Newborn lamb with diarrhea

ashley carro

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My Nm Dahl ewe had a lamb the night before last. Baby was fine in am, she was eating walking fine.
Last night she seemed to be good.
This am I noticed she had diarrhea. And the mom is trying to get her to nurse and I did not notice her nursing during my am feedings. I gave her probiotic for sheep: at recommend dose, and bottle fed colostrum which she took well and tolerated.
Diarrhea is a light brown sticky. I washed her off and gave her back to mom.
Any recommendations on what else I can do. I read that diarrhea in lambs is a big killer trying to avoid this
 

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Rammy

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Greetings and welcome to BYH from Tn! So glad you joined us. Look around and see what interesting stuff you can find. You'll get to "meet" folks at the same time. By all means post away when the desire strikes you, especially if you have questions (provide as much detail/info as possible and pictures truly help)... With all the great folks here, generally someone will respond in no time at all. Oh, and we all love pics, so post them anytime you feel the need! Please make yourself at home!
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Mike CHS

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My Nm Dahl ewe had a lamb the night before last. Baby was fine in am, she was eating walking fine.
Last night she seemed to be good.
This am I noticed she had diarrhea. And the mom is trying to get her to nurse and I did not notice her nursing during my am feedings. I gave her probiotic for sheep: at recommend dose, and bottle fed colostrum which she took well and tolerated.
Diarrhea is a light brown sticky. I washed her off and gave her back to mom.
Any recommendations on what else I can do. I read that diarrhea in lambs is a big killer trying to avoid this

Your sheep seem tame so keep doing what you are doing. Just make sure the lamb gets fed and if you can make sure you can milk the mom to feed the lamb.
 

babsbag

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The yellow sticky diarrhea is normal stools for a newborn lamb/goat; it will go away in a few days. They also don't nurse for long, literally a few seconds sometimes, but they nurse frequently.
 

Sheepshape

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I'm sure that the bowel actions are normal for a young lamb. As babsbag says, newborn lambs only nurse for a very short time, though they do it often. Normal bowel actions in a tiny lamb can lead to a hard mass stuck to bottom and tail which needs to be washed and carefully teased off. The bowels will settle by the end of the first week of life.

Commercial colostrum is from cows milk and will make loose bowels even more so. But don't worry, she will improve over the next few days.

Leave her to mum, she'll be bounding around in no time.....but sticky yellow stools are likely to go on for a few more days.
 

Skiesblue

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A little Vaseline on the anus and on the tail is helpful to keep poop from clumping. The tail is delicate so be careful not to twist or bend it or scrub hard because the bones can break and the skin can be pulled off.
 
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