Bottle fed newborn lamb seizure

ashley carro

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We had a lamb born on Monday 6 days ago. Mother rejected, so we decided to bottle feeding him. He is very small about 3 pounds. He is eating well(1-2 ounces per hour) voiding fine, and stool is normal.
Last night I noticed he had an episode where he was laying down seemed to not be able
To get up but he head was kind of twisting...
Today we were outside to let him
Get exercise walking in grass and he fell to ground and looked like he had a seizure, it last not even a minute. I picked him up and he snapped out of it... trying to read online to see if he has a deficiency or a possible seizure disorder. I am going to call a vet in am to see
If I can get him seen... any suggestions
 

purplequeenvt

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Have you taken his temperature? Normal temp would be around 101-102.

What breed is he? A 3lb Suffolk lamb would be concerning, but not a 3lb Shetland.

Did he get any colostrum from mom?

Is he only taking 1-2oz at a time or is that all you are offering? When I have a new bottle lamb that is not doing so well, I let them take as much milk as they want whenever they seem hungry for the first 2-3 days. They usually drink 3-4oz. After that, they are fed at least 3 times a day as much as they want up to 16oz a feeding. That is for the Border Leicesters (med-large breed, lambs usually in the 8-10lb range). I’ve never had a Shetland bottle lamb so I don’t know how much they’d eat at a feeding.

I would worry that he has a deficiency, possibly selenium or thiamine. Thiamine causes neurological symptoms, but I’m not sure if seizures are common.

Is he lethargic at all? What’s his heart rate/respiratory rate?
 

ashley carro

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He’s a NM DAHL
He’s about 1/2 the size if not 1/3 size of my other lambs. Though he is growing.
He’s eating every hour about 1-2 ounces. He doesn’t like to take too much at a time.
I gave him some sheep nutri-drench this am, and that definitely gave him a pick me up.
He hasn’t had an episode today but I spoke with another breeder of NM Dahl and he seems to think maybe there’s something genetic going on and that’s why he had an episode and that’s why the mother refused him. We thought she possibly refused him bc she’s a first time mom and a younger mom only a little over a year old.
I bought him a milk feeder so he can start to feed himself.
I guess we will take it day by day if he survives he survives.
Any suggestions would be appreciated, I know I shouldn’t but I am getting a little attached to him with all the time spent with him.
I appreciate it. Thank you for responding !!!

QUOTE="purplequeenvt, post: 649655, member: 4453"]
Have you taken his temperature? Normal temp would be around 101-102.

What breed is he? A 3lb Suffolk lamb would be concerning, but not a 3lb Shetland.

Did he get any colostrum from mom?

Is he only taking 1-2oz at a time or is that all you are offering? When I have a new bottle lamb that is not doing so well, I let them take as much milk as they want whenever they seem hungry for the first 2-3 days. They usually drink 3-4oz. After that, they are fed at least 3 times a day as much as they want up to 16oz a feeding. That is for the Border Leicesters (med-large breed, lambs usually in the 8-10lb range). I’ve never had a Shetland bottle lamb so I don’t know how much they’d eat at a feeding.

I would worry that he has a deficiency, possibly selenium or thiamine. Thiamine causes neurological symptoms, but I’m not sure if seizures are common.

Is he lethargic at all? What’s his heart rate/respiratory rate?
[/QUOTE]
 

ashley carro

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He’s a NM DAHL
He’s about 1/2 the size if not 1/3 size of my other lambs. Though he is growing.
He’s eating every hour about 1-2 ounces. He doesn’t like to take too much at a time.
I gave him some sheep nutri-drench this am, and that definitely gave him a pick me up.
He hasn’t had an episode today but I spoke with another breeder of NM Dahl and he seems to think maybe there’s something genetic going on and that’s why he had an episode and that’s why the mother refused him. We thought she possibly refused him bc she’s a first time mom and a younger mom only a little over a year old.
I bought him a milk feeder so he can start to feed himself.
I guess we will take it day by day if he survives he survives.
Any suggestions would be appreciated, I know I shouldn’t but I am getting a little attached to him with all the time spent with him.
I appreciate it. Thank you for responding !!!

QUOTE="purplequeenvt, post: 649655, member: 4453"]
Have you taken his temperature? Normal temp would be around 101-102.

What breed is he? A 3lb Suffolk lamb would be concerning, but not a 3lb Shetland.

Did he get any colostrum from mom?

Is he only taking 1-2oz at a time or is that all you are offering? When I have a new bottle lamb that is not doing so well, I let them take as much milk as they want whenever they seem hungry for the first 2-3 days. They usually drink 3-4oz. After that, they are fed at least 3 times a day as much as they want up to 16oz a feeding. That is for the Border Leicesters (med-large breed, lambs usually in the 8-10lb range). I’ve never had a Shetland bottle lamb so I don’t know how much they’d eat at a feeding.

I would worry that he has a deficiency, possibly selenium or thiamine. Thiamine causes neurological symptoms, but I’m not sure if seizures are common.

Is he lethargic at all? What’s his heart rate/respiratory rate?
[/QUOTE]

His heart rate has been normal respiratory rate normal and temp normal. Everything normal other than past two days a little more fatigue and then the episode yesterday in yard.
no episode today.
 

Sheepshape

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I'd definitely feed him myself for now.....just to make sure that he gets his milk. Allow him to take as much as he can manage.

Repeat the Nutri-drench once a day for the next 2 days.

I've had a sheep which had seizures.....he had a very short neck and so probably had a lower brain deformity. He survived and actually thrived with his occasional collapses and twitches.

Ewes do reject lambs which they detect to be abnormal, but with a young first-timer inexperience is highest on the list.

Even tiny scraps can do very well. My Avatar is LLeila....one half of twins, where the brother was 14 lbs+. LLeila weighed under a pound (she is a mule Blue Faced Leicester X Beulah....normally a large animal). She wasn't rejected by mum, but was too weak to stand and suckle, so became a bottle lamb. She is now a huge ewe with one of my biggest set of twin lambs.

Could you take a pic. of him? Sometimes pictures give the game away.

Good Luck.
 

ashley carro

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I'd definitely feed him myself for now.....just to make sure that he gets his milk. Allow him to take as much as he can manage.

Repeat the Nutri-drench once a day for the next 2 days.

I've had a sheep which had seizures.....he had a very short neck and so probably had a lower brain deformity. He survived and actually thrived with his occasional collapses and twitches.

Ewes do reject lambs which they detect to be abnormal, but with a young first-timer inexperience is highest on the list.

Even tiny scraps can do very well. My Avatar is LLeila....one half of twins, where the brother was 14 lbs+. LLeila weighed under a pound (she is a mule Blue Faced Leicester X Beulah....normally a large animal). She wasn't rejected by mum, but was too weak to stand and suckle, so became a bottle lamb. She is now a huge ewe with one of my biggest set of twin lambs.

Could you take a pic. of him? Sometimes pictures give the game away.

Good Luck.

I am going to do nutri drench again in am. Yesterday until this evening he was doing well. Now not eating well. I finally got an ounce in him in the past 4-5 hours... he just chews the bottle doesn’t want to drink which hasn’t been an issue until this evening....
do you think that I can use nutri drench every am for the next few days, it seemed to give him energy and appetite up until now.
I appreciate you answering the post. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
tonight I am concerned he might not
Make it.
 

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Sheepshape

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Yes use the Nutri-drench. If you have a drench gun or syringe you could also give him a drench with a non-caffeine containing energy drink. Choose the still type and the high sugar ones, not the reduced or no sugar.
You could try tube feeding if you have a stomach tube, but there has to be a reason that he has stopped taking his feeds. Is he in any other way ill (aside from the apparent seizures)?
 

ashley carro

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So I took his temp 102.2 this am respiratory rate is normal. He was fine until like 6 pm last night when he started not wanting to suckle the bottle... usually at night he drinks about an ounce every 2-3 hours... last night he woke up every 2-3 hours but would barely intake he had 2 ounces all night from 10:30 to 5:30.
he also only voided once last night and had one normal stool.
the only things I can think of is that either he aspirated during one of his feedings the other am when he had an “episode” or maybe the milk isn’t going into the stomach but rumen.... idk.
i gave him 1 pump = 1cc of nutri-drench for sheep at 5:30 am thru a syringe then mixed another 1 cc in his milk to encourage him to drink since it has molasses... I’ll see how he does today. I have to work all day and I have my aunt coming over to feed him.
I put creep into his enclosure which is a play pen in house, and Timothy grass hay, he really wants nothing to do with creep and I don’t know how he’d eat it since it’s small pellets and he really doesn’t have teeth yet. Should I grind up and mix with milk? The vet seemed to think that I needed to introduce the creep ASAP to get extra nutrients into him.
 

Sheepshape

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He's too young to get much of anything from creep or hay (the rumen is only properly developed at 8 weeks). Whilst not wanting to upset anyone, I'm guessing your vet is not a farm animal vet?

Lambs go off their food whatever is wrong with them. Sometimes it is never apparent what is wrong. Sometimes, regrettably, mum was right.

You clearly have gone 'above and beyond' to try to help this lamb. Persist with trying to get him to take bottle/syringe in small amounts of milk,nuti-drench, energy drinks etc. If he's meant to live, he will. Try not to feel that you are to blame if he doesn't.....maybe he has some fatal genetic defect.

Good Luck.
 

ashley carro

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He's too young to get much of anything from creep or hay (the rumen is only properly developed at 8 weeks). Whilst not wanting to upset anyone, I'm guessing your vet is not a farm animal vet?

Lambs go off their food whatever is wrong with them. Sometimes it is never apparent what is wrong. Sometimes, regrettably, mum was right.

You clearly have gone 'above and beyond' to try to help this lamb. Persist with trying to get him to take bottle/syringe in small amounts of milk,nuti-drench, energy drinks etc. If he's meant to live, he will. Try not to feel that you are to blame if he doesn't.....maybe he has some fatal genetic defect.

Good Luck.

she says she is and spent time on sheep farms while in school, but I honestly do not think she knows much. Told me all the info on raising lambs is on sheep and goats.com. 🙄
I won’t offer the creep since I think it’s a waste at this time.
Good news is he perked up and has eaten 4 ounces since giving him the drench.
Ill start to give drench every day (am) for the next few days to see how he does. We’ll see... if he doesn’t make it I guess I can say that I did everything I could to help him. Thanks for the assistance. I really appreciate it.
 
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