[Blackbird]

 Many apologies for long post but I'm very concerned. My 5 sheep are on hay aftermath (short, sparse grass) with hay and a handful of coarse meal each a day. Two of them (GFD lambs 5 months old) have been scouring and one is looking thin and I'm battling between building condition and fighting scour. Last week's FEC showed low levels of worm and Cocci so I'd planned to drench them all for both yesterday (having attended a sheep husbandry course Monday and feeling confident to do it properly).

Yesterday morning, the thin one was hunched up shivering, grinding his teeth and refusing food. I got some scour formula in him and took him straight to the vet. No raised temperature or signs of anaemia or pneumonia. She treated him for worms and cocci and gave him a shot of Buscopan. She advised he should perk up soon and said to get 100ml of scour formula down him twice daily.

This morning he is no better - exactly as he was yesterday. If he's no better at lunchtime I'll call the vet again, but meantime wondered if I should allow more time for the meds to work and for him to show an improvement before getting really concerned. When we got him, he was a bright, bonny, pushy lamb and to see him down like this is heartbreaking. Our sheep are effectively pets I suppose and I am a softie. I'm trying to do my best for them but just feel like I'm failing him. Any thoughts gratefully received.

[Moleskins]

Sadly, sheep have this burning desire to die. As anyone who has kept them for a while will tell you.
Or it's been put beautifully on here by someone who said, 'A sheeps aim in life is to die, a shepherds aim is to stop them'.
I sounds to me as if you've done all you can with a vets visit too !
It's probably just a case of    now and if the worst happens, don't beat yourself up.

[landroverroy]

If he's still not eating it's fairly important to ensure his rumen keeps working. The vet could have given you a rumen stimulant, which you give in liquid form. You could still ask for some. Ivy is very good for tempting runimants that aren't eating. If  you can't find any, try willow herb, or new shoots off a rose bush or fruit tree. In  fact anything that is special and that you normally have to fight sheep off. Good luck.
PS - but NOT concentrates.

[Dougal]

takes a wee while for the wormer to kick in. Lambs can scour on aftermath, just the change in diet. what colour is the scour and have you done them for liver fluke?

[Blackbird]

Thanks all. Lamb was grinding teeth and had rasping breathing yesterday afternoon so I took him back to the vet who detected a slight infection on top of the scouring. Vet gave the lamb antibiotic and anti-inflammatory/painkilling jabs and gave me some rumen stimulant for him. I've managed to get quite a bit of this down him, along with the scour formula and this morning he is a little brighter and drinking water. He's still scouring but it's green runny poo not blackish water like yesterday. He's still not eating grass though he's clearly hungry. Interestingly he's nibbling on some of the cuds my elderly ewe spits out, which I think may be a good thing as I'm sure I've read on here that juices from a working rumen may help his? Anyway, I know we're not out of the woods yet but am keeping fingers crossed.

[jaykay]

Sounds like you've done all the right things by him and that in fact he's improving. Fingers crossed he keeps mending 

[Blackbird]

Lamb somewhat better this morning, grazing, drinking and enjoying a new lick. However he is desperately thin and weak - how can I fatten him up a bit without feeding concentrates and risking worsening the scour? Grass is short and sparse so I'll be moving them onto slightly better pasture in a day or two (others wormed yesterday). Readybrek perhaps? Or should I just be patient and hope he picks up gradually? I'm getting 300ml of rumen stimulant/scour formula mix down him per day in 100ml doses. Thanks all.

[jaykay]

What about ReadiGrass? People buy it for horses, it's freeze-dried grass so half way between fresh grass and hay.

And oats. Not sure about Readybrek, I think it's too powdery and would form 'clogs' in his rumen. But rolled oats (ie old fashioned porridge oats, Scotts still do them) would be good.

The rumen bugs will help get him back on an even keel.