[twizzel]

My OH's sister has a lamb that was not crovect'd when the rest of our lambs were due to her being under the 12.5kg minimum weight. She developed flystrike which is now in the course of being treated. A week ago we removed all of the affected fleece, it has gone from the top of her neck all the way along her back to the base of her tail.
To be quite honest the lamb needed to be put down weeks ago as it also has a sway back and has never really 'done' well, but by the by she is still here and I've been trying to sort out the mess that is her back as OH's sister is never home.
We've treated with crovect now, and hibiscrubbed the whole area. She had a jab of pen&strep. She's had blue spray specifically for flystrike applied but it seemed to dry everything up and the skin cracked. Every night she's had sudocrem applied liberally to protect the bare skin and lesions from the sun and flies (she's been in by day). However on seeing her this morning, some of the lesions are infected and pussy. So will hibiscrub and pen&strep again this morning. Can anyone offer any more advice? It seems that if we just stick to the blue spray the skin cracks and has no real barrier to sun and flies, but the sudocrem whilst it has kept everything moist, has still let the infection appear... I'm a bit stumped on what is the best course of treatment? 

[Foobar]

Urgh, sounds 'orrible. You might be better off with a long acting antibiotic, or several days of pen&strep - best to ask your vet.  And I would keep the animal inside all day and all night, with a friend for company - no point in letting it out to have more flies land on it or for it to rub on something that isn't clean.  Also, it might help prevent the skin drying out (wind etc).  I would keep up the sudocream, but try to limit touching the affected areas too much - often you just need to let skin heal on it's own.
And  .

[Pedwardine]

Poor lamb and well done you for doing all you can. Bluie spray is  always going to dry it out. I'd try some aloe vera gel. It's a natural antiseptic and doesn't dry out the skin. Any pus though I'd drain off as best as you can. Another fabulous thing you could use which gives a protective 'skin' over raw areas is tar spray (It's like the 'skin' spray we can get from our chemists-which you could also use BTW but more expensive than the animal version) Keep with the AB's though you just might be better off with a long acting one. Ask the vet for advice on that.
Hope that helps some. Don't forget she'll be feeling pretty awful generally from the attack so some kind of tonic (multivits and trace elements) would help from the inside.

[twizzel]

Ah fab thankyou both! I've got a multi vit jab and a drench left over from a lamb that had bloat but died before we could give it to him, so maybe we'll give her that later. I've just cleaned everything, to be honest most of it is looking nice and pink, no cracks so the sudocrem must be doing the job, there's just 4 small patches where it's got infected. Given her the pen&strep and will pull her a friend in for company later as I need to worm/crovect some new lambs we got over the weekend.
Is tar spray available in country stores or from the vet? Only ask as I need to go get chicken feed so can get it at the same time. I'll have a look for some aloe gel too, thanks.

[Foobar]

I assume that Pedwardine means Stockholm Tar spray - if so, then it's not always available in a spray in all shops. But they will have it in it's more normal form - in a pot.  It's sticky stuff and smells (kinda nice I think, but other ppl say it stinks ) and is black, so if you goop that on you won't necessarily be able to see the skin underneath.
If you can only get it in the pot form then perhaps i wouldn't apply that until you know that the infection has healed, just so you can keep an eye on it.
I use it on everything - shearing cuts, minor wounds, horn growth, etc. It is a natural antiseptic and keeps the flies off.

[twizzel]

Great yes I've used stockholm tar on horses with thrush etc, it's great stuff. I'll see how the infection goes and clear that up first thankyou!

[kanisha]

just a thought and it might not help could you coat her? A light cotton sheet may help to keep things clean not dry out too much and give everything a chance to heal.

[Moobli]

Battle, Hayward & Bower  Fly Cream (bright yellow stuff)


http://www.thetackstop.co.uk/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1_29_71&products_id=275


This definitely works.


Also see if your vet can get some wound powder (penicillin) and give the holes the maggots have made a thorough dowsing. 

[twizzel]

Ahh funny you recommend that cream, I saw it in the shop earlier and nearly bought it... will go back and pick some up now!

[Marches Farmer]

If it's swayback what are the long-term plans for this animal? Swayback gets worse as the animal gets heavier and it will fall over more and more often.  We've occasionally had one in the past and we've tried to give them a chance for a dose of green field and sunshine whenever we can, but our rule is that once they fall over, that's it.  In our view it's the quality of life that really matters, not the quantity.

[gulli]

  In our view it's the quality of life that really matters, not the quantity.

very much so, like the op said it should have been put down a long time ago

just because you feel bad about it doesn't mean that its ok to keep something alive which is obviously suffering over an extended period of time

[twizzel]

Marchesfarmer as I said if it was my lamb I would have put it down weeks if not months ago. It's never 'done' well. But it isn't my lamb, so I can only advise on what should be done, it's not my decision to make.