[Templelands]

Unbeknown to me - a few weeks ago the Vet thought one of our guys might have had fluke. She treat the whole flock (well all 9 of them). She thinks this Ewe has had a dose of fluke and just is not recovering. Its amazing what you get to know from your OH when you are passing on messages.
 
Anyway - vet says that its probably time to call the knacker as she has been down too long now. Its hard as she is eating really well and starting to put weight on. She has been lying down for 6 days now, shows no signs of getting up and still has 8 weeks to go before she is due to lamb. Caught between a rock and a hard place. You want to keep her going, but also she does sometimes look like she is really struggling.

[ZaktheLad]

If she is eating and drinking I would personally give her a further chance for recovery.  6 days is a long time to be down, and if she was not eating then fair enough to PTS, but she seems to have a will to live - quite unusual in sheep  .   Is she inside?  If she is, why not try leaving the shed door open to see if she is enticed to stand and get out outside under her own steam - that sometimes works, particularly if you can have one or two of your other sheep around and about for her to see!   

[Foobar]

A bad fluke infestation might take two doses of flukicide to get rid of it (say a couple of weeks apart?) ... that might be worth a shot if you are out of other ideas.


I would personally whack in some more twin lamb drench, just for completeness (every daily), and probably the calcium too.  I think there is a cheap recipe for a TL drench in The Sheep Book ... egg yoke and glucose or something, sorry I don't have it to hand at the mo, or buy some pre-made up from your agri merchant.  If she is eating and drinking then she probably wants to live, so do as much as you can for her .

[woollyval]

Keep going....just remember to turn her and stand her up so she can wee! If she is still cudding there is hope...and flat lucozade and glucose.....a good couple of sport bottles a day too as a drench...cheaper than tld drench, also other recipes online.
Don't get the knacker until its a lot worse as she is trying hard to live!

[colliewoman]

Cynical me says try another vet

A ewe who is eating and gaining condition to me does not sound like she is dying.
A friend and I once rescued a flock of malnourished terribly neglected sheep. One went down in the trailer when we collected them. Had the vet out she had at least 5 weeks to go before lambing. This girl was so emaciated the vet could not give her an IM injection as she had nothing to inject into!
She was drenched daily, turned 4 times a day, legs flexed and stretched etc etc.
4 weeks later she stood up on her own, the following day she took herself out to the orchard and 4 days after that she lambed twins and reared them to weaning.
We were told to have her put down on day 5

[Templelands]

Thanks all. Always like a happy ending colliewoman :-) I've just been told try another vet too by a fellow smallholder that couldn't believe our Vets dont scan!
 
I'll get some lucozade and glucose and we will drench away. We are going to try and get her to stand but will flex her legs. We still have plenty of teh calcium supplement too.
 
 

[Templelands]

Ewe died this morning :-( but we tried our best.

[Brucklay]

Oh sorry to hear that Templelands - not easy knowing what the right thing to do is - but you gave it a good go 

[ZaktheLad]

Really sorry to hear that, but you gave her every chance. 

[kumquat]

So sorry 

[in the hills]

   Sorry

[sabrina]

At least you know you tried. Sheep are not easy when things go wrong. Giving her the chance was worth the try and I am sorry that you lost her and the lambs 

[Blacksheep]

Very sorry to hear that your ewe didn't make it

[Brandi]

It's so soul destroying isn't it? But you will take heart from knowing that you tried everything you could.

[SallyintNorth]

Well done for trying so hard, sorry it didn't work out this time