[rach2808]

Before I call the vet tomorrow I wandered if anyone had a similar experience and could offer advice.

I have a small flock of 4 ewes - wormed a few weeks ago due to high FEC. 

2 of them have developed a cough - mainly after exercise.  I cant be sure they took all of the wormer as it was my first time and they did spit some out!.  - Should I be worming them again before reaching out to the vet?

Any advice much appreciated!

[harmony]

Were they treated for lungworm? I would fec again. When you worm you should fec again a couple of weeks later. This will tell you the effectiveness of the wormer and help determine if you have resistance. When you worm a common mistake is to move onto clean pasture when you should leave them on the same pasture for 3/4 days. Otherwise you will move any resistant worms onto the new pasture.


When you dose pen your sheep up tight so that you can keep them still more easily as they are hemmed in. If they spat out you may need the nose up higher than you had it and you didn't insert the dosing gun far enough so it went into the mouth cavity rather than down the throat. You will also find if you have them penned tight that you can keep the nose up for longer with less effort so you can take your time rather than battling the sheep.


Correct dose is important too.

[steve_pr]

It may have nothing to do with worms, but doing an FEC will verify this.  It could very easily be pneumonia, which can cause coughing, nasal discharge and also a mucky bum (which is easy to assume is due to worms).  The weather this year (at least over here) with hot dry spells, folowd by cold wet ones is perfect for pneumonia to develop.  Were they treated with Heptavac P+? I have loads of coughing sheep with mucky bums and the only thing that changed was we used Bravoxin to vaccinate since Heptavac P was unavailable at the start of the year in small bottle sizes.  Bravoxin does not vaccinate against pasturella, so they were extra vulnerable and we are paying the price now with several dead lambs. I do my own FECs so I knew it wasn't worms and they were all treated with Cydectin earlier in the year and Zolvix as a break dose at the end of August.


Since our supplier now appears to have miraculously found Heptavac again we have purchased the 250 doses (in 50ml bottles) that we expect to use next season whilst it is available!!!


In the meantime a long acting dose of oxytetracyclin antibiotic (Alamycin LA200 or similar) seems to be clearing up the coughing and the back ends of those that were not too far gone.


Lesson learned (at a cost) for the future. 


We were helped in this diagnosis by our very experienced shearer (who has been farming for 60 years) who took one look at them and said "That's pnemonia! There is a h*ll of a lot of it about at present!".  There is no substitute for experience!!!

[rach2808]

Thank you [member=24672]harmony[/member] & [member=24841]steve_pr[/member] for your helpful replies.  This forum is so refreshing .. As a newbie to sheep I am still learning and you guys all give great advice without being judgmental (unlike some of the facebook groups) !

I am going to worm again tonight and if it persists give the vet a call and go down the route of treating for pneumonia..

I purchased them as shearlings in May so Jan 2020 born, they were up to date with Heptivac.  I have some in my fridge ready to give them before lambing early next year. 

[SallyintNorth]

Our vet told us that the P in Heptavac-P only protects against pneumococcal pneumonia for a short period, nothing like 12 months.  The passive immunity it passes to lambs is good for approx 4-6 weeks. Therefore in pneumonia risk years, it can be a good idea to give Ovivac-P to all lambs and any at risk ewes in midsummer, to get a bit more pneumonia cover.  But note there are also types of pneumonia which are not caused by pneumococcus, so the vaccine doesn't help prevent those.

[harmony]

Thank you [member=24672]harmony[/member] & [member=24841]steve_pr[/member] for your helpful replies.  This forum is so refreshing .. As a newbie to sheep I am still learning and you guys all give great advice without being judgmental (unlike some of the facebook groups) !

I am going to worm again tonight and if it persists give the vet a call and go down the route of treating for pneumonia..

I purchased them as shearlings in May so Jan 2020 born, they were up to date with Heptivac.  I have some in my fridge ready to give them before lambing early next year.

You need to fec again otherwise you don't know whether you need to or what to worm with. Do they have any other symptoms other than a cough?

[rach2808]

A few of them have mucky bums .
I can’t get to the vets to take the sample for 10 days as my local farm vets is an hour away and only open office hours .

My plan was to work then again with invectermin and then take a sample in 10 days and see what the outcome is

[shep53]

All types of wormer except group 4  (ZOLVIX ) kills lungworm but it takes a while to get rid of the dead worms . When worming keep your hand under the jaw and the jaw pointing slightly up for a few seconds after depositing the wormer as far back into the side of the mouth as possible . Lungworm can lead to pneumonia in severe cases , pneumonia normally has signs of very short breathing especially when forced to run  ,and will result in Death either quickly or prolonged , if suspected then VET urgently