[Jill2305]

Right! I have totally run out of ideas. It’s now Guinness or bust!
Eyes and muzzle now really crusty. (It’s not orf) it’s emaciated but still has the energy to get up and trot off. 4 days ago had loxicom injection which completely dealt with the rear end lameness and wobblyness. It also had vitamin B12 injection at the same time. Yesterday I thought there might have been a slight improvement but I obviously imagined it. It’s back to square one today. Goes to the creep feeder, puts its head in but doesn’t take any. It constantly licks its lips, couple of sucks off ewe every now and again. I caught it and had some lamb pellets in my hand and tried to hand feed it. It attacked them like it was absolutely starving ( it is!) but gobbed most of it out! I’ll let you know how the Guinness goes!

[Jill2305]

Brief update on Guinness:
It went absolutely frantic once it had the taste. Unfortunately i was on my own and most of it hit the grass. It was on my arm and it bit my arm hard and also my fingers. I was surprised at the response. It’ll be a two man job tomorrow.
Just in case you think I’m being a bit feeble.....our land has flat bits high up with very steep banks. The lamb was on the steepest bit so was a devil to get to and harder still to balance!

[shep53]

Think you might have been better with lamb milk than beer .   I still think all is down to lack of milk . I have a lamb 4 wks old , a single on a fit 3 crop ewe and yet it has been going backwards and spending more time away from mam and she has to go and find it  , then it suckles but not for long .  So to save its life iv'e  had to start bottle feeding it  twice a day .   In order to stimulate milk flow lambs need to suckle often  but if a lamb gets very little milk it thinks why bother and suckles less so the milk gets less

[Jill2305]

Hello. Iv tried milk ?? In a syringe, in a bucket,  in my hand...you would think it was poison....won’t take a bottle at all and believe me I have persevered. Usually after days, nay a week of struggling with a bottle I find usually the penny drops but not with this one. but you know what? I’m beginning to think you’re right. Will try again tomorrow. Thankyou.

[shep53]

Hey we've all been in that situation with older lambs that would rather die than drink ,luckily mine is drinking  . You just have to keep trying  , if you can get beer down it then you should get milk ,what about a dosing gun and very slowly squeezing  ?? surprised  it won't drink from a bucket as I find lambs in pens with their mother and not getting enough milk will drink water from a bucket and I have to remove it and put back for the ewe to drink and remove again or the lamb wont take a bottle it just fills up on water . Some times if a lamb  absolutely refuses a bottle I put weak milk in a bucket for it to drink .  Since your lamb is outside in a field is it filling up on water , that plus  a little milk some creep and a little grass would keep it alive JUST  .

[Jill2305]

Been over with milk in a jug. It went bonkers licking its lips put its head in jug, lapped rather than slurped, went bonkers licking, bit the jug bit me. Let it have another go with the jug but it lost interest. Picked it up and put it in the stable while I fetched a bottle. It approached the bottle licked its lips licked the teat, I squeezed a bit, it licked its lips then refused. I got it between my legs and managed to get a tiny amount into it without choking it. Took it back to its mother. I’ll try again tomorrow morning. I have thought about putting into the stable with its mother but I know she’ll kick the door off. If I take it off the mother altogether it’ll probably just give up. (Made that mistake before) When I pick it up, it feels right. Nice and heavy and soft, not like they feel when they are really starving, all dry and hard. It just looks terrible. Yes I know forgot photo again. Sorry I’m rambling .......
Just to let you know I so appreciate your input.

[Jill2305]

I have to say I’m now thinking of completely giving up. Milk in a bowl, in a bottle in a syringe was just a messy battle this morning. I have noticed now that when you do manage to get something in it sets off spasms in the bowel. Obviously painful, either lying down or standing with the tail up. Very small amounts of clear mucus being passed but no stool. It’s never scoured and it has passed normal stools (though a small amount) previously. There’s obviously some internal damage? Coccidiosis? If so, the damage has been done. I am now beyond fed up.

[shep53]

It is often suprising how heavy and solid a lamb in this situation feels , a gut full of water/ grass /pellets weighs heavy . Mucas from the rectum is standard in this situation as it needs to take in fibre and break it down  to produce pellets . A lamb suckling its mother and nibbling grass slowly develops a rumen and by 8-10 wks of age is a full ruminant , your lamb has not developed correctly .  I think you have 3 choices   Take off mum and try to bottle , bucket feed , so it only has milk ,creep ,hay to eat !   Leave alone and see what happens ,it may keep going but be prepared to PTS if it gets worse !.   PTS now !    Your decision

[Jill2305]

Thankyou for your reply shep53. I’m going to leave it with ewe till Monday when I see vet again and probably pts if there has been no significant improvement. Seperating them would be very stressful as she is very mothery and I wouldn’t be able to get them out of earshot of each other. It’s quite a distressing situation all round I think.

[Jill2305]

Sadly lamb was pts this morning. Rather frustrating as it appeared to have turned a corner. It was bright and breezy, started to graze, feeding from its mother etc. It came to me on its own accord for yoghurt. It was still not good but there was a definite improvement. Unfortunately it had now got a prolapsed rectum. I took it vet who considered putting it back in and stitching in place but I decided enough was enough ( rightly or wrongly who knows)
It was the strangest thing. I held it on the table of doom and before vet came anywhere near it totally relaxed into me and dozed off. It never made a move or a sound whilst the injections were administered and just passed away very peacefully.
I still feel bad though. ? thank you for all your help and advice. Xx

[shep53]

Never easy but this is part of livestock keeping  This morning I pts a 4wk old lamb that was bitten on its head when 24hrs old by a fox and despite 3 courses of ab's bacteria had got into its brain so it was blind and turning circles   then I think its mother had given up on it in the last 2 days  SO

[Jill2305]

Yep! As the old farmer next door is forever telling me “where there’s livestock, there’s deadstock”. Fortunately for me foxes aren’t a big issue here. Living on grousemoors has its advantages, the gamekeepers seem to have all that in hand. Less fortunate for foxes and big birds me thinks.

[Clarebelle]

Sorry to hear this, it sounds like you tried everything you possibly could. Perhaps there was just some internal abnormality that meant, unfortunately, this lamb would never have made it. Did the vet do a PM to find out what happened?