Sick lamb- please help!!!!

Ridgetop

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Xlt news! so glad to hear he is going to make it! :yesss:

Keep him away from any grain for the next month and only feed pasture or hay. You can also use some natural yogurt or probiotic paste to help restore his natural rumen functions and keep them healthy. You can get the probiotic in paste form at the local feed store. It comes in a dispenser like horse wormer and can be dispensed in doses by weight. Don't use more than one or 2 doses since you don't want to overload his gut. Keep the rest of the dispenser in the fridge.

You can buy CDT and disposable syringes from catalogs. It will be cheaper than having the vet do it since he will charge you either an office call plus the vaccinations, or a farm call plus the vaccinations, and it needs to be done every year. You should vaccinate your ewes before breeding, and the lambs too after they arrive. It is an intramuscular injection. Look up in your sheep handbook how to give it. If you don't know whether the ewes have been vaccinated, you should figure on 2 doses for each of the 2 ewes and 1 ram. Then 2 doses each for any lambs about 3 days to a week after they are born. Each dose is 2cc whether the animal is a lamb or an adult. You give the first dose, then 30 days later give the second dose. After the first year one dose is enough every year. The smallest bottle comes in 50cc (25 doses) which will be enough for about 2 years. Keep the vaccine refrigerated and it will last a couple years - the expiration date will be on the bottle. You will need to order 2 sets of needles for each animal since you will give the first shot, then a month later give a second booster shot to make sure immunity is conferred. So your order would be one 50cc bottle of CDT vaccine, and 10-12 disposable syringes and attached needles. I prefer the 3 cc Luer lock syringe (the needle twists on the syringe so a jumping sheep does not rip the needle off the syringe) with a 22 gauge 3/4" length needle. I find this size and length needle is good for newborn lambs that have less muscle and prevents being so long that it hits bone. If you want to order a couple extra needles for next year's boosters for your adult sheep, that will save you an additional shipping charge. (A lot of us with larger flocks order the 100 count box of syringes in our preferred needle and syringe size to use from one year to the next.) Some of the on-line livestock suppliers offer free shipping on orders over a certain amount but they won't ship vaccines needing refrigeration or cold packs in that order so you might as well just pay the shipping. I always pay the extra couple dollars for the cold pack delivery where they stick a couple of frozen packs in with the vaccines. Since are in the middle of summer now it would be smart to do that.

Lots of sheep people on this BYH site will be able to give you help in what to order for an emergency kit, and for necessary lambing supplies once your ewes are bred and you are waiting for the happy event. Yu will be like the rest of us, chewing our nails and posting stories of breathless false alarms! :(.
Welcome to the whacky and fun world of sheep! :lol: :welcome
 

hfarnsworth

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Thanks for the info. We bought him from a sheep farm about 3 weeks ago in hopes to use him for breeding. He is getting thiamine shots, probios and antibiotics. I drench him with electrolytes and plain water throughout the day. Vet couldn’t give us any guarantees but we are trying everything for him we can. He gets good quality hay and nothing else at this point. I call the vet with any concerns. I’m hoping he pulls through but I won’t let him suffer long either. I’m new to sheep and take full responsibility for this as I gave him grain daily when I first got him and it was too much too fast. Lesson learned, all new lambs will be separated and eased into it. I feel awful as I know I caused this with plain old stupidity!
 

Ridgetop

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Sounds like you are doing everything right. We learn fast when catastrophe strikes. I remember the year we lost 10 bottle calves due to e. Coli. Expensive lesson - we learned - and spent the rest of the summer making ice cream with the goat milk. LOL DS3 was ecstatic - he separated the milk and turned it into the best ice cream we ever ate!
 

Baymule

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Thanks for the info. We bought him from a sheep farm about 3 weeks ago in hopes to use him for breeding. He is getting thiamine shots, probios and antibiotics. I drench him with electrolytes and plain water throughout the day. Vet couldn’t give us any guarantees but we are trying everything for him we can. He gets good quality hay and nothing else at this point. I call the vet with any concerns. I’m hoping he pulls through but I won’t let him suffer long either. I’m new to sheep and take full responsibility for this as I gave him grain daily when I first got him and it was too much too fast. Lesson learned, all new lambs will be separated and eased into it. I feel awful as I know I caused this with plain old stupidity!
Don't beat up on yourself too bad, we've all made mistakes. I admire you for standing up and taking responsibility. It is what it is and you can't back up, you can only go forward. You will make more mistakes, but you won't make THIS one ever again.
 

hailehysen

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Hi- I am new here and a new Shepard! I have a katadin lamb about 3 months old who is very sick. His poop is white snotty looking stuff when he does poop. He lays down crossword solver sip calculator epfo a lot and eats very little. I have a call into a vet but probably won’t hear anything back till tomorrow. He looks a little bloated. I have dewormed him with valbazen, given him corid, baking soda and pepto bismol just trying to keep him going till the vet responds. Has anyone ever seen lamb poop like this?????? Please help! My other 5 sheep are all doing great.
Does he have pasture where he might have picked up some toxic weeds? Need more information.
 
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