Lamb head/neck injury

[Krysten Frasure]

long story short, our 1 week old lamb was bitten by my dog. My dog is a Great Dane. Her eye was very swollen and seems off. She had blood coming out of her nose and a small cut under her eye. She was laying there all limp and when I picked her up her neck just flopped. Was going to put her down but had to wait for my husband. We decided to kind of watch and see because we didn’t actually see the dog bite her but was right there as it happned. We propped her up and she couldn’t raise her head or eat and didn’t make any noise. I was for sure we were going to have to put her down . This happened Thursday and it’s sunday and she can sit up and hold her head up. She’s actually drinking her bottle and even bawwwed at us. She keeps trying to get up but her neck is still weak- should we keep giving her a chance or should we put her down? I don’t know if this is something she can recover from and didn’t know if anyone has Been through this and what the outcome was.

 

[Jennifer Hinkle]

I haven't had one bitten on neck, but we did have a lamb, that was born last year, that got attacked by a mountain lion. She had her leg skint you could see her muscle and tendon. We kept it clean and put antiseptic spray on the wound and also cleaned it with iodine. It took her a few days to be able to stand on it, but eventually she got better. And the wound healed up nicely. I would give your lamb a few days to see if her neck gets stronger, before making a drastic decision on putting her down. If she can hold her head up and drinking her bottle then I would say her neck is not broke. I would give her a chance, you might be surprised how well she can recover with some TLC. So long as she seems to be thriving. I hope this helps some.

 

[Sheepshape]

I'd definitely give her a chance. The bite sounds as though it has bruised her spinal cord. The cord cannot be irreparably damaged as you would not see any recovery in the limbs and she would would have permanent paralysis.
An anti-inflammatory (like Metacam) might speed up her recovery and an antibiotic if there's any signs of infection.
I've not had anything like this, but young animals have great powers of recovery.
You could also give her some gentle physio by holding her on 4 legs, but it's early days and she probably will go on to be fine.
Keep us posted about her progress.

 

[Latestarter]

Greetings and welcome to BYH! So glad you joined us. Sorry it's because of the problem with your lamb. I hope you'll continue to give her a chance... She just might surprise you. There's a wealth of info, knowledge and experience shared in the multitude of threads. Browse around and see what interesting stuff you can find. 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. Please make yourself at home!

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