2 month old lamb with scours

[Heather gray]

We have 5 lambs with 2 ewes born in January and one has a case of scours. I have read a number of threads on kids with scours but so far have not found one on lambs. We washed his bum yesterday and gave him some kefir mixed with water and lamb replacer powdered milk. He had diarrhea again today. He is a triplet and my concern is he isn't nursing nearly as much as he should due to the 3 lambs and now that he has scours I will start giving him a bottle of lamb replacer with probiotics. We have not checked his stool's yet and unfortunately we can not find a county vet to visit out ranch.If he does have a bacteria infection what meds do you recommend and is this something I can get at tractor supply. I am open to suggestions and appreciate any help you can give me!

 

[gcarmack2001]

I raise goats, not sheep, but sheep and goats are similar so I'll tell you what I would do if this was a goat.
I know in goats that using replacer isn't the best. We use whole milk from the store as it is the most similar to the mother's milk. I don't if that's the case for sheep or not.
Obviously, the animal is having scours for a reason. You don't just treat the diarrhea, as it is often the body's ways of removing toxins from the body. I would automatically do a fecal to see if it is barber pole or coccidia. Usually, goats don't have scours with an infection--it's usually from some kind of parasite.
Now, if you are unable to get a fecal (which is understandable, as I've been in the situation before) I start treating for what I think it is. I check the temp, and if it's high then it's an infection. If it's low then there's something wrong with his stomach. My main concern with diarrhea is dehydration, so if he isn't drinking water yet you might want to drench him with water with livestock electrolytes mixed in or Gatorade to keep him from dehydrating. He's obviously getting enough milk if he's having diarrhea.
If you can't get a fecal, then here's what I would go get. (REMEMBER: this is what I would do if this was a GOAT. I don't know if these medications are harmful to sheep or not, but usually it isn't.)
I would go to the feed store/tractor supply and get Valbazen wormer and Quest Plus. Valbazen dosage is 1cc per 10 lbs. and Quest Plus dosage is 1cc per 20 lbs. I would give him that (at the same time), repeat it again 12 hrs. later, then do it again 10 days, and then once more in 10 days if still necessary.
My go-to treatment for coccidia is Toltrazuril, but that usually has to be ordered so if your feed store doesn't have that look for Dimethox 40% or, most likely they will have, Corid. If his temp is high you'll need to get an antibiotic like LA-200, Penicillin, or something that works well against infection. You'll also need a fever reducer like Banamine (veterinarian prescription required) or you can simply crush up aspirin and drench it if his temp is really high. You're also going to need probiotics and Fortified B Complex. I'd also get a bag of livestock electrolytes to mix in with water to drench him with. I'd also get Red Cell but I think copper is toxic to sheep and it contains copper so that's probably a no for that.
Here's a list of the things you need:
Valbazen
Quest Plus
Toltrazuril, Dimethox 40%, or Corid
Fortified B Complex
Livestock Electrolytes

IF TEMP IS HIGH:
LA-200, Penicillin (or some other kind of antibiotic)
some kind of fever reducer (Banamine, aspirin)

You MUST take his temperature and get back on here with it and I'll tell you more. If his temp is normal just worm him and treat him for coccidia. If you get a fecal back and it's negative I wouldn't be surprised. If an animal has diarrhea for long enough the parasites won't show up in the fecal, even if the animal is overloaded with parasites. Let me know what's going on ASAP.

I do hope your sheep does well.

 

[Heather gray]

I first want to thank you for your very thorough information on what to do with my lambs! My husband just got home and we took his temp. and it was 102.7 which I do believe is normal... correct?

 

[Latestarter]

I'll tag a few Sheeple that may be able to help. Born in January could have them anywhere from 4 weeks to 10 weeks old... more accurate info please. What breed?
@mysunwolf @Sheepshape @The Old Ram-Australia @Roving Jacobs @farmerjan @SheepGirl I'm sure there are others. Hopefully someone will be along shortly.

 

[Heather gray]

They are katahdin hair sheep and were born on january 30 .... so they are not 2 months yet...(boy do I feel silly.)
It appears that his sister also is showing signs too and both of them are white. Our 3 brown lambs ( one is their sister) may also have some signs but is harder to see.. I also have to seen the white male urinate but have seen the white female. Thank you in advance for any and all info!!!

 

[Latestarter]

Since they are all the same age and all showing signs my first thought would be to check for Coccidiosis. It's a parasite, but not a worm, so wormers will not fix it. You should try to get a fecal sample and have it looked at to confirm. Have you taken their temp? If an infection, you would expect them to be running a temperature. If temp is normal, better than average chance it's cocci. Having a fecal sample run is not expensive, just bring it to your vet. You don't want to get in the habit of just "throwing meds" at the animals in hopes of curing the ailment.

 

[The Old Ram-Australia]

G'day, from what has been posted so far the question I would ask is "what are they being fed?"It's still winter up there and so at this age they are most likely on some sort of "hard feed",what are they eating?Does the ewe have adequate milk for 3 lambs?Is the first patient the smallest?If you are feeding hay to them I would cease this immediately,as if it is the "slightest" bit moldy it will cause a tummy upset.Have they been fed a pellet supplement ,smell it ,does it smell "fresh".If you try Milk Re-placer ,this can cause a tummy upset.

If it was me I would feed them nothing but mothers milk for a day or so ,you could also milk one of the other ewes and mix some Natural Yogurt in it to stabilize the stomach contents.I,m sure you will get advice from others as well ,let us all know how you get on...T.O.R.

 

[Sheepshape]

Have you left triplets on the mum? Though a young, big strong ewe with lots of milk and three equally sized lambs may be fine to do so, if these conditions don't apply, then the smallest lamb is likely to fail to thrive and often will have diarrhoea. If he'll take a bottle,not always easy after a few days of life if he has only suckled from mum, then top him up with bottles of ewes milk replacer.

At 4-6 weeks coccidia, as suggested by Latestarter, is one of the most likely pathogens.Is there any blood in the bowel actions? Are the lambs straining or crying when they open their bowels? If you can get a stool samples ( a clean jar with faeces from a number of affected lambs taken to your vet's office), then coccidia or other causes can rapidly be confirmed or exclude by your vet. Treatments for most pathogens are usually effective if the cause is caught early.

If they'll take probiotics, then that's good.

 

[farmerjan]

All the advice is good. I would automatically start treating for coccidia at this age. You need to make sure their bedding is clean as it will get passed around easily. And when they are scouring that is a pain. Try to take a sample to the vet before treatment, but if that is not practical, then starting treatment for coccidia is the easiest and least disruptive. I would not treat for worms unless you can get a positive fecal because that is harder on their system. You can give them the Corid directly in their mouth/throat with a small syringe so you don't have to fight with them trying to get them to take a bottle and maybe not get all they need. They won't need much, follow the directions and you will have to give it for maybe 5 days straight. I can't remember off hand. Also, any type probiotic will help getting their stomachs to working better, they are usually a paste in a plunger/doser, directions on them too. Give several hours apart from any treatment. Kefir is good, we use it for calves to get their gut tract working. We mix it in some milk or milk replacer not water.

Does the lamb act hungry? If you think he is not getting enough from the ewe, I might try supplementing with one feeding a day of a lamb milk replacer or with whole milk. But don't overdue it because it will also get scours from just too much milk. And mixing replacer with the ewes own milk will cause his stomach to have a little upset due to the different compositions. But we have supplemented with replacer several times when a ewe has trips. They seem to do better if they can stay within their "family unit" and you just supplement with a little extra.

Have you checked the ewes udder and milked a little bit out of her? Any chance she has mastitis? That will cause some stomach problems also as the staph or strep that causes most mastitis can upset their stomach. Just a thought.

Have you changed the feed the ewes are getting to where it might have changed the composition of the milk? Sometimes that can cause a problem.

 

[Heather gray]

So much wonderful advice! Thank you from the bottom of my heart! We have not changed the food and the hay is not moldy. We do give them grain specially for sheep/lambs.
I got a fecal sample ready to take to the vet and then found out they need fresh,moist and about a tablespoon ... how do you do that with diarrhea?Anyway .. I will continue to work on gathering the sample!
On top of this issue I am concerned that the ewe is not allowing the lambs to feed( another potential issue??) It is very difficult to get close to her as she as always been easily frightened but i will also continue to get a milk sample. I am going to give the smallest one with the worst scours a milk replacer with kefir. for a few more days... I have also not seen him drink water so i will also be giving him multi species electrolyes supplement. I will be back in touch soon.