[Smee]

We are helping our neighbour with bottle feeding some of his pet lambs (I'm a soft touch I know!) they are all doing pretty well apart from one that was found up on the hills without his mum. He must have been a good couple of weeks old and a big lamb so was doing alright up till then. He was pretty hungry and we thought he was just weak from lack of food as he had difficulty standing for long. Well we've been feeding him up but the leg weakness thing seems to continue to affect him, one day he's limping on backleg, another day front leg. He's had AB's and a mineral drench, but I'm racking my brains as to what else to try with him. He toddles around after the others but just mostly lies down as its all too much for him. I did think Joint Ill but the AB's should have sorted anything like that out. They are out in the sun during the day and back in shed at night. Any ideas???

[Marches Farmer]

I'd consult a vet - if Betamox and Metacam aren't doing the job there may be something else going on - selenium deficiency perhaps (white muscle disease) or erysipelas (which is associated mostly with pigs but is also elsewhere in the environment).  Have you taken his temperature? 

[Anke]

Delayed swayback, as in copper deficiency would be my thinking - so a mineral drench containing copper may help. Depends on what type of sheep you have and how much copper they can tolerate.

[twizzel]

Joint ill unless caught early can damage joints beyond repair. You really need to hit it hard with a prolonged course of Synulox or similar, but once it's damaged the joint the animal will always be lame on it, leading to arthritis (and then you need to decide if it's kinder to put down). Or as others have said white muscle disease could be a possibility- try a couple of jabs of vitesel from your vet, but again the prognosis isn't good (we lost a pet lamb last year to it, put her down in the end at about 9 weeks old).

[Marches Farmer]

Delayed swayback, as in copper deficiency would be my thinking - so a mineral drench containing copper may help. Depends on what type of sheep you have and how much copper they can tolerate.

Swayback generally presents as just that - the back end of the lamb from the hips back will sway about and flop to one side or the other, with general lack co-ordination.  It gets worse as the lamb gets heavier and looks quite different to limping.

[Foobar]

selenium deficiency?  it could be a number of things - pop him down the vets, as I doubt he's going to get better without any intervention.

[shep53]

Tick pyaemia / louping ill / fever  ?  it may have abcesses on its internal organs

[farmers wife]

You can buy vet B12 jab worth a go.  If you have given vit drench then it may take a few weeks to show signs.  Pop some yogurt in the milk and keep the gut health going.