[sh3ph3rd]

Hello all. Just seeking some answers about some things concerning my 5-month-old Damara lamb, Lucy.

Some facts: She was rejected at birth but managed to bond later only to be struck down by at least seven paralysis ticks at once before her second week; she was then fed many thousands of IU's of vitamin C intended for human consumption, mixed with water, oil, and milk powder that was also intended for human consumption only. Later raw egg was added a few times. Despite her being the size of the bottle itself she was fed copious quantities of the very watery stuff mentioned. She was bloated terribly. She received this feed once or twice a day and was left to go cold at night in her own urine and faeces.

By her second week's end she was able to get herself into a sitting position, and kept putting herself on her chest. Because she was left this way, still partially paralyzed, her front knees locked on about a 45-degree angle. At this point the owner, my landlord, gave her to me.

I was between houses... Still am... So only took her on because she was going to be destroyed otherwise. I put her in a sling a few times a day, and she regained straight legs in about three days of me doing nothing much. (I'm not being pseudo-modest, I'm refusing to take credit that doesn't belong to me; she's a miracle sheep). She'd already lost the paralysis and was galloping around with bent legs before they too healed. I bought her formula for lambs and put her on that instead of the milk powder, granulated kelp, and honey I'd been giving her until I could get some formula.

She was bloated almost all the time but the formula helped her instantly. She was toxified from eating many things she shouldn't have as well as cross contamination from human faecal material that leaked from a decades-old sewerage outlet that I only later discovered was contaminating her. Also the man who had her first hadn't taken care to properly sterilize her old coke bottle feeder, and his kitchen was literally writhing with raw meat and blood products because he didn't disinfect by normal standards, so she was extremely sick. Long story short(er), she was bloated, scouring nonstop, frequently toxified, always battling death, severely pika'd and eating anything she could whether or not it was food, until after her third month. Then she started doing the appropriate pebbles, healthy black poops.

My experiences with raising other orphan sheep and goats didn't teach me much that I remember as I was a child at the time. She has not very good but not really bad hooves that I trim every second or third week, she lives on grassy lucerne meadow hay mix and horse/pony pellets as well as frequent additions of kelp granules, random fruits and vegetables, like carrots, some celery, dates, and there's not really much else she eats. Very little grass, (diseased land here), some hibiscus leaves, aloe vera leaves, juniper, rosemary, and any toxic things she can get into. 

She has persistent 'sewerage' breath burps, noisy ones, and breathes and pants noisily and rapidly for short periods at night, every night almost. She's weaned now by a month or more. She makes strange grunting or bleating strained noises when she stretches and sometimes drinks her own pee. Any suggestions? My best plan so far is to get her out into a decent paddock with a nanny goat as hopefully wiser company, ASAP. But I'm not there yet. Anyone have an idea what to do? Dried rosemary killed off her sewerage breath before but she got reinfected and this time isn't too keen on rosemary. The stench of the 'sewerage' breath burps varies in strength but has persisted this time. Otherwise she seems fairly well, if that's not mutually exclusive.

[Marches Farmer]

I hesitate to speculate what effect her early environment may have had on her intestinal tract but around here we generally suck in our breath and say that, "If it don't look good on the outside it's probably not good on the inside either".

[BadgerFace]

Have you tried probiotics ?
Would be my first call to try and get her guts settled, either in powder form (Protexin is one I use) or as a live yogurt, goat or sheep is best - but live cow yogurt would do. 

[sh3ph3rd]

The formula she was on has a very aggressively colonizing probiotic mix called Probiotech. It rapidly took over her gut and made a world of difference. But I think she may have sustained intestinal damage from her younger weeks. She was grinding her teeth like she was in pain for a lot of it, while still paralyzed, even. I thought pulpy kidney for a while but haven't seen further symptoms.

As for live cow's yoghurt, if I could get untreated milk or yoghurt of any kind here I'd be doing so; unfortunately due to fear about the dangers of contracting illnesses from unpasteurized, unhomogenized cow's milk, it's more or less illegal to sell. It does happen, but it's rare. Hoping to get my own nanny goats and cows to remedy that.

[Alicenz]

Have you talked to a vet at all?  Im sure they will have some suggestions.  I suggest that you check that the pony pellets are ok for lambs as I recently bought some calf muesli for a similar age lamb im trying to get some weight on, only to find on the back it said dont feed it to animals other than calves.  All the farm shops and a vet  had thought it was fine, but there is an anti coccidiosis med in it that is not to be fed to lambs.  It might be worth getting her some proper lamb pellets which are high protein instead. I read people talking about creep- maybe that is what you need. Good luck, she is a lucky lamb to have survived this far, what a terrible start. I reckon once you can get her with some paddock mates and grass she will learn.

[sh3ph3rd]

Forgot to add: when resting at night, but not sleeping, she strains on the exhale with an almost inaudible noise, often stopping breathing in-between inhaling and exhaling, almost like there's a blockage. She's done that all her life so far though...

As for the horse and pony pellets, they're unmedicated and everyone says they're fine for everything including poultry... But as you said 'everyone' can be wrong, so I'll recheck that. I am a bit suss about them but have not seen anything alternative on offer at any of the produce stores. Most people around here laugh at you if you keep an orphan; there's a strong attitude of looking down on the hobby farmer as soft-headed folks with more money than sense. There's not much for sale to my kind as the folks around here are all large scale farmers.

I haven't taken Lucy to a vet as all my experiences with the vets in this town and nearby towns have been quite negative. Not a slur on the vets, who were overworked in general, it's just a very expensive exercise in frustration and unnecessary damage that I really can't afford.

Thanks for the replies, everyone.

[Alicenz]

  Here in NZ even farmers who have thousands of sheep use sheep nuts and lamb pellets/ muesli. These are available from the farm centres for farmers and those with a small bit of land. In other threads people talk about cake etc so im sure there must be something.  Vets- its worth to persevere, I have found a fabulous vet, who is really helpful with all the waifs and strays  I get treatment for.  I generally suggest they treat it as they would a cat or a dog!  Usually country vets are cheaper and like to help with this sort of thing.

At night when resting are you sure she is not chewing her cud? they do kind of regurgitate, stop breathing for a second then chew and huff and all the rest, when resting. Often for about 15mins and the have a snooze. And it doesn smell pleasant. If she is not chewing her cud when doing the odd breathing, she might be best to see a vet, or at least another person who has experiance with poorly sheep and lambs. 

But I think get her on some grass, she does need to be eating green grass as much as possible especially if she is not healthy.  Sun shine will also do her the world of good, vit min supplements in the form of a block, and one cant underestimate company for a flock animal.  A vet would probably give her a vit injection, and possibly antibiotic and a drench for worms.

I have a similar age lamb i am working on getting weight onto (she is blind but fine) and have bought some lucerne haylage in a bag (for horses) soft and smells great, the woman at the store said it would be good for her, and she likes it, might be another thing you could get her eating.  But once the bag is opened baylage/haylage must be used within two weeks as it goes mouldy and toxic.  So only use it fresh and with no mould.

Also have you drenched her for worms?  Young thrifty lambs really need to be regularly drenched.   The drench i use is needed every 4-6 weeks until they are almost a year or more after that you drench only as needed to boost their own immunity to worms. Also vacs for pulpy kidney and tetenus is important.   Good luck