage) and adults: retained placenta, poor fertility, weak immunity.
How do you prevent selenium & Vitamin E Deficiency?
Feed a camelid mineral or ration formulated for your region. Blood-test a few animals each year in low-selenium areas. Know your hay's origin.
Is selenium & Vitamin E Deficiency an emergency?
Book a vet visit soon. Not usually an emergency, but it needs a diagnosis and a plan.

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.