CL in Yearling....

HI! I have a beautiful yearling club lamb...although she isn't I still seem to call her a lamb. We bred her this last year and she had beautiful twins!! They are healthy and doing well. I sheared her today and her pen mate, another beautiful yearling hampshire(she delivered a healthy single). The shearing was slow(first time) but got done but while shearing our Iris(the first mentioned yearling) I accidentally knicked her shoulder not realizing she had a giant abscess there(her wool was about 3inches long). Green pasty pus came out and I mean a "ton". Amazlingly gross!!! I finished shearing her and then addressed the abscess...emptied it the best I could and treated it with Iodine and blue coat. I gave her a pcn subQ shot. I have never seen anything like this before...called my breeder, he said it looks like CL. After reading up on this CL, I am devastated!!! It truly fits all the signs. Now I am worried about our other yearling who is in the same pen with her. I knicked her while shearing her. I didn't know what her abscess was and/or how contagious it is. I disposed of all contaminated objects paper towels and such, but I am sure some of it got in the pen. Now I don't know what to do. Should I isolate both of them or should I take the "healthy" ewe out and isolate Iris?? We also have 13 lambs in the same barn...not the same pen. How do I keep everyone safe or is it too late...have I exposed everyone and condemned my barn in the process???

Sorry you are dealing with this and you ask some very good questions that I am not sure I can answer in entirety. You can get a blood test done on all sheep over 6 months old and that will tell you who has been exposed.

I'm not sure about your barn, is it possible to scrap the dirt or bring in more dirt? There is nothing you can use to sanitize dirt. But this may not be her first abscess either and your entire flock may already be exposed.

I would keep everyone out of the pen except Iris. I would get a blood test on everyone else. I would talk to your vet, your flock be a good candidate for the CL vaccine.

Hope that helps a little, you are in a tough spot.

You should try to collect some of the pus and have your vet test it before you panic too much. You can also get a blood test done.

CL is not something you want, but there are some other reasons that she could have an abscess besides CL. Where on her shoulder was the abscess - front, side or top? Was it somewhere that she may have received a vaccine or could have hurt herself scratching on something?

I'd agree with separating all from Iris and leaving Iris where you discovered the abscess. At least if she's already contaminated that stall, she can't do any worse and none of the others can contact it (again). Then get a sample of the pus or a blood test done to see for sure. I hope it's just a wound abscess and not CL. Please let us know how things progress. Wishing you the best.

Thank you!!! I appreciate all the time, anwers, and prayers!!! I did call the vet. We are going to send in a pus sample...then maybe a blood sample. I will let you know!!

cl can be passed with your shears as well. That pus was on the shears and if you are going from sheep to sheep and you do nick one....
Sheep with CL usually have it internal and rarely show lumps.

We had a buck get a ping-pong ball sized abscess under his ear that was drained and tested negative for CL. We think it was from a puncture wound. I don't know what the contents looked like as we were told to just drop him off at the vet.

Another doe we have got a smaller vaccine abscess that we also drained and tested for CL- negative. The contents were cheesy yellow.

I hope it's the same for you!

There are other infections that mimic cl. Look up 'cruels'. I've had sheep w abscesses that weren't cl. The cruels info was on a Finnsheep page. Can't remember the address.

I agree with what's already been said.....don't despair, it may not be as bad as you think.

I similarly found a massive abscess on the neck of a 2 year old ewe in the first couple of years that I had sheep....discovered when she discharged a gallon of cheesy stuff onto the soil of the field one morning. I took her to the shed and squeezed out tons more, following it up by hydrogen peroxide washouts and daily 'squeezings'. At the time I wasn't too wise about CL and didn't send the pus for analysis etc. The ewe seemed fine after, and I kept her for at least 5 more years....so probably wasn't CL in the first place.

7-8 years ago I had a ewe who I thought had CL....wasted away and died....again not tested.

I've had no other cases since......so I'm now coming round to thinking maybe neither had CL or I've been very, very lucky.

Anyway, don't do what I did, isolate her, get the pus tested/blood tests and vaccinate as appropriate.Prevention is always better than cure.

Good Luck.