Ewe straining but no plug, no discharge, no sac... Just wait?

[Baymule]

Put on the coffee pot....

 

[shepherdO]

Okay, so she's down and pushing pretty hard, and definitely breathing very heavily. No moaning/yelling at this point. But still no sign of anything bulging at the back end. Does a ewe normally have to work this hard to dilate the cervix? I thought this much pushing and hard working was only in stage 2... I'm not feeling good about this.

Here's hoping that she's dilated some next exam so that we can get this/these babies out... Poor Bonny...

 

[Sheepshape]

Doesn't sound right to me. Occasionally the cervix can fail to dilate in labouring ewes and a Caesarian is needed.

If she were mine I'd inject her with Metacam (any-inflammatory), re-examine her carefully, and, most likely call the vet.

 

[shepherdO]

We're going to check again and see what's up. We'll try to manually dilate the cervix... don't have any Metacam or the like. So many things to go in the lambing kit. A nice big bottle of experience being the most mecessary...

I'm not thinking ringwomb b/c it was dilated - just not enough, as far as we could tell. I think that with some stretching we might get somewhere. We'll give it a try anyway.

 

[shepherdO]

Well, I went out to check, and lo and behold I see a foot, then two coming in and out. Lots of pushing but no progress, so my nephew and I went to pulling, but that sucker was stuck tight. But it was alive! Tongue out of moth a bit so we helped by tugging - lots of lube and assisting her contractions we got her out... but she must have died just a minute or two earlier. So sad... nice big ewe lamb, and I wanted a ewe from Bonny...

Tried to resuscitate, swing, mouth to mouth, chest compressions all to no avail. First dead lamb of the year...

Bonny was spent, just laying there breathing super hard. Two sacks came out simultaneously - a clear one and a dark one, but she wasn't even pushing she was so tired.

We figured we should check for a twin, and sure enough Jacob found one waaaaaaaaaay down in the uterus, but couldn't figure out what was what, plus the head was way down there. We waited for about 10 minutes and tried again, at which point he found a head and one foot in the birth canal. This one was pulled out much more quickly - I can't remember if it was two feet or one foot and head...

Either way, it was a very small ram lamb, extremely weak. At this point Bonny finally started showing interest in the lamb, chortling and licking... for awhile. Then this ewe who had totally ignored food for the last 12 hours started chowing down on hay and licking a bit once she felt like it!

Baby was getting so cold and starting to lose it, so we carried him in and gave him a hot water bath, at which point he began to show signs of life... just barely. He's currently in a hot box with my daughter's hair drier trying to get him dry. He's definitely warm, but it's HARD to get a floppy lamb dry! There's always a hidden part that's slimy and wet!

Anyhoo, things aren't looking great. I've syringed him some colostrum (Bonny's udder is huge! Lots of colostrum, but there's no way this little lamb could manage her huge teats...) and he's had a couple CC's but I don't have a stomach tube, so I'm thinking I'll give him my best tonight, but I'm not particularly optimistic...

If nothing else I have a huge ewe who (1) survived! It was looking doubtful, from my inexperienced eye at least; (2) who has a ton of colostrum to provide that I can freeze for the future, and (3) could possibly be a nanny ewe for my week old bottle lamb. I was not in a position to try to foster Tim-Tam (the bottle lamb) on Bonny, but tomorrow I'll try to build some sort of stanchion, possibly a semi-permanent one, and then hopefully if I can get her sucking on the lamb it will save me some serious $$!

So, hopefully this little guy survives, but either way we're going to try to make it work for good. This is seriously going to hurt my lambing percentage though... I just went from 200% down to 130%! Lesson learned...

Well, back to blowdrying...
ShepherdO

 

[TheSwindler]

How is he doing?

 

[shepherdO]

Well, he'st still alive, and thanks to this ewe having a massive udder (at least compared to my other sheep) he's getting lots of milk. She's probably milking close to 1.5-2 liters per day, and is a REALLY easy milker. Barely kicks here and there.

Anyhoo, he is VERY weak and does not really suck that much. I'm still syringing him b/c he doesn't have much energy. But he can get up, and though he spends most of the time lying down he'll stand if you scratch his back, and will stand for up to 30 minutes. My dad (a retired physiotherapist) and mom babysat him today, and my dad took him for walks outside to strengthen his muscles and get him going. He says it makes them tired, helps them sleep, but also gets them more perky when they wake up. Hopefully it's one step in the rehab process.

I'm giving him about 5 cc or honey 10 minutes before a feed to give him a boost. I'm going to try to get him back onto a bottle tomorrow, then when he has enough strength and can suck well, I'll try stanchioning his mum and use her as a nanny for this little guy and another bottle reject. That's the theory anyway. I'll be hard work, but save a ton of money in feeding. Currently I'm milking out mom 3x day (would like to do more but work is a reality) and feeding her well to try to keep her milk going until this little guy's strong enough. I'm thinking best cast scenario the weekend, or basically 6 days old.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Do you think he might nurse while she's on the stanchion? Is he strong enough to try? Maybe give it a shot?

 

[shepherdO]

Hey - he's super tiny and weak - can barely stand when he's being syringed. He really just isn't getting any stronger. He'll take 100ml at a time, but he's not an eager eater, and more just accepting the food b/c he doesn't have the energy to resist... He's coming on 3 days now, so I'm hoping to turn a corner soon.

His mom is being milked so we're keeping her in milk until, hopefully, he has the strength to nurse at some point.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

But he can get up, and though he spends most of the time lying down he'll stand if you scratch his back, and will stand for up to 30 minutes.

Sorry I guess I misunderstood. I thought if he could stand for 30 minutes he might be able to try nursing....