Author Topic: Ewe lamb behaving strangely (Read 5205 times)

baffledog1 · « **on:** December 11, 2015, 06:31:43 pm »

Ewe lamb approx 8months old. Not put to tup this year. Noticed she was on her own for a day. seemed to be staying near to the fence and not with other four ewe lambs. Brought her in as suspected a touch of pneumonia. gave her AB. after watching her she seemed to have gone blind. called vet he suspected CCN. prescribed Combivit.5mls every 12 hours. She seems much better in herself,standing,eating hay,plus the mix I am giving her. Still appears to be dis-orientated though and not a lot of vision there.

Having read info on internet silage seems to be blamed. NO silage given only a small amount of good quality hay.

Let her out in yard today and she got stuck in a corner.

Any ideas would be appreciated. Will blindness wear off, as she seems so much better. Anything else I can do to aid recovery. She was a cade last spring and my young daughter will be devastated. Is it contagious/should I be doing anything to the rest of the small flock. all heptavac'd /wormed and fluked.

Should have said gave her the last shot of vitamins tonight.

Thanks

shep53 · « **Reply #1 on:** December 11, 2015, 07:11:03 pm »

You need to be patient so long as she's eating and drinking , standing and walking then it just takes time , the blindness should go after 1 to 2 wks ( maybe ) Nothing to do with silage no one knows what causes the problem with THIAMINE many theories ? Not contagious I have a 5yr old ewe inside with ccn at the moment eating etc and had her treatment , just needs time

Marches Farmer · « **Reply #2 on:** December 11, 2015, 07:43:33 pm »

Silage is generally cause of Listeriosis.

Cheekierdiagram · « **Reply #3 on:** December 12, 2015, 12:32:59 am »

I think ccn is pretty much associated with a mineral inbalance. treatment with combining or extravite and a bit of good luck usually does the trick.

Hellybee · « **Reply #4 on:** December 12, 2015, 03:33:40 pm »

It would not hurt for you to put some apple cider vinegar (with mother)in some water for her to normalise to gut PH, and a glucose lick too. Good luck with her x

Border Lady · « **Reply #5 on:** December 13, 2015, 07:45:12 am »

Hi There,
OH is a Vet, and says blindness might not improve with time because CCN is cerebrocortical necrosis with the necrosis meaning cell death this time in the brain so although there may be an improvement in some sheep given multivits, including thiamine, the vision area of the brain maybe permanently damaged. However as long as the lamb is otherwise well and eating ...... be patient and see if the sight recovers.
CCN is mainly due to thiamine deficiency but a small number can be due to sulphur poisoning. No one knows why ruminants, who make their own thiamine in the rumen, become deficient but there is sometimes an association with change in diet especially in young calves.
Hope this helps.

Hellybee · « **Reply #6 on:** December 13, 2015, 11:49:40 am »

The production of thiaminase seems to exacerbate problems from what I've gleaned from last nights further reading.

baffledog1 · « **Reply #7 on:** December 13, 2015, 12:23:45 pm »

Thank you to all that replied. Update on ewe lamb. Still on her feet drinking, eating hay and her mix. put a mate in with her for company. The one eye seems worse than the other. Both respond to light of a torch but the one eye seems to have more sight. We will just have to hope that more sight returns in the next 1- 2 weeks as that seems to be the time frame given.

So many conflicting ideas/causes on the internet. A few cases around locally at the moment. Silage NOT a factor in any of them. Seem to be linked to stress, change of diet( i only gave them a handful of hay to see if they would eat it due to the awful weather). One neighbour had it in store lambs bought in and vet put it down to stress of market and subsequent movement.

Just hoping for the best at the moment. At least she is dry,warm and has food and company.

shep53 · « **Reply #8 on:** December 21, 2015, 01:07:20 pm »

UPDATE How's it doing ? my ewes back to normal so after the new year will be sold fat just incase

landroverroy · « **Reply #9 on:** December 21, 2015, 02:36:38 pm »

Quote from: baffledog1 on December 13, 2015, 12:23:45 pm

Thank you to all that replied. Update on ewe lamb. Still on her feet drinking, eating hay and her mix. put a mate in with her for company. The one eye seems worse than the other. Both respond to light of a torch but the one eye seems to have more sight. We will just have to hope that more sight returns in the next 1- 2 weeks as that seems to be the time frame given.

So many conflicting ideas/causes on the internet. A few cases around locally at the moment. Silage NOT a factor in any of them. Seem to be linked to stress, change of diet( i only gave them a handful of hay to see if they would eat it due to the awful weather). One neighbour had it in store lambs bought in and vet put it down to stress of market and subsequent movement.

Just hoping for the best at the moment. At least she is dry,warm and has food and company.

Would be interested in the opinions of the vets who post on here.
I personally can't see lambs going blind due to stress. There have been sheep going through markets for centuries and in the past suffering a lot more stress than they do now. Yet blindness does not seem to have been an issue in the past.

Equally, any ruminant's diet is likely to change in winter as the grass is used up and the ground becomes wet, so why should a different diet cause blindness, unless it's incredibly unsuitable or poor quality?

baffledog1 · « **Reply #10 on:** December 22, 2015, 09:17:56 am »

Shep

Unfortunately not good. still cicling and very little sight has returned. Still eating etc and seems happy with her mate in the barn. will make a decision after Christmas. thans

shep53 · « **Reply #11 on:** December 22, 2015, 06:56:02 pm »

Sorry doesn't sound too good

Hellybee · « **Reply #12 on:** December 23, 2015, 10:21:15 pm »

Circling.

Symptom of listeriosis. It doesn't have to be feed stuff from what I can see, many mammals carry the bacteria, is there any possibility that she got in somewhere she shouldn't have?

I dunno just a thought.

Merck says batter it with pen. Amongst other things. Hope shes ok x

waterbuffalofarmer · « **Reply #13 on:** December 24, 2015, 07:23:11 am »

She couldn't have ingested dog faeces could she? Have you any stray dogs around or walkers?

gapcap · « **Reply #14 on:** December 24, 2015, 11:22:00 am »

I had a lamb exactly the same, took a good month before she was well enought to go back with the rest, you would not now be able to tell which one she is,she's absolutely fine, so hang in there!