The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: Michelle.L. on August 19, 2021, 07:24:24 pm
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Hi all,
Yesterday we noticed white worm/egg looking things in one of our pet lambs droppings. Got a sample to the vet for feacal egg count. Today, rather suddenly (within 20 minutes or so) he started to seem off, standing with drooping ears, not moving. Then he squirted basically liquid diarrhea (greenish brown) - literally squirted. After that he lay down for about 3 minutes and then seemed to perk up a bit. He's chewing cud now and grazed a bit. But still seems a bit off and when he's lying down it's just dripping out of him :-(
The vet wants to wait for the results before doing anything, unless there is blood or the lamb gets worse. But as I am worried I just wanted to ask on here if anyone has seen anything like this before or has any ideas?
Thank you!
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Could the vet not give you a result to the egg count that day ? Ours do it in house and results are either same day as dropping sample off, or at the very latest the next day. It could be any number of things, which is why they are waiting for the result, as each problem has different treatments. If the lamb is ok in himself then it’s probably ok to wait for the results but I’d expect them back tomorrow before the weekend.
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I dropped the sample off today, as we only discovered the worms in the dropping last night when the vet was already closed. Not sure they do it in house here, didn't sound like it. But I very much hope they'll have the results tomorrow!
The lamb continues in the same pattern. Seems fine-ish for a while, grazing and walking about normally, then after a while he gets still and then another "explosion" out the backside... And then it starts at the beginning.
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He's not much better today. In the morning the diarrhea had firmed up minimally but went back to liquid in the course of the day. Still green brown.
The vet won't have the results before next week. Gave her an update in the morning and she gave me drenches for worms, fluke and cocci which I administered this afternoon.
The lamb is about 5 months old. And he's just grazing, no concentrates or anything. He has a salt lick stone, plenty of water and had a mineral drench when he was weaned off the bottle.
To the best of my knowledge there is nothing poisonous in the pasture, also no recent change.
He was grazing a bit today but not much. I offered him some hay, but he wasn't interested. He's not lethargic but lying down a lot it just standing around, definitely weakened.
Is there anything I can give him to help dry up the diarrhea?
Will call the vet first thing tomorrow morning too, if the diarrhea hasn't improved. But I'm grateful for any advice.
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Most vets should offer in house egg count testing, it’s such an important part of keeping livestock especially sheep. So it may be worth finding a vet that can offer this service with same day results. There’s no point waiting days for a result- the animal could be dead by then.
If it was worms or cocci he would be drying up within 24 hours. There would be a marked improvement by the next day. If it was just grass going through him, some hay to pick at in the field will help.
I think I would call the vet back tomorrow if he’s still no better, though am not sure what they would do other than give him anti inflammatory, maybe an electrolyte drench. Could run bloods I suppose :thinking:
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sounds like cocci or just too fresh grass ...... you have drenched for cocci so should be better in 48 hours (my goat kids were from same symptoms)
Think I might have taken off grass for most of day and fed hay
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So, the lamb is doing much better. Got electrolytes and a drench for his rumen.
Now the question is: how do I get his filthy bum clean again? Any advice for a novice?
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Clip it off aka crutch him out, if you don’t have a set of clippers buy a pair of jakoti shears and trim his tail and bum. Watch though as they are sharp.