Ewe Tooth Problem?

Hi everyone. I've been a long-time watcher/reader but felt the need to post with a question.

We have two rescue ewes. Both are old (about 12). We didn't know they were that old when we decided to accept them, but there was talk of them going to market...so here we are. The smaller one has had multiple issues (vet visits...lots of money for 'free' sheep) but is finally doing good. The bigger one is the one I'm having questions about.

She has always been very happy to see me coming with the feed bucket. Otherwise she stays away from humans...pretty wild. We call her loca chicha blanca (crazy white girl). Friday she ate most of her food but left some. Unusual for her. Saturday night she ate about half of her usual amount and left it. I even wetted and mushed the feed in case she had tooth pain. She ate some more but left some. Last night she barely touched it. I gave her a pain pill because she just looked like her she was hurting (no swelling around her mouth or face). About an hour later she was up grazing.

What little I've been able to find to read about old sheep and teeth is that it's pretty common for them to have issues. What I'm trying to find is something that is easy for an old girl to eat but will give her the needed roughage she needs for her tummy.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I'm also trying to do this without incurring another large vet bill. My vet is wonderful, but funds are limited.

Welcome! Im not familiar with the problem here but I will tag some who are far more knowledgable than I. @SheepGirl @Sheepshape

I have not had sheep long enough to have old ewes. But from what I have read, it is not uncommon for them to lose teeth. I'd say you are doing the right thing, providing her with soft food and letting her graze.

Greetings and welcome to BYH. Glad you finally joined in! Sorry it had to be because of an issue. I'm going to tag a few others with lots of experience. @mysunwolf @purplequeenvt @Bossroo and there others beyond them. Hope your girl comes around and starts eating again. Again, good to have you with us. Oh, if you'd be willing to share a few pics of your girls, we'd all be happy to look at them

Welcome 4.16 acres......sorry that your 'birth' on the forum is sign that you are having problems.

From what you describe, I doubt the issue is her teeth, particularly as the problem came on quickly and there's no mouth swelling. I have some 'ancient' sheep, so I'm probably as good as anyone to advise. My oldest came to me 7 years ago as an 'old' ewe....somewhere between 6 and 8..... from a farmer friend and having some problem (broken tooth etc), but 'good for another breeding season', and sold to us cheaply. She had such an engaging personality that she has stayed, but was deemed by the farmer who sold her to us as being 'a bit of a gummer' the year after we bought her. She's now 13-14.

Now sheep have a row of top teeth, but a bony plate at the bottom without teeth. This old girl had nothing but stumps at the top 6 years ago, but has had 9 lambs since then and has kept fit and pretty fat. It takes a long time before tooth loss leads to inability to eat, and then the condition would manifest gradually rather than slowly. A tooth abscess will certainly stop a sheep eating, but develops pretty quickly and a jaw swelling is usually present.

The only real way to tell if this old girl has mouth problems is to take a proper look inside. Even if there is an abscess, antibiotics and pain killers usually sort it out.

Is your old girl ill in any other way....lameness, coughing, eye discharge, raised temp? Are her mucous membranes (inside the bottom eyelid and inside the mouth) nice and red? Has she been wormed (though worm resistance much better in old girls)? Is her udder healthy? Has she been treated for fluke if you are in a 'flukey' area? (Whereas resistance to worms grows in old animals, resistance to fluke doesn't occur). Could she have been eating poison plants? (Around here rhododendron can cause problems).

I do hope that you are able to find the source of the problem and resolve it.

Thanks for the replies. She is grazing. Just not as much as before. I saw her pee and poo yesterday. So she's getting some food into her. She just doesn't want feed. Fortunately she's got good weight on her so it's not like she's going to waste away in a couple of days. I tried soft oatmeal with molasses. She sniffed it but didn't eat. Probably because it's new. No other symptoms. Can get up and down, moves well. No discharge. I'm going to get some alfalfa cubes and soak them in water and see if she wants a little of that. Tonight I'll take some regular feed and soak it in water and offer it to her.

The sheep were just wormed in October. Not a 'flukey' area that I'm aware of. No rhododendrons around. And both sheep eat in the same pasture so if it was something like that I'd have two that wouldn't eat.

My little sheep has her front teeth worn down to nubs but still grazes well. This one still has some teeth in front, but I'm wondering about the back ones. I'm still watching her for signs of face/mouth swelling since this just started a few days ago. I wonder if it's a tooth maybe trying to come out is what's causing problems. Just grasping at straws here.

One possibility is that the molars have been worn down and now have sharp points that hit the soft tissue of the cheek as the old ewe is chewing causing injury to the soft tissue of the cheek. Just like in older horses. The molars would then need to be floated ( filed down ) by a Vet., but I have never heard of a Vet doing it for sheep as it's just not worth the Vet's time . Then again , if you can find one that will be prepared to max out your credit card. Too, it could be a foxtail migrating through the gums or cheek or ??? causing pain. If this is the case, the foxtail will eventually migrate through the other side or become imcapsulated . As you are now finding out, it becomes quite costly to take on an older farm animal and it will continue . I wish you luck.

I'm not sure about foxtails. I had to look up pictures online and I've never seen them in Florida and there's nothing that looks like that on our property. But it looks like a choice between soft feed that doesn't require much chewing or having the animal PTS. I've looked up sheep teeth floating (my hubby used to have horses and mentioned it). I've found zero online. Although I will talk to my vet about feed, floating and the other.

Thanks for all your help.

***Update*** For the last three evenings, I've gotten my sheep to eat mushy feed. For the last two evenings, she's eaten it out of her bucket. So she's doing a bit better. She's still acting off. My gut tells me she's having pain due to her mouth. Tonight I'm going to give her some pain meds that I got from the vet with her feed and see if that helps her.

I did read something about when the sheep grab a bite of feed and toss their heads up and back, it's a sign that teeth problems are starting. They're trying to toss the feed back in their throats to avoid chewing as much as possible. We thought she was just being a nervous nelly because she wouldn't keep her head down in her bucket while eating (the other one does). With the wet feed she's keeping her head down in the bucket.

It just hurts my heart that she's not doing well. If that sounds sappy, then I'm sappy.

@4.16Acres, hon if you are sappy then sappy on by all means.