[SteveHants]

Hi all -


I have a pair of suftexes who had Ivermectin 2 weeks before they went in with the ewes (nov 18th) and the batch of lambs who had Ivermectin at the same time are showing -ve worm counts (tested last week). However, one is 'wheezing' when it comes in for the bucket (I feed them a bit of pelleted beet so that I can see who has been tupped - about 1/2 a bucket for 200 ewes + ram every few days). My first thought was pneumonia, so I caught him up and gave him a good dose of Alamycin...however, he is still doing it, although he looks slightly better.


He is in good nick (for one of my rams ...cs 2.5 or so) and is definitley still doing his job.


Three rams (two ram lambs, born winter, one shearling) per 200 ewes.


Any ideas what it could be/ how long it might take pneumonia to clear up.

[shep53]

If the ram lamb has pneumonia and thus a high temperature he will be infertile, pneumonia takes weeks to get over if treatment works.  Another cause of wheezing can be a throat abcess, treatment of which can be very disappointing .  STEVE if these are from easyrams then they are covered for 2yrs , so you need to get a vet involved quickly ( for pneumonia treatment ) so that if you claim you have done everything possible

[SteveHants]

Hmmm, he isn't from Easyrams, sadly.


He also hasn't got the nasal discharge that you'd associate with pneumonia, it was just the only thing I could think of.


He seems fine apart from that - I couldn't catch him, I had to gather him into a pen.


Best ring the vet then, he wasn't cheap.


Edited to add: I thought Alamycin treated pneumonia?

[SallyintNorth]

We were using Alamycin or Pen&Strep but the vet sold us Hexasol for pneumonia this year. 

I know they've had ivermectin but... 

We had lamb carcases with lungworm this year, for the first time, and it was nearly half of the batch too.  Vet said generally we don't worm specifically for lungworm as the efficacy of the drugs is very shortlived against it (two or three weeks, the vet said), but that if in this horrible year it had got more of a hold on them, then it wouldn't hurt to give them an extra worming dose to clear them out and give them a breather - literally  .  We gave them chelated minerals too, as a general tonic.  And that batch did get on and grow, whereas some of our neighbours, who didn't worm again on the basis of negative FECs, have continued to complain of poor growth rates.

So I don't know whether you might suspect lungworm in your boy?  It would certainly exacerbate any other respiratory problems he might have. 

[Crofterloon]

I used Terimycin on ewes with pneumonia, I believe Alamycin is the same stuff.
 
 

[SteveHants]

So I don't know whether you might suspect lungworm in your boy?  It would certainly exacerbate any other respiratory problems he might have.

I was suspecting lungworm, but thought it was unlikley with the negative worm count...maybe I'm wrong though and should try Levamisole.


He is still wheezing, its like his breathing is really heavy, but he seems quite unaffected by it. I'm waiting for the vet to call back.

[shep53]

Nasal discharge and noisy wheezing are not common signs of pneumonia , mostly temperature and struggling to breath ( lungs having to work much harder )a burbling noise due to fluid in the lungs                                                                               .  Yes ALAMCYCIN  will treat but a vet can give you much more efficient cattle pneumonia drugs and powders to release mucus .   IVERMECTIN  is licensed to treat lungworm but nothing is 100%  , persistant coughing and weight loss are classic lungworm symptoms.

[SteveHants]

Spoke to the vet today and the following became apparent -


If it was pneumonia (like most sheep I have had with pneumonia) I would have been able to catch it, it would have been poorly looking- which is why this puzzled me.


She thinks it is an abcess, and she would have given Alamycin in case it became infected (which I have already done) + some kind of anti-inflammatory, which is annoying because I did have some Dexadresion (or however you spell it) in the cupboard. Apparently these things occur in Texels because of the 'shortness of neck'.


Anyway, she is coming to have a look at him - the risk is that the abcess gets bigger and you just wind up with a dead ram one morning.


I suppose Id better get onto the breeder.

[RaisinHall Tamworths]

Is she thinking it is laryngeal chondritis?  Have heard of this in Texels

[shep53]

Sorry STEVE the  2rams and 2ewes iv'e had with a throat abcess over the years have all been failures, various drugs even tried a tracheotomy on a ram, one ewe seemed to get better then it re-occured 

[littlelugs]

I had a problem with one of my sheep. she was wheezing, no temperature. so i gave her antibiotics from the vets and she improved. About a week later she was wheezing again, again she was treated with stronger anti biotics. Two weeks later she was wheezing again and had slight nasal discharge got the vet out again and he confirmed she had SPA.
The way to test for spa is to raise the back legs off the ground if it is spa the fluid will start to trickle from the nose. Unfortunatley there is no cure and she had to be put to sleep. The vet said they tend to develop it between 12 to 18mths of age and it will 90% of the time be passed genetically.
Now i am not suggesting that is what your ram has, but do the test as several vets failed to spot this in my girl and i would'nt want it happening to anyone else. I had never even heard of it before 
good luck and i hope your lad recovers from whatever it has 

[jaykay]

Had to look it up, so here's what I found for the also-uninitiated:

SPA

[SteveHants]

SPA is Jaagsickte. I don't think its that.


I had a possible Jaagsickte scare last year sometime, as far as I am aware there is nasal discharge with it, although I didn't wheelbarrow this ram. Also, I would expect some of the others to have it if it was that, or at least be at the stages where running makes them breathe heavily.


Vet out soon to confirm - my vets are particularly good. I'd have had them out already, but my land rover is in the shop and I can't get the handling kit up there and I don't see that me and the vet chasing the thing Benny Hill style will do any good. On the plus side, it doesn't seem to be getting any worse.

[littlelugs]

I agree with the nasal discharge , however my girl didnt start showing any nasal discharge for weeks even a month into the whole episode.
Hope the vet has managed to put your mind at ease and your boy is on the mend