The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: Templelands on February 01, 2013, 08:35:51 am
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Hi All
A couple of days ago one of our Ewes just stayed at the bottom of the field when we moved the others. Went down and she was lying down, looking listless.
We moved her head and she looked like she went into a fit like state with her mouth opening and shutting quickly and her head nodding. We phoned the vet who felt it was maybe wind that needed to be released. We had to carry her up a hill and brought her in for the night.
Checked on her yesterday morning and she was bright but still lying down. She had defactated behind herself, but hadn't moved. She was eating hay and drinking water we popped next to her.
Phoned the vet again, (a different one this time) and he felt it might be milk toxicity. He asked us to go to the practice where he gave us a pain killer to inject just to ensure she wasn't in pain, and a massive bottle of a calcium and magnesium supplement to try- needs 100cc's injected under the skin.
Did that last night and looked in on her this morning. Still bright - still eating like there is no tomorrow, but still lying down. Tried to get her up and bless she does try, but can't. She's 6 and a Zwartble - shes never had a problem lambing.
The vet is coming down later this afternoon - but anyone else any thoughts about what this could be?
Thanks
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How close is she to lambing, unlikely to be twin lamb disease if she is eating well, do you know how many she is carrying? it may be worth drenching her with extra energy and b12 anyway?
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My money's on twin lamb disease. Vet will give her a drench full of goodies and probably another infusion of calcium, this time with magnesium. She may stay down for days but hopefully she will get up. Watch her because sometimes they do it again. She'll be fine once she's lambed.
In case you have another case, here's my vet's crib sheet for handling pregnancy-related metabolic disturbances : linky (http://www.accidentalsmallholder.net/forum/index.php?topic=12927.msg136877#msg136877)
Get yourself a bottle of twin lamb drench and use it when any pregnant ewe goes down - it can do no harm and if needed, then the sooner it's given the better.
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Sounds very similar to how one of my ewes (Suffolk x charollais) behaved last lambing season - about one week before she was due to lamb. It turned out to be Twin Lamb disease and after a couple of days dosing and injecting, she was up, eating and lambed unaided two smashing lambs. She had never had issues before either in all her 5 years of lambing. I am keeping a special eye on her this year!
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Only ever had one case of twin lamb disease and was at a loss as to why, for she was in good condition and had been fed the same as the rest of the flock, but when we got her in the shed we found she had a thorn in her foot which had caused an abscess, although she wasn't limping - it had been hidden by her wool. The stress had catapulted her into twin lamb. We gave her the usual treatment and she was fine.
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Thanks All - I will mention this to the VET. Surprised he hasn't already.
She is due from March 30th - Tup went in with them from November 5th. Not sure how many she is carrying but she is starting to get quite big. I'll get the vet to scan them all when he is down. We only have 7!
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Are you sure she isn't due earlier? 2 months off from lambing is a bit early for twin lamb disease especially as you are feeding her.
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She can't be due earlier as the first time she saw the Tup was 5th November. If anything it will be later.
We are not sure it is twin lamb disease but can get the Vet to check when he comes down - so far it has been telephone consultations only but he is down this afternoon to look for himself.
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We've got a twin lamber in our shed at the moment, found her down and wheelbarrowed her back to the shed. We feed well and have buckets out, but who knows, occasionally we still get them.
Sometimes i think they don't come up for the buckets or perhaps get beaten out of the feed trough, when you have a lot one can slip through the net, so we can only blame ourselves it is puely a husbandry problem.
Anyway point is she has taken a long time to come round and sometimes they do even after calcium and she lays down a lot, although is chewing cud. we also treated for a touch of pneumonia which is around a lot this year due to the weather.
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My money is def on twin lamb disease....sorry....
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Hope your ewe is now improving, what did the vet say when he examined her?
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Hi - thanks for the concern Blacksheep :) . Shes still the same - if not a bit worse. Vet said defo not Twin Lamb - too early. She said sometimes Ewes go downhill without much of an explanation. Wasn't sure what it is.
She left an energy drench that we are giving here every day. When she is fed she eats no problems at all, but she just wont get up. She's gone from being bright and alert to head down and lethargic unless there is a bucket of food there - thats what the vet is finding strange.
She doesn't look well and is struggling. I'm waiting for the vet to call back so I can ask how long we keep this up for. There has to be a point when you have to draw a line and help the poor thing.
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I still think its twin lamb! We found a sheep several years ago who had wandered off confused from her flock and gone through or over several hedges before ending up in a friends garden. She ate cake no problem but was going down hill....2 days later when collected by owner she was a bit worse but not a lot and still ate....she died of twin lamb disease 4 days later as I found out when I called the owner to check...I think your vet is wrong...sorry, but I do.....some TLD do not follow the vets text books and if she or he has not a lot of experience of sheep then they will not realise this....and you will have a dead sheep and a large bill :-\
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I agree with Woollyval - I think this is twin lamb too. Sounds so very like my ewe of last year. I would get the vet back and injected/drenched to treat Twin lamb and see what happens. Just leaving you with an energy drench is not enough.
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So the vet says that the treatment we are giving her - Glucose drench and Calcium injections should cover us for Twin Lamb and Milk Fever.
She's going to call back in an hour with another suggestion after talking it through with a colleague.
Will keep you posted. What normally treats TLD and do Ewes recover - a lot of the sites online reckon its single digit percentages. The other Ewes were checked over when the vet was here and are all in good nick. This Ewe thats ill isn't.
I'd hope the vet would scan all the ewes but they dont do it. Any ideas where we could get this done? In South Lanarkshire but only a small flock.
Thanks
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Unbeknown to me - a few weeks ago the Vet thought one of our guys might have had fluke. She treat the whole flock (well all 9 of them). She thinks this Ewe has had a dose of fluke and just is not recovering. Its amazing what you get to know from your OH when you are passing on messages.
Anyway - vet says that its probably time to call the knacker as she has been down too long now. Its hard as she is eating really well and starting to put weight on. She has been lying down for 6 days now, shows no signs of getting up and still has 8 weeks to go before she is due to lamb. Caught between a rock and a hard place. You want to keep her going, but also she does sometimes look like she is really struggling.
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If she is eating and drinking I would personally give her a further chance for recovery. 6 days is a long time to be down, and if she was not eating then fair enough to PTS, but she seems to have a will to live - quite unusual in sheep ::). Is she inside? If she is, why not try leaving the shed door open to see if she is enticed to stand and get out outside under her own steam - that sometimes works, particularly if you can have one or two of your other sheep around and about for her to see! :fc:
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A bad fluke infestation might take two doses of flukicide to get rid of it (say a couple of weeks apart?) ... that might be worth a shot if you are out of other ideas.
I would personally whack in some more twin lamb drench, just for completeness (every daily), and probably the calcium too. I think there is a cheap recipe for a TL drench in The Sheep Book ... egg yoke and glucose or something, sorry I don't have it to hand at the mo, or buy some pre-made up from your agri merchant. If she is eating and drinking then she probably wants to live, so do as much as you can for her :).
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Keep going....just remember to turn her and stand her up so she can wee! If she is still cudding there is hope...and flat lucozade and glucose.....a good couple of sport bottles a day too as a drench...cheaper than tld drench, also other recipes online.
Don't get the knacker until its a lot worse as she is trying hard to live!
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Cynical me says try another vet :innocent:
A ewe who is eating and gaining condition to me does not sound like she is dying.
A friend and I once rescued a flock of malnourished terribly neglected sheep. One went down in the trailer when we collected them. Had the vet out she had at least 5 weeks to go before lambing. This girl was so emaciated the vet could not give her an IM injection as she had nothing to inject into!
She was drenched daily, turned 4 times a day, legs flexed and stretched etc etc.
4 weeks later she stood up on her own, the following day she took herself out to the orchard and 4 days after that she lambed twins and reared them to weaning.
We were told to have her put down on day 5 ;)
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Thanks all. Always like a happy ending colliewoman :-) I've just been told try another vet too by a fellow smallholder that couldn't believe our Vets dont scan!
I'll get some lucozade and glucose and we will drench away. We are going to try and get her to stand but will flex her legs. We still have plenty of teh calcium supplement too.
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Ewe died this morning :-( but we tried our best.
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Oh sorry to hear that Templelands - not easy knowing what the right thing to do is - but you gave it a good go :hug:
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Really sorry to hear that, but you gave her every chance. :bouquet:
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So sorry :bouquet:
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:bouquet: Sorry
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At least you know you tried. Sheep are not easy when things go wrong. Giving her the chance was worth the try and I am sorry that you lost her and the lambs :bouquet:
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Very sorry to hear that your ewe didn't make it
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It's so soul destroying isn't it? But you will take heart from knowing that you tried everything you could.
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Well done for trying so hard, sorry it didn't work out this time :bouquet: