Hello all,
I have had the worse 36 hours ever in my life! Checked some sheep I have at 10am on Thursday morning. At 11.35 I had a call saying there was a dog attacking my sheep. I raced up there as fast as I could and the bloke who had seen the dog (a boxer dog) pointed me in the direction of the injured sheep, went over and not only was there one attacked sheep but there was four.
Vet rushed over while we collected the sheep from all four corners of the 13 acre field, police called etc. The Police went to a very local house to see a boxer dog inside with red around its mouth, photos taken and a statement given today as to the description of the dog by the witness, at the moment the police wont say if that dog matches the witness's statement but they are having a meeting with some very high up people of the police, dog warden etc etc .
The injuries are awful! I have a Shetland ewe who I thought was in lamb (confirmed this evening by the vet when he scanned her) She may loose her lambs. The dog has nearly ripped her ear off, slit her throat open and is very weak on her feet.
The rest have extensive damage to their noses. One is not so bad but two are serious. The dog has ripped there noses down to the skull and ripped another's ear nearly off (hanging on)
The vet has said to leave the ears as they are at the moment and they will die off naturally. There are some really bad bites to their legs which are starting to get a bit weepy so we are now having to clean off daily with hibi scrub. They are all apart from the Shetland trying to eat as best as they can and are drinking. All on Metacam for the swelling and pain and on antibiotics daily. The vet said they are likely to make it but only to be slaughtered. I will do the best thing by them and I wont keep them going if there in pain but I cant help but think he is thinking in a commercial farmers way.
My questions are:
How long would it take if the Shetland was to abort? Vet said it was too early to tell.
Does anyone here know of or have any sheep that cope without an ear? Do flies bother them? I think this is the main reason the vet thinks they should be slaughtered when fit.
Sorry for the long post and thank you to LadyGrey for her support over this heart breaking time!