[Madmandy]

New user and lengthy post alert   
Our lamb is about 3 months old. He was with mum and all seemed well until he was found flat out in the spell of very warm weather we had about a month ago.
He was put in a shed and taken to the vet after a couple of days because he was just sat star gazing, his head was thrown right back, he seemed to have no idea just which way up the world should be !!
The vet said it was meningitis and treated him for that.
He has been bottle fed since we found him because he wouldn't eat for himself, obviously he should still have been being fed by mum at the time.
Herein lies the problem.....i have managed to get him to eat soaked nuts. I Just put water on them til they were sloppy but he won't graze at all. If i put grass in his mouth he'll chew it and swallow it but he just can't seem to understand he has to get it for himself. If i offer him nuts he just spits them out. Its getting to a point now where milk is nowhere near enough for him.

Obviously he's missed learning this from his mum but how do I get him to realise what he needs to do.??

So desperate to help him, can anyone advise me please

[Possum]

You could try giving him some hay. They seem to instinctively nibble on it. Try doing it first thing in the morning when he has an empty tummy and will be more keen to eat. If he get used to hay he may move onto the grass by himself.

[Womble]

Perhaps mix some grass in with the other food in progressively larger proportions?  Maybe after that you could spread his other food out over the grass for him to find. Maybe he'll eventually realise that the whole world is basically an edible dinner plate!? 

[kanisha]

Is he with other sheep?

[Marches Farmer]

You could perhaps try mixing a little fresh grass chopped small in with his soaked feed, gradually increasing it.   Will he take the feed it it's put on the grazing rather than presented in a bucket?  Might he have sustained some brain damage due to the meningitis?   When you described the symptoms my first thought was encephalitis, most commonly due to listeriosis.

[twizzel]

My first thought was CCN aka Polioencephalitis which is caused by a vit b1 deficiency (that and listeria are totally different diseases). Also known as star gazing disease. Vit b1 straight into the vein will help but if it's gone to the brain then it's normally too late. if whatever he has had has affected the brain it's probably kinder to put him down.

[Madmandy]

Kanisha, he isn't with other sheep right now, we tried but he just stood by the gate bleating and the others just ignored him.

Marches Farmer, we thought he had some brain damage as to begin with he appeared to have lost some sight and was unsteady on his feet but he appears to have recovered from all that now.

Today we tried a variety of food....greens, cucumber, broccoli, carrot, courgette....but he just shows no interest at all. If i  open his moutht and push it to his back teeth he will happily chew and swallow but if it doesn't go far enough back he will just push it all back out.
I'm going to get some starter pellets tomorrow and will try with those, soaked if necessary and will add in some grass increasing that as we go. He won't be getting a bottle in the morning in the hopes that will encourage him to eat because right now having the bottle is telling him he has a full belly but he's not getting enough nutrients from it to grow and be healthy.

He is such a little sweetheart and very loving because he obviously is looking for comfort despite being away from mum for the last few weeks...she had abandoned him on the hill.

Thank you all so much for taking the time to reply and help

[kanisha]

put a companion sheep with him its the quickest way for him to learn.

[Marches Farmer]

A little weaned ewe lamb in with him for a few weeks might help - not so much argy-bargy as with a ram lamb.

[Gunestone]

As others have said, another lamb in with him might do a world of good. Being flock animals they instinctively copy each other, also just having some company would help.