The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: SallyintNorth on May 03, 2012, 11:29:07 pm
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Hoping someone can suggest something to help this wee lamb.
A friend is caring for some pet (cade / orphan / tame ) lambs, one of which has a sore mouth. It sounded like orf when she described it, but when we went to have a look we didn't think it looked like orf.
Sorry I didn't have a camera with me, so no picture. I'll try to paint one with words.
Around the corners of the mouth the skin is bare, pink, cracked and thickened. She says it bleeds when she feeds them. She's been keeping it clean, wiping it with salty warm water after feeding. Anyone who's ever had or come across eczema, it looks like healing eczema skin - thickened and hard, not scabby, but looks like it could bleed without much encouragement.
Under the nostrils there are some thick scabby bits, which look a bit more like orf, but could be something else; they could even be hardeded snot. They don't seem to bleed or be sore.
There look to be a few healed / healing scabs on the softer tissue between the lips and the nose.
My friend is distressed that the lamb bleeds from the corners of the mouth when fed and she is wanting us to suggest some treatment. We're stumped - it isn't dirty or infected, so no need for iodine, antiseptic or antibiotic spray (though we have told her to keep on with the warm salt water wash.) Equally, no apparent infection so nothing to indicate that an antibiotic injection is required.
My only thought was milk burn. It's unlikely she's fed them too-hot milk although could be possible they'd have had one feed that was over-strong.
They're on a bucket-with-teats system; the teats are very soft, similar to the non-vac bottle teats. She's keeping the teats scrupulously clean, and is also making sure that this lamb always has the same teat and doesn't give that teat to any other lamb.
I think the only treatment is going to be something that soothes and heals - any suggestions on what to use on bare thick skin in the corners of a lamb's mouth?
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:wave: Sudocrem? It's magic :thumbsup:
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Thanks FW :wave: Have passed the suggestion along - will report back :)
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Just a thought Sally but the lamb can't suck any hurdles or fences that have toxic 'old lead' paint on them or anything like that? Just remembered something similar on the old James Herriot vet programs!
Hope lamby improves.
Mandy :pig:
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Just a thought Sally but the lamb can't suck any hurdles or fences that have toxic 'old lead' paint on them or anything like that? Just remembered something similar on the old James Herriot vet programs!
Funnily enough.... just been to see the little fella and hand over some Sudocrem - and his mate was sucking on weldmesh. No paint, but they're in old dog kennels (it used to be a boarding kennels) - must be 30+ years old. Would 30-year old weldmesh have any toxicity, d'you think?
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I'd be very tempted tp spray the lambs lips with alamycin (blue) spray. Any secondary infection will be killed out allowing the lams immune system to tackle the root cause. It's fairly cheap and with no ill effects. zinc in tha galvy weld mesh??? are they looking for salt?
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zinc in tha galvy weld mesh??? are they looking for salt?
Interesting question... my friend was rinsing the sore skin with salty water to keep infection out, is now trying Sudocrem instead. As of today, the sore lamb was not chewing on the weldmesh, while its pen-mate, who is not sore and who did not get salty water, was chewing on the weldmesh... Will monitor and report again...