As part of a larger project investigating the development and heritability of
choanal atresia glama), it was necessary to develop a protocol for aborting llamas at various stages of gestation. Twenty-seven animals between 4 and 7 mo of gestation were successfully aborted a total of 53 times following two 250 microg
intramuscular injections of
cloprostenol at 24 h intervals. Abortion was induced once in 10 animals and multiple times (range 2 to 5) in 17 animals. Twenty-four animals (45.2%) aborted 3 d following the first injection, with 20 animals (37.7%) aborting 4 d post
prostaglandin administration. Other animals aborted at 2 d (n=6, 11.3%), 5 d (n=2, 3.8%), and 7 d (n=1, 1.9%) following
drug administration. Forty-nine (92.5%) of the abortions occurred following a single series of
injections, while 4 animals (7.5%) aborted following a second series of
injections. No confirmed pregnant animals failed to abort following the second series of
cloprostenol injections. Conception rates in animals rebred 2 to 4 wk following an abortion were comparable to those of untreated animals in the research herd. Unlike the severe
hypertension and death that has been reported following
dinoprost tromethamine administration in the llama, no adverse reactions were observed in this study following
cloprostenol administration. The results demonstrate that llamas can be safely and effectively aborted up to 7 mo of gestation (normal full term gestation = 342 +/- 10 days) without adverse effects on subsequent fertility.