The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: NewLifeOnTheFarm on March 21, 2019, 08:41:22 am
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I took on some Cheviot ewe lambs last week from a neighbour. They are in an isolation paddock at moment due to lack of space inside with my ewes being in for lambing. My other half noticed one had cloudy eyes and seemed slightly disorientated, so brought her into a stable for me to check over. Definitely conjunctivitis. Consulted Dr google, opinions seemed split on how to treat, we had some chloramphenicol in so have used that for time being.
Just wondering what everyone else does? Neighbour has now mentioned that he is treating some of his with antibiotics for an eye infection, but have seen online that sometimes best to leave it to run its course?
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I don’t mess about with eyes so leaving would not be an option for me. You need to determine what type of infection it is as they are treated by different antibiotics (either oxytetracycline or penicillin based). This is a good site with the different types of infections-
https://www.nadis.org.uk/disease-a-z/sheep/eye-diseases-in-sheep/ (https://www.nadis.org.uk/disease-a-z/sheep/eye-diseases-in-sheep/)
Personally if you’re unsure I would get the vet to look as treatment can be an injection of pen strep direct into the eyelid. Don’t let them with your other sheep until the eyes are clear again.
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Best treatment I've used is Orbenin. (Even used it effectively on my 7 yr old son when he had conjunctivitis!) It comes in a tube with a long pointed end. Do not attempt to apply this to the eyeball or you could cause damage when the animal struggles. To apply you pull down the lower eyelid to expose the inside surface of it and apply the Orbenin in a line along this surface. When the animal blinks it spreads the ointment over the rest of the eye. It is a long acting antibiotic so should only need applying once.
Treat as soon as possible and it should clear up. If left can cause further pain and blindness, not to mention infecting the rest.
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Vet. If eyes are cloudy, suggests damage to the surface, left untreated they can lose their eyes let alone their sight. Likely a infection such as pink eye so ensure correctly treated and everything disinfected before mixing with other sheep or allowing them back in the quarantine area.
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If you do treat, bear in mind :
A) you can easily spread infection on the ointment tube, your hands and clothing, etc
B) bringing them together will increase the spread of infection all by itself ::)
I hesitate to contradict a vet, but in my experience, they pretty much always get better (with total recovery of sight) with or without treatment, and the two factors above can make it a longer process with.
Personally I only treat if I think it’s a welfare issue; and then would try to isolate that sheep without bringing them all together. And disinfect everything after handling it.
It’s so common to have this in sheep newly arriving somewhere that I suspect a stress component.
Of course don’t mix them with the existing flock until they’ve been two weeks clear of symptoms.
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Thank you all. I got some alamycin la in the end and have given her a jab. Can't believe how cheap it was for 100ml ????, poor small animal owners really do get a bad deal!! A few of the others have slight runny eyes but no where near as bad is this one and they seem to be improving. I popped up to see neighbour, they have used alamycin successfully on the ones infected up there, so fingers crossed she improves in the next few days. She's eating and drinking so that's something.