Nine days ago I discovered our five year old Suffolk ewe collapsed against the fence in the field. Her ears and hooves were cold, her eyes dilated but her temperature wasn’t abnormal (38.6? C). She couldn't stand so I transported her to the shed, put her into a pen and called the vet. The vet put her on a saline drip and injected antibiotics and a pain killer. The following day, when she was not back on her feet, still unwell and grinding her teeth, the vet returned and injected more antibiotics and pain killer. On the third day I was able to get her on her feet but had to steady her by standing astride her back. On the fourth day she had got onto her feet, was able to stand unaided and her temperature was 39.3? C.
On her second visit the vet recommended we give the ewe 50 ml of Sodilene (glycol 70%, sorbitol 6%) each morning and evening. However I anticipate that this was on the basis of it being a supplement to, rather than a replacement for, solid food. But for the last week it has served principally as the former and I've had to administer it by a syringe into her mouth. I put hay and water in the pen but she refused both. She did the same when offered sheep pellets and wheat. Equally when we put her onto fresh grass - in the garden - she would not graze. Not even when I cut handfuls of grass and offered these to her. I’ve tried old favourites like ivy and raspberry leaves. But all without success. I've had many ideas suggested - including feeding her Guinness, cider vinegar and sodium bicarbonate – but the outcome has been the same. No change.
For a week now the ewe has survived principally on Sodilene and water, fed into her mouth by syringe, and the small amount of sheep pellets that, manually (essentially pellet by pellet), I've been able to introduce into her mouth. She will take these for a while but then refuses more. I've had to work on a 'little and often' principle. She is producing normal, solid faeces and is urinating, but both in small quantities about once a day. She has good days, when I think that she is recovering, and bad days, when I expect to find her near death on my next visit to the shed. But still she won't feed herself, she is ruminating little, if at all, and not chewing the cud. She is surviving rather than thriving.
Neither I nor the vet have been able to ascertain the cause of the problem. The vet suggested that it might be poisoning but she was in a field that I've used, and she has grazed, for years, and I've walked this field and found nothing on the ground or in the hedges that is apparently injurious and which hasn't always been there. And what's more, the rest of the flock (principally Vendéen) are in the same field and unaffected. She also suggested stress (if so, with all the rain and flooding of late, I can empathise!). Also she said that the possibility of an internal problem cannot be discounted. She mentioned the possibility of an ulcer, tumour or twisted gut but said that such are impossible to diagnose externally. I haven't yet received the vet's bill but, I suspect, already I've incurred fees in excess of the ewe's replacement value and can't justify the additional cost of surgery.
It may be the case that rather than not wanting to eat, for some reason the ewe cannot eat. But if I'm going to give her a fighting chance give, then I need to give her strength and that means I've got to get her eating solid food (more than the measly portions I can introduce into her mouth manually) and wanting to do so for herself. I need to get her ruminating properly. If not then, probably very soon, I will reach the inevitable conclusion that it will be kinder to put her down rather than allowing her to continue to exist and, possibly, ultimately die of starvation.
I've now tried everything that I can think of and that has been suggested to get the ewe's rumen going and to get her eating. But now my ideas and the suggestions have run out. So if anyone else has had a similar problem, particularly with a Suffolk sheep, I'd be very grateful for their input. If so, it would be helpful to know what was the problem diagnosed; how it was treated; what was the feeding regime employed; and what was the ultimate outcome. Beyond that I can only wait for constructive comments and suggestions and offer my thanks in anticipation.