Termination of unwanted pregnancy in a llama with cloprostenol and subsequent pregnancy: a case report

A 5-yr-old female llama was presented by its owner for an elective abortion. The llama was accidentally bred to an unknown, and possibly related, male about 2.5 mo prior to presentation. The pregnancy was first confirmed by ultrasonography then cloprostenol (150 microg im) was administered once. Cloprostenol, an analogue of prostaglandin F2alpha, was chosen in preference to natural PGF2alpha due to reported adverse reactions in llamas to this abortifacient. Blood serum progesterone levels decreased rapidly from 5.7 to < 0.2 ng/ml at 0 to 60 h post injection, respectively. The aborted fetus was expelled at approximately 108 h after the injection. Twenty days post abortion the llama was rebred. At 27 and 87 d post breeding, pregnancy was indicated first by male refusal and then by elevated serum progesterone concentrations and was confirmed by ultrasonography. Following a 355 d gestation period, a male cria was born. This case provides evidence that an abortion can be induced with cloprostenol without an adverse effect on future fertility in the llama.