[Emily!!!125]

I was wondering if anybody could help.. one of my lambs (the youngest of the flock at around 8 weeks) has had scours for over a week. She's been wormed, Heptivac'ed and also had a trips to the vets who gave her anti-biotics for coccy. Now, in the first couple of days she was really off colour, but seems to have perked up, is being bottle fed her fluids/glucose fluids etc and eating like normal but the scours seems to be worsening. I was more concerned before due to being of colour, I feel more at ease now she's back to normal in herself but just can't think what else I can do to stop it

Any advice would be great!

[SallyintNorth]

Coccidiosis isn't caused by bacteria so any antibiotics wouldn't have been for coccidiosis.  Maybe the vet suspected salmonella.

Cocci damages the gut wall so you would normally get dark or bloody scour.  You haven't mentioned the colour.

What is she eating?  Too much cereal and too much lush grass can both cause scours... 

Did you have her on PFS (scour formula) only for 48 hours?   That is the usual recommendation.  Hay available but no cake, no milk, no grass.

Some parasitic infections may cause long-term damage to the gut.

[Anke]

If you suspected cocci either a drench of Baycox or Veccoxan is needed - but have you sent a sample to be analysed for cocci (it is expensive as you will need the species identified and not just total number as most coccidia are harmless)?


If this lamb is a lot younger than the others cocci may well be a problem as it won't have built up a tolerance like the others already have, and their shedding of cocci will cause her to be ill.


Is this lamb with her dam or is this one of a group of bottle fed lambs? How big is their grazing area and did it have sheep on it last year?