Quidding in Alpaca: Is Dental Disease Causing Feed Dropping?
- Quidding means your alpaca is chewing feed into wads and dropping it, often because the mouth is painful or chewing is inefficient.
- Dental disease is one important cause, but overgrown incisors, fighting teeth problems, oral injury, feed packing, weight loss, and other illnesses can also contribute.
- Many alpacas with cheek-tooth problems need sedation for a complete oral exam because the back teeth sit far back in a small mouth.
- Call your vet promptly if quidding lasts more than a day, your alpaca is losing weight, drooling, has bad breath, facial swelling, or seems reluctant to eat.
What Is Quidding in Alpaca?
Quidding means an alpaca chews hay or feed into partially chewed balls and then drops them from the mouth instead of swallowing normally. Pet parents may notice damp wads of hay on the ground, slower eating, or feed falling from one side of the mouth. Quidding is a sign, not a diagnosis.
In alpacas, quidding often raises concern for dental disease because chewing depends on healthy incisors, fighting teeth, and cheek teeth working together. Camelids have a small oral cavity, and the back teeth are difficult to examine without proper restraint. That means significant mouth problems can be easy to miss until feed dropping, weight loss, or poor body condition becomes obvious.
Dental disease is not the only possibility. Mouth pain, oral ulcers, feed packed between teeth, jaw infection, trauma, or other illnesses that reduce chewing strength can all lead to quidding. Your vet can help sort out whether the problem is primarily dental, nutritional, infectious, or a combination.
Symptoms of Quidding in Alpaca
- Dropping partially chewed hay or feed wads
- Eating slowly or stopping frequently during meals
- Weight loss or declining body condition
- Excess salivation or a wet chin
- Bad breath or foul odor from the mouth
- Swelling along the jaw or face
- Preference for softer feeds and reluctance to chew hay
- Feed packing in the cheeks or visible mouth discomfort
A small amount of feed dropping once can happen if an alpaca is startled or eating coarse forage, but repeated quidding is not normal. Worry more if your alpaca is losing weight, acting hungry but unable to finish meals, drooling, or showing facial swelling. See your vet sooner rather than later, because chronic chewing problems can lead to poor nutrition, dehydration, and worsening dental disease.
What Causes Quidding in Alpaca?
Dental disease is a leading concern when an alpaca starts dropping feed. Problems may include abnormal wear, overgrown incisors, diseased or loose teeth, periodontal infection, tooth-root infection, retained feed trapped around teeth, or painful fighting teeth. Although sharp cheek teeth are often normal in camelids and routine floating is not needed as often as in horses, painful dental abnormalities still occur and can interfere with chewing.
Cheek-tooth disease can be especially hard to spot at home because those teeth sit far back in the mouth. An alpaca may keep eating despite discomfort, then gradually lose weight or start quidding more often. In some cases, pet parents notice bad breath, one-sided chewing, swelling over the jaw, or nasal discharge if infection tracks deeper.
Not every case is dental. Oral trauma, foreign material in the mouth, ulcers, jaw injury, neurologic disease, severe parasitism, chronic illness, or poor-quality forage that is difficult to chew can also contribute. That is why your vet will usually look at the whole alpaca, not only the teeth.
How Is Quidding in Alpaca Diagnosed?
Diagnosis starts with a history and physical exam. Your vet will ask when the feed dropping began, what type of hay or pellets your alpaca eats, whether there has been weight loss, and if you have seen drooling, swelling, or bad breath. Body condition, hydration, manure output, and the ability to prehend and chew feed all matter.
A full oral exam is often the key step. Because alpacas have a small mouth and the cheek teeth are difficult to visualize, many need sedation for a meaningful dental evaluation. Your vet may examine the incisors and fighting teeth first, then use a speculum, light, and palpation to assess the back teeth and soft tissues more completely.
If your vet suspects deeper disease, imaging may be recommended. Skull radiographs are commonly used, and advanced cases may need CT to evaluate tooth roots, bone changes, abscesses, or surgical planning before extraction. Additional tests can include bloodwork, fecal testing, or nutritional review if weight loss or poor overall health is part of the picture.
Treatment Options for Quidding in Alpaca
Spectrum of Care means you have options. Here are treatment tiers at different price points.
Budget-Conscious Care
- Farm call or office exam
- Basic oral assessment, including incisors and visible mouth structures
- Body condition and hydration check
- Short-term diet adjustment to softer, easier-to-chew forage or soaked pellets if your vet recommends it
- Targeted pain control or supportive care when appropriate
- Monitoring of weight, appetite, and manure output
Recommended Standard Treatment
- Complete veterinary exam
- Sedated oral exam for better visualization of cheek teeth
- Dental trimming or correction when indicated, such as overgrown incisors or problematic fighting teeth
- Basic skull radiographs if your vet suspects deeper dental disease
- Pain management and follow-up feeding plan
- Recheck to confirm eating and weight are improving
Advanced / Critical Care
- Referral-level dental workup
- Skull radiographs and/or CT for tooth-root or jaw disease
- Dental extraction or oral surgery when indicated
- Anesthesia or deeper restraint for complex procedures
- Hospitalization, IV or intensive supportive care in select cases
- Longer-term pain control, infection management, and nutritional support directed by your vet
Cost estimates as of 2026-03. Actual costs vary by location, clinic, and individual case.
Questions to Ask Your Vet About Quidding in Alpaca
Bring these questions to your vet appointment to get the most out of your visit.
- Does this look most consistent with dental disease, or are there other likely causes of the feed dropping?
- Does my alpaca need sedation for a complete oral exam, and what are the benefits and risks?
- Are the incisors, fighting teeth, or cheek teeth the main concern in this case?
- Would skull radiographs be enough, or do you recommend referral for CT or advanced dental care?
- What feeding changes would help my alpaca maintain weight while the mouth problem is being addressed?
- What signs would mean this has become urgent, such as dehydration, facial swelling, or inability to eat?
- What is the expected cost range for the next step, including sedation, imaging, and possible extraction?
- How often should my alpaca have routine dental checks going forward?
How to Prevent Quidding in Alpaca
Prevention starts with routine observation. Watch your alpaca eat hay and pellets, and pay attention to dropped feed, slower chewing, weight loss, or a change in manure output. Because alpacas often hide discomfort, early small changes can be the first clue that the mouth needs attention.
Schedule regular wellness visits with your vet and ask whether your alpaca needs periodic dental checks based on age, sex, and prior dental history. Intact males may need fighting teeth management after eruption, while some alpacas benefit from monitoring for overgrown incisors or abnormal wear. Routine floating is not needed for every camelid, so the goal is targeted dental care rather than automatic procedures.
Good forage quality matters too. Offer clean, appropriate hay, avoid moldy or stemmy feed when possible, and make sure timid herd members can eat without competition. If an alpaca has had previous dental trouble, your vet may recommend more frequent body-condition checks and earlier re-evaluation at the first sign of quidding.