Sick lamb

[Keren]

One of the drop offs at my place.

2 week old merino ewe lamb, weighed 2.7 kg at birth, is now down to 2.3 kg. She was doing well until 4 days ago, when she started losing control of her legs and losing weight. Still eating, drinking, pooing and peeing, but cant seem to walk around as well as before. Have been giving milk, electrolytes both orally and injected under the skin, gave an A-D-E injection and also oxytet as a precautionary.

Never seen this before, any ideas?

 

[Nured]

Keren, If your area is selenium deficient, give the lamb a shot of .5 to 1 ml of selenium. It should help.

 

[dyates]

Keren, If your area is selenium deficient, give the lamb a shot of .5 to 1 ml of selenium. It should help.

right on. BoSe, not MuSe.

 

[Keren]

Gave selenium, not a lot of change.

Now weighing 1.5 kg.

This lamb has got me stumped. It doesnt look like its about to keel over, but at the same time its not right. Its not as active as it should be at 2 wks, it doesnt walk around and hoover, it doesnt baa everytime someone goes past, it doesnt walk around and explore, it just sits and looks.

Today has scours and a bit of a rattle so gave more antibiotics.

 

[Loch Valley Fold]

If the lamb has a rattle I would be thinking chest infection is there any chance she could have caught a chill from some where? ie before you got her or is her pen draught free? do you have a small dog rug to use on the lamb. These cold winter days are hard on little lambs I know my uncle has many times brought in a small twin & left it beside the fire in a large cardboard box during the nights

 

[Keren]

If the lamb has a rattle I would be thinking chest infection is there any chance she could have caught a chill from some where? ie before you got her or is her pen draught free? do you have a small dog rug to use on the lamb. These cold winter days are hard on little lambs I know my uncle has many times brought in a small twin & left it beside the fire in a large cardboard box during the nights

LVF, the rattle is a new development from when I have had her. She has been wearing a woolover lamb cover since day one. And she has been in a box in the kitchen since she started going downhill.

Actually, yesterday I was convinced she was going to die. Today ... I think I may have won a little bit. She is back up to 2.4 kg and looking a bit brighter. Certainly walking round and making more noise.

When I raise lambs (or anything for that matter) I start them on DiVetelact low lactose milk replacer for the first week, this is a really really good formula but it is so expensive ($35 for 500g) so I cannot raise animals solely on it. After 1 week I change them over to Palastart, which is a calf milk replacer but suitable for all animals. It is the best stuff available in bulk ($90 for a 20kg bag) and I have never had any problems with it. But I am suspecting that for some reason, this lamb was intolerant to the Palastart and couldnt absorb any nutrients from it. And she was just starving and wasting away. Because I think this all coincided with the switch over from DiVetelact to Palastart and now I have put her straight back to DiVetelact she has gained weight. She's going to be a bloody expensive lamb though if she can only take DiVetelact lol

So looking good at the moment.

 

[Loch Valley Fold]

Hi Karen,
I know how pricey DiVetelact is we reared a miniature foal on it from birth. We brought it in a 10kg bag I think it was got it through our local saddlery place. Have you used or tried Pro-Xation (sp?) it may be too late now but it is used to give the body a large boost of antibodies this stuff comes in a powder or liquid. Other than that goats milk would be the other choice of feeding that I can think of.

 

[Keren]

Hi loch,

:shock: I cant imagine rearing a foal from birth to wean on DiVetelact. It is really good stuff though, I would raise animals solely on it if it wasnt so dear.

The lamb is doing pretty well at the moment. She's had copious amounts of protexin (similar to the stuff you mentioned I think) and hasnt had a lot of effect, but my bottle babies get protexin routinely after the first two days (colostrum), they get it in the bottle of DiVetelact for five days.

I can get DiVetelact in a bucket I think its 10kg for $130? Could be a 10kg I'm not sure.

I'm beginning to think she is lactose intolerant, as the DiVetelact is very low lactose while the Palastart is quite high, being formulated mainly for calves.

The next lot of goats at work will be kidding from the 1 August, so if the lamb is still alive then I will 'rent' a doe from work and try her on goats milk, which is naturally low lactose. I dont have anything currently milking at the moment.

Thanks for your help and ideas.

Keren.