[Richmond]

Update: Took lamb to vet this am. He thinks he is healthy and strong and a good weight so all is not lost although he is very bloated. He showed me how to tube feed and I picked up some milk powder and he has taken 120 ml. Vet gave antispasmodic plus painkiller and I am going to inject more later and tomorrow am. Hoping he passes some meconium - hasn't yet although has had a wee. Anus is apparently ok and not imperforate.
Ewe and other lamb doing ok. We did try to put the "orphan" one back on the ewe but although he was keen she strongly rejected him so he's back in the house for the time being.
My concern is if we get over this "hiccup" how to integrate him with the others. Only two other ewes are due to lamb and thank goodness they havent yet. We woke to snow this morning. I really don't want to get another orphan to keep him company so if I can get him feeding and over the bloat issue I may ultimately try and rehome him with someone more experienced with orphans.

[Anke]

Rehoming a single lamb is going to be difficult. I would just keep him on the bottle but have him going out into the field with the rest of the flock as soon as he is definitely keen to drink from the bottle. He will then come to you for feed but be happy to graze with the flock. If he has a safe space in either the house of a shed for overnight he should be fine. I have had individual bottle lambs living in my goat shed, going out during the day into the field (although with the goats initially) and coming in for the night until they were quite big.


Also as he did not get any colostrum from his dam - he will need Heptavac at three weeks rather than the normal 8 to 10 weeks old, as he will not have any antibodies from ewe colostrum. I would also watch out for any bacterial infections and have a strong AB ready if needed. This lack of antibodies will also make him very vulnerable to all sorts if he is rehomed, especially if then into a bigger flock.


Wrt milk - do you have a dairy goatkeeper nearby? If you can buy raw (and more importantly non-homogenised) goatsmilk for the lamb he will do much better and it should be cheaper for you too.

[Richmond]

Sadly the lamb deteriorated - he didnt pass meconium despite enema and just blew up like a balloon and was clearly in pain - and after further discussion with the vet he was pts. 

[Anke]

Sadly the lamb deteriorated - he didnt pass meconium despite enema and just blew up like a balloon and was clearly in pain - and after further discussion with the vet he was pts.

Oh, that's sad. But I had that happening in a goat kid before - even though it all looks fine there is an internal obstruction. Unlikely you could have done anything. Hope the other one is doing fine.

[Richmond]

Thanks. Yes the other lamb seems bright and bouncy so hopefully all will continue to be well there.
And yes the vet did say it was likely there was some sort of internal obstruction but without an ultrasound couldn't be certain. Anyway I didn't want him to suffer any more so the decision was made to let him go.

It's like Siberia up here this morning on our little hill - I am telling the other ewes to keep their legs crossed!