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Author Topic: ewe lamb - slightly hunched/bloated - won't take bottle  (Read 5059 times)

ewesaidit

  • Joined Aug 2011
ewe lamb - slightly hunched/bloated - won't take bottle
« on: March 01, 2015, 06:37:46 pm »
 :(  One of my ewe lambs, one of twins, 5 weeks old, isn't thriving like everyone else.   The ewe doesn't have a lot of milk so I've been topping up.  Her tup brother takes the bottle happily but the ewe lamb always mucks about, takes the teat in her mouth but sort of half sucks and usually takes next to nothing.  She has always looked slightly hunched up but as she wasn't empty and was bright enough (previously) I have kept offering milk to her every day and didn't worry too much Figured that if she was hungry enough she would suck the bottle properly.  The only time she properly sucked from a bottle was when her and her brother were brought in to the house at one day old as she was hypothermic.  Once she was warmed up she sucked strongly.  Both were put back to mum and the tup lamb has been fine since but the ewe lamb always seems to be just getting by.   She has always stood slightly hunched - even when she was brighter.  I introduced creep pellets at the weekend - prior to that they have all been stealing a bit of the ewes feed.  She is looking slightly bloated now.  On checking the ewe tonight she has what looks like a small cut at the base of one teat, and a lumpy bit on the other side but both quarters are soft.  The ewe otherwise seems absolutely fine - good condition and her usual exceptionally greedy self.

Apologies for the long winded story ..... any advice re the lamb/ewe?

Old Shep

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • North Yorkshire
Re: ewe lamb - slightly hunched/bloated - won't take bottle
« Reply #1 on: March 01, 2015, 09:27:07 pm »
I would make sure that the lamb gets more milk from your bottle. It takes time but make sure she gets enough. Try different teats, squeeze the bottle a bit, try side of the mouth rather than the middle, different positions to you - under your arm, between your legs etc.  Last year one lamb would only accept the bottle if he stood to one side of my legs(as if they were his mothers legs and the bottle was in the same position as the mothers udder).  Whatever it takes, you now need to get that lamb full, 5 weeks of less than adequate nutrition is long enough.


Edited to add - is she nibbling straw bedding that may cause the bloat.
Helen - (used to be just Shep).  Gordon Setters, Border Collies and chief lambing assistant to BigBennyShep.

farmvet

  • Joined Feb 2014
Re: ewe lamb - slightly hunched/bloated - won't take bottle
« Reply #2 on: March 01, 2015, 10:12:09 pm »
The fact she was hypothermic at a day old, recovered, then been a bit iffy since would make me suspicious of failure to absorb enough colostrum leading to eg peritonitis (navel ill type infection). I'd pop her down to the vets for a quick look. She may need a long course of antibiotics, or they may decide the infection is too far gone for her to recover.

 

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