shepherdO
Loving the herd life
- Joined
- Sep 18, 2018
- Messages
- 127
- Reaction score
- 129
- Points
- 106
- Location
- Okanagan area of British Columbia
Hey all,
We came home from church at 1:30 this afternoon to find my rambouillet ewe Bonnie with sunken in sides, an udder the size of a basketball, and breathing pretty hard. As of now (2.5 hours later) she's in the jug doing all the pawing, breathing hard with head hanging down, lying down and getting up shtick, etc.
As of late the lying down is accompanied by periodic straining - the kind where she's lying flat with neck out, and then kind of 'rolls up' a bit more onto her back if that makes sense, legs straightening, etc. NOT full-on 'almost there' stage 3 pushing, but definitely something.
Anyhoo, the thing that I'm finding weird is that there hasn't been any discharge that I've seen, nor is there any mucus plug or anything like that. In the births that I've witnessed, there's almost been something like that as a precursor.
I think at this point obviously I'm going to wait, but at what point do you worry that something's wrong inside? Particularly something like (eg) ringwomb, or something blocking the cervix, or...? I'm hoping this is all just going to sort itself out, but the ewe is a first timer and a bit older, so of course I'm worried. In my limited experience, when they're getting to the pushing stage and breathing as hard as she is, typically their back end shows more evidence of being involved in the process!
Attached are pics of her vulva and also her sunken sides. Poor girl. She's a beautiful friendly ewe, so I'm hoping for a ewe from her.
Shepherd)
We came home from church at 1:30 this afternoon to find my rambouillet ewe Bonnie with sunken in sides, an udder the size of a basketball, and breathing pretty hard. As of now (2.5 hours later) she's in the jug doing all the pawing, breathing hard with head hanging down, lying down and getting up shtick, etc.
As of late the lying down is accompanied by periodic straining - the kind where she's lying flat with neck out, and then kind of 'rolls up' a bit more onto her back if that makes sense, legs straightening, etc. NOT full-on 'almost there' stage 3 pushing, but definitely something.
Anyhoo, the thing that I'm finding weird is that there hasn't been any discharge that I've seen, nor is there any mucus plug or anything like that. In the births that I've witnessed, there's almost been something like that as a precursor.
I think at this point obviously I'm going to wait, but at what point do you worry that something's wrong inside? Particularly something like (eg) ringwomb, or something blocking the cervix, or...? I'm hoping this is all just going to sort itself out, but the ewe is a first timer and a bit older, so of course I'm worried. In my limited experience, when they're getting to the pushing stage and breathing as hard as she is, typically their back end shows more evidence of being involved in the process!
Attached are pics of her vulva and also her sunken sides. Poor girl. She's a beautiful friendly ewe, so I'm hoping for a ewe from her.
Shepherd)