Author Topic: Sneezy sheep (Read 4096 times)

Oopsiboughtasheep · « **on:** April 27, 2015, 09:35:34 am »

One of my Zwartbles has had a weird sort of a sneeze going on. 2 days ago I noticed her doing it occasionally. It's sort of like she has something inside her nose, or something that has irritated her nose, that she is trying to sneeze out so that's exactly what I thought was happening. It may be that's what's going on. It doesn't seem to distress her and she is eating, drinking and playing with the other 3 quite happily. No sign of discharge at all. The other 3 are fine. She is up to date with her vaccs with Hep P and no sign of maggots anywhere near her head. I haven't Clik'd them yet (but intend to do them this week), so I know she hasn't got any of the spray up her nose.
I am new to sheep (only 7months) so this is a first for me. I know this probably sounds completely ridiculous but do some sheep get sensitive to pollens in the Spring? If I was worried, I wouldn't hesitate to call the Vet but its just a bit odd and only occasional. However, I don't want to overlook it if it might be important so I would value any advice please.
Many thanks.

Fleecewife · « **Reply #1 on:** April 27, 2015, 11:12:51 am »

Check for nasal bots. I've never seen them and never had them in our flock. They apparently cause sneezing when the eggs are being ejected, months after the original fly has got to them. Obviously this will spread more eggs onto the pasture, to develop into flies to infect other sheep. As far as I know there are no dedicated treatments.
Hopefully someone who has experience of nasal bots will come along.

kanisha · « **Reply #2 on:** April 27, 2015, 12:21:05 pm »

Nasal bot flies - The flies are a brown / honey coloured furry looking thing that hatches out in the warm weather and will lay their eggs in the nasal passages of the sheep. The larvae can overwinter in the sheeps nose avoiding a hard frost which kills off any in the ground. These will become active in spring. Having had a problem with these in my flock I use injectable ivermectin late autumn or early spring to break the lifecycle. Haven't had any difficulties with them for a good few years . Its likely the sneezing will settle down.

Oopsiboughtasheep · « **Reply #3 on:** April 27, 2015, 10:06:15 pm »

Many thanks Fleecwife and Kanisha. I have just had a look up about this on the Internet and it sounds exactly like that. The sheep isn't sneezing this evening, so presumeably the larvae must have come out now. Will keep an eye out for this in future and use ivermectin if they become a problem.

farmvet · « **Reply #4 on:** April 27, 2015, 11:03:57 pm »

yes some sheep do seem to sneeze with pollens, also with hay, sunshine etc. Just like humans they're all individual in their sensitivity to irritants

Oopsiboughtasheep · « **Reply #5 on:** April 28, 2015, 09:01:38 pm »

Thank you farmvet, thats very useful to know.

ewesaidit · « **Reply #6 on:** May 01, 2015, 08:12:17 pm »

I've had one (a zwartbles) that did this, along with other symptoms, and she turned out to have photosensitivity - sensitivity to sunlight. She sort of sneezed/shook her head but also the irritation caused her to rub her nose to the extent that this skin became quite swollen and broken. This only affected her white bits - blaze and hind socks. This was only a temporary mid-summer issue. Vet explained she would have eaten something (i.e. St John's Wort I think) that triggered the sensitivity. Never did find anything unusual that she may have eaten.

Quite rare and it's more likely to be what the other replies say that but thought I would mention it in case. Hope you get to the bottom of it.

Marches Farmer · « **Reply #7 on:** May 01, 2015, 09:28:26 pm »

We have St John's Wort growing in our wood and I go through the wood at this time of year pulling it up as it can cause quite a severe reaction.

Oopsiboughtasheep · « **Reply #8 on:** May 01, 2015, 10:15:01 pm »

Thankyou both for the St. John's Wort information. We don't have any of that on the land as far as I know but its useful to know about. My sheep, 'Floss' hasn't sneezed since the evening of my first post, so maybe she just had something up her nose. I'm not really sure. I will be vigilant for SJW and Bot Flies now though. My other Zwartble has got quite a lot of pink on her nose and I have wondered if she will need sunblock on that in the summer if she is sensitive to the strong sunlight. I used to have to do this to my piebald horse or his nose got very sore. I can't see my sheep being too keen on the idea!

ewesaidit · « **Reply #9 on:** May 02, 2015, 11:14:19 am »

Hi again Oops.. Glad your ewe is ok Haven't had a problem with sunburn in any of my Zs over 7 years but suppose it's not impossible. For info - when I did have one with broken skin I used Sudocrem which worked really well