Lamb with diareah

[KatahdinMomma]

Oh no! I have a week old lamb with diareah. The mom is being a good mom, producing milk, no mastitis. I've seen the lamb nursing.
It's been blustery and raining so I have kept them in the barn. I had planned to wait until the rain let up later in the week to release them to pasture. Any ideas? How can i help?

 

[babsbag]

I have goats but really the same...

A week is really early for most of the normal causes of scours to show up. The most usual cause is coccidia or a diet change but not a a week of age. Check the lambs temperature, around 102 is normal. At this age I would be worried abut bacterial infection and you will have to get a stool sample into a vet to get the right kinds of meds. What color are the scours?

Is the lamb acting normal otherwise?

I had a set of triplets this year that had scours starting at about a week. I tried everything I could think of. They were also acting off and not baby goat like at all. I finally treated them with Scour Halt and got it under control, I believe it was ecoli.

 

[KatahdinMomma]

I have goats but really the same...

A week is really early for most of the normal causes of scours to show up. The most usual cause is coccidia or a diet change but not a a week of age. Check the lambs temperature, around 102 is normal. At this age I would be worried abut bacterial infection and you will have to get a stool sample into a vet to get the right kinds of meds. What color are the scours?

Is the lamb acting normal otherwise?

I had a set of triplets this year that had scours starting at about a week. I tried everything I could think of. They were also acting off and not baby goat like at all. I finally treated them with Scour Halt and got it under control, I believe it was ecoli.

Completely normal behavior. Not lethargic, even jumping around. I figure I've probably caught it early and so other symptoms haven't set in. Is scour halt over the counter or do I need to go the vet? The scours are light yellow/brown in color.

 

[KatahdinMomma]

I have goats but really the same...

A week is really early for most of the normal causes of scours to show up. The most usual cause is coccidia or a diet change but not a a week of age. Check the lambs temperature, around 102 is normal. At this age I would be worried abut bacterial infection and you will have to get a stool sample into a vet to get the right kinds of meds. What color are the scours?

Is the lamb acting normal otherwise?

I had a set of triplets this year that had scours starting at about a week. I tried everything I could think of. They were also acting off and not baby goat like at all. I finally treated them with Scour Halt and got it under control, I believe it was ecoli.

I can get to a vet tomorrow. Should I supplement electrolytes or anything until then?
Thank you so much for your response btw!

 

[purplequeenvt]

What color and texture poop are we talking about? Bright orange and sticky or a bit runny, it's probably just that the ewe is heavy producer and the lamb is getting more than enough milk. Black/brown/gray/green nasty poop means you've got something else going on.

 

[purplequeenvt]

I just saw your post about the color. Yellow/light brown is probably ok. My general protocol in this kind of situation is to just observe. If symptoms change/get worse than I get the vet involved.

 

[babsbag]

Listen to @purplequeen, she has raised A LOT of lambs. I would take the temp. just to have a baseline and continue to observe. I have never seen a kid scour from too much milk from mom but goats are raised to make milk so maybe the kids are raised to drink more of it. It is a good that he is active, that is great sign. My kids were not, they were very quiet, I knew they didn't feel well.

Scour Halt is available over the counter. It is for pigs and used off lable for other animals. Supposed to have a vet in order to do that but sometimes we do what we have to. I bet though that your little lamb will be fine.

 

[KatahdinMomma]

@purplequeenvt @babsbag I just wanted to say thanks and offer an update!

The little lamb (Muffin) is great. I removed the alfalfa pellets from mom's diet and the diareah stopped completely. Thanks for the info!