[egglady]

ok here's the story.

Bella (sheltand ewe) was spending a lot of time on her knees the last couple of weeks of her pregnancy.  she doenst have the best of feet and is a nightmare to catch (not the best combination!).  We presumed either her feet were sore or else her babies were uncomfortable.  either way, we knew when she lambed we'd be catching her and bringing her in so would get her feet sorted out then. (as we have done with her previously)

she lambed very healthy twins on saturday morning.  caught them all and safely in a deep straw bed in the stable.  still on her kness with her bum in the air most of the day!  lambs boucing around so clearly getting enough milk from mum.  left her till sunday to do her feet.  upended her and they were very overgrown - no smell of footrot and nothing caught up in her cleats.

monday, still on her knees much of the time and when standing, seemed to be shifting her weight between her two front feet and also lifting them clear of the ground alternately.  so clearly still sore.

went to the vet yesterday (tuesday) and got long acting antibiotic and anit inflammatory/pain releif.  injected both into her about lunch time yesterday.  seemed a bit happier later on yesterday (presumably pain releif) and definately eating better.

however, this morning, STILL on her knees.  she is now quite adept at walking around the stable on her knees with her bum in the air!

babies still doing well but dont want to put her back in the field till she is properly on her feet as i know that catching her once she's out is a go-go!

anyone any ideas?

[Fleecewife]

It can take a while for the feet to settle down after a thorough trim.  Either that or you may have missed something the first time around - recheck a week after the first trim

[egglady]

thanks fleecewife, presumably no harm done keeping her in the stable for another week, other than she'll be demented with these bouncing babies!  was down half an hour ago to check on them and the two of them are standing on her back (she's lying down) and jumping all over her!  poor ewe:)

as an aside, her feet are brick hard (no rain for weeks) so trimming them was really really tough and not sure i've trimmed enough.  tips on dealing with that?  feet soaked in water maybe?  but how on earth do i get her to do that?

[Fleecewife]

Yes dry feet are devilish to trim.  My OH uses serated trimmers and my hands are not strong enough to do dry feet. It's bound to rain before long, but for an indoor ewe I'm not sure how to deal with that - someone else will 
What sometimes happens is that mud gets pushed up between the toes then sets rock hard as everything dries.  Even the least little bit left there will be painful.  Also mud can be shoved up the side of the hoof between the soft part and the hard outer part - in that case the hoof needs to be cut back as far up as it is separated.  It looks drastic but soon grows back normally, whereas if it is left then anaerobic bugs can multiply and lead to footrot.  So have a good look to see if anything is left, sooner than the week if you feel you may have missed something.  There are big discussions about how much you should trim sheeps feet and others will have different opinions, but here we feel that if any irritant or inclusion is left then we haven't done it properly.  Having said that we have a Soay ewe (usually have brilliant feet) who is hobbling persistantly in spite of her feet being fine when checked a week ago when she lambed, so we will have to catch her and have another look too.  It's not great for suckling lambs when the ewe is down on her knees.

[Anke]

How old is she? Are her joints swollen/hot to touch?

My very old ewe's feet were a nightmare to trim, always very hard and they were growing inwards and much quicker than the rest of the (much younger) flock.

You could try and work/paint some oil (cheap cooking) onto her feet/hard bits to soften them up. Otherwise - can you build her a pen in the field, so she softens them up in wet grass?

She may have just got in the habit of getting round on her knees....

[doganjo]

Splints?   Sorry, that was rather facetious 

[princesspiggy]

im not a sheep expert but have u tried trimming them with a paring knife rather than secateer type trimmers. u should be able to trim it back and not draw blood if ur careful and watch what ur doing. i think if theres any soft/spongy foot, that needs cutting out. then spray with blue spray.

[egglady]

went to see our very helpful local sheep farmer - if anyone knows, then he would! very helpful but said what we've already said and couldnt add anything else.  given he's been a sheepfarmer his whole life, he knows pretty much all there is to know on the sheep front!

he trims with the thing (cant remember what it's called) a farrier used to cut the horses hooves and kindly lent me his.  so we've just spent half an hour trying to trim rock hard feet! think we did make some inroads, though sure not drastic enough and did find a bit where the outer wall is separated from the inner section.  it's only tiny but sure enough to cause pain.  so have cut that all away as best we can and blue sprayed her - again!

here's hoping tomorrow she's a bit better.

if not, then i think a trip to carrs billington to buy some sheep hurdles is in order as she needs to be out.

i dont know what age she is, we've had her 2 years but i know she'd lambed at least once before so 5 at least i'd imagine.

suspect from Anke's comment that maybe she is just getting old and her feet are hardening up quicker than the others.

no heat or swelling in the joints

[Anke]

Well 5 years or thereabouts is not old for a Shetland, mine was 12 when she was sent to sheep heaven just recently... and the only reason was that she was getting painfully thin despite a voracious appetite (and no teeth) and had a really mucky bottom just as the grass started to grow... With lots of new neighbours about I couldn't risk someone phoning the SSPCA... she was as bright as a button though till the end....

I think some more work on her feet will sort them out, but she now knows she can round on her knees...

What you are describing is probably "shelly hoof", and it only becomes painful if something gets stuck in the space. Cut away any loose horn, maybe needs more than one attempt, and it will grow slowly back. If no infection purple spray is as good if not better than the blue one (doesn't need antibiotic)

[egglady]

thanks Anke.  will keep you posted....

[SallyintNorth]

Just because no-one else has mentioned it, I thought I would ... Scald.  We get it a lot here, no problems with the hooves at all but inflammation between the toes.  Blue spray sorts it.

The other thing we seem to get now is where a ewe becomes increasingly lame but there is nothing to see until a red lump starts to break through the sole of the hoof (from the inside.)  Then you can trim away around the sore part, blue spray and injection of antibiotic - the vet-only Mycotil works best but a terramycin injection usually works if the vet isn't handy.

[princesspiggy]

Just because no-one else has mentioned it, I thought I would ... Scald.  We get it a lot here, no problems with the hooves at all but inflammation between the toes.  Blue spray sorts it.

thats what our goat had once, we were spraying for 2 weeks with purple spray with no effect, didnt realise then that blue spray was different and that cleared it up fast.

he trims with the thing (cant remember what it's called) a farrier used to cut the horses hooves and kindly lent me his. 

the farrier uses the paring knife, or a pair of nippers.

[egglady]

well dont know if it was the more sever trimming, or the blue spray, or the antibiotic, or the....or the......but she is MUCH happier today and is spending more and more time on her feet I'm pleased to say.  Thank you so much to every one for all their helpful comments.

[Fleecewife]

Good result