[bizzielizzie66]

Hi - I have 5 & 6 week old lambs with loads of mucous in their droppings since Sunday. Not diaorrhea - normal pellets but in thick mucous. Lambs all seem fine. Were treated for coccidiosis (Vecoxan) 2 weeks ago, were wormed with an orange drench (Zolvix) Monday after mucous was seen and I am worming today with a white drench (Panacur) to cover Tapeworm & Giardia just in case.  Had very bad experiences with worm counts last year so have majorly lost faith in them.

Other than worms or coccidiosis, any ideas what it could be? I just have this feeling it's not going to clear up after the white drench either.  Their mums were wormed at lambing and will be again today at shearing.

Any ideas? Getting really concerned now!

[FiB]

NO advice lizzie but commiserations with the worry and interested to hear about your FEC experience as I too have my doubts...  I havnt wormed in about a year based on FEC - and just had another one come back clear - but some of the ewes are scouring A LOT (like pancakes).  Vet has recommended that I give the lambs a cheap white wormer though, just to be safe. Planning on using Albex.  Have you seen the SCOPS leaflet I posted earlier - it tells you what is in all the trade names, what class they are in and what they cover - I found it very illuminating.  Good luck, Fi

[horlicks]

 I'd do them again with vecoxan as they may not of had exposure to cocci at your first dosing and it doesn't  have any residual effect. 6-8 weeks is probably a good time to dose for coccidiosis unless symptoms noticed earlier and do all lambs in group at same time. Hope it helps.

[thenovice]

Crumbs, that's a lot of wormer for a lamb in a short space of time! 

[bizzielizzie66]

 I'd do them again with vecoxan as they may not of had exposure to cocci at your first dosing and it doesn't  have any residual effect. 6-8 weeks is probably a good time to dose for coccidiosis unless symptoms noticed earlier and do all lambs in group at same time. Hope it helps.

Thank you for that. I was following vets advice on timing of Vecoxan - but yes I think you're right. I have done them again today.  We have big mole problems this year - 26 caught in a month on 6 acres - (sorry if I offend any mole lovers out there but they are not cool if you're trying to keep sheep )and of course lambs were initially fascinated with the soil! So have been concerned about coccidiosis etc.

By the way - it may sound like a lot of wormer but it isn't - not If you want to cover all worm species. As a qualified SQP for wormers, I at least know the theory even if I don't know all the practical stuff!

Hi FiB - thanks for your reply. My worm count issues were the other way round. Results kept coming back for one individual with a high enough count for him to have been long dead. Re-sampled as I was understandably suspicious and sent it to another lab and it came back clear. There is a lengthy rant of mine on the forum somewhere   Worm counts are only as good as the technician who does them. 

[Blackbird]

Bizzielizzie, I have no experience with baby lambs, but one of my sheep at about 6 months old had a lot of mucus in his poo and indeed lovely strands of it hanging from his bum! (we need an emoticon for "Yewcchh" on here!) The vet said mucus was often a sign of sensitivity in the hind gut rather than the stomach(s) and not necessarily a cause for concern. This sheep is often runny and according to vet is a bit of a sensitive flower with a kind of sheepy IBS! (He tested negative for worms when I sent in a sample with the mucus in). Anyway,hope your lambs improve soon.

[bizzielizzie66]

Thank you Blackbird - that's really interesting. It's funny that it's been the worst in one lamb - and he gave me cause for concern early on as, though a massive single, he initially seemed lacking in "go" compared to the others - though his mum is very placid too.

My ram, though bought at 5 months from a welsh mountain, has also been a bit of a delicate flower digestively. So yes, perhaps an inherited sensitivity of some sort.

Thanks for that. I can honestly say that my lambs have given me more sleepless nights than my children ever have.  I'm a laid-back mum but an over-anxious sheep breeder. I'm sure I will learn to relax a bit in time! 

[SteveHants]

You dosed them with Zolvix?


Mind if I ask why? I thought the general advice was only to use the new sorts of antihelmintics as a quarantine dose. Apologies if the sheep were new and you were quarantining them, but if you weren't, you do realise by bringing Zolvix into general rotation you are helping to select for the minutae of worms that are resistant to Zolvix, and it'll go the same way as the yellow, clear and white drenches, dont you?

[bizzielizzie66]

Hi - yes I understand your concern with Zolvix and the only reason I had it in my medicine cupboard in the first place was due to a succession of badly done worm counts on my bought-in ram which had suggested multiple resistance. The vet finally recommended Zolvix after all others had apparently "failed" - and then even after the Zolvix (two doses) the worm counts came back astronomically high. It was then that the vet and I were more than a little suspicious and I had the worm count done elsewhere - and the sample came back clear!! Bear in mind that due to these repeated inaccurate worm counts I had gone through every wormer class due to vet recommendation - Zolvix was the only one left. With only a few sheep (7) I had bought (bit by bit)  a vast pack size of Levimisole, Ivermectin, Moxidectin & Fenbendazole - all these products have a limited life once opened and so I had passed them on with each worm count "failure" to a larger sheep farmer. Can you imagine how much I spent on anthelminitics by the time I had bought the Zolvix too?!  Due to the techinician's inadequate worm counting skills  I have spent a relative fortune unnecessarily.  Please excuse me if I have hung onto the Zolvix I have left (it also has a longer life than some others once opened) and used it on my ewes, ram & lambs this Spring routinely.  Quite honestly I have lost all faith in worm counts and cannot bring myself to buy yet another huge pack of sheep wormer at the moment.  My small animal vet took pity on me for Panacur 10% recently and prescribed off-label.

I had avoided Zolvix initially - doing my best to keep it out of the rotation unless strictly necessary and just look what happened to me. If ANYONE can find it in themselves to criticise me for my course of actions given my experiences from Oct 2012 - Jan 2013 - then they are harsh judges indeed!! 

So that's why I used Zolvix .....OK ?