The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: silkwoodzwartbles on June 09, 2018, 04:31:19 pm
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She's going to be very confused about this post as she has no idea how much help she's been!
One of my lambs went off its front legs 2 weeks ago - the only pedigree ewe lamb I've ever had from a 6 year old ewe with lovely breeding. One I was determined to keep in the flock. Always the way isn't it...
Took her to the vets who were completely bemused by her symptoms but diagnosed joint ill despite her age (12 weeks), living conditions (out in a new field with the other weaned lambs) and general demeanor (very perky, eating and drinking well and passing stools and urine). We were prescribed Synulox and Metacam but after 8 days of daily injections of Synulox and 3 separate injections of Metacam, she still wasn't standing up.
I'd already Googled myself crazy and searched every forum I could think of to try and figure out what was wrong with her. The fallen stock man was on call to come euthanise her the following day, and then I spotted a post from Sally on someone else's thread on this forum, mentioning lambs off their legs due to tick bites (a condition called tick pyemia).
Phoned the vets who prescribed different drugs (Pen and Strep) and two days into the treatment, she's fully weight baring on one front leg and putting the toe of the other leg to the floor too! Still early days and whilst I'm hopeful she'll make a full recovery, I'm not counting my chickens, but the difference is absolutely dramatic, and we'd never have got this far without that post and this forum, so here's a very heartfelt THANK YOU! :thumbsup: :fc: :thumbsup:
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That's lovely, this forum is such a valuable resource, especially to someone like me who is relatively new to keeping sheep. Hope your lamb makes a good recovery. X
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Very glad you spotted my post and that the lamb seems to be on the mend :relief:
And thanks are never necessary but always welcome :-*
And actually, we should thank the ex-BH. It was he who made the link between ticks and the problems with the lambs on his ground.