Oh no I think the lamb has bloat!

VictoriaEDT

VictoriaEDT

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www.equinedental.co.uk
He seems bloated and is really not wanting to take milk. He is scouring badly as well
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I think it may be my fault as due to the scouring i decided to feed him less but more often today as thought it would regulate his gut! in a panic i did a web search and it said to give them 1/2 tsp ground ginger to 2tbsp of water and syringe it down his throat. I have done that so fingers crossed!
I dont understand why he is scouring so badly? everything is soo clean and i am mixing the milk to farmers guidlines.
I lost my bunny today (Put to sleep) and i asked the vet who gave me some electrolyte (lectrade for calves) to mix in with his milk mix.
oh i dont know? does anyone else?
 
Sorry, don't have a clue about lambs but my fingers are crossed for the cute little guy!

and sorry to hear about your bunny, I lost all of mine last year and it was awful! (((Hugs))) to you.
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It could be it didnt get colustrum (SP) from mum and with that and it getting chilled he could have caught a bug, unfortunately they are quite hard to rear, all I can suggest is to keep him warm and give him fluids and wait and see.
 
This may be wrong advice, we are farmers but only have a dairy herd, don't have sheep, but if we have a calf with scour, we don't give it milk but feed it with lectate instead, this is basically an electrolyte to make sure it isn't getting dehydrated. The cause of the scour in the calves is usually being fed too much milk, could you have been overfeeding. Best you ask someone, a local farmer with sheep (not just cows
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) in the morning. Hope little ones on the mend soon.
 
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is that in a yellow sachet separated into two sections A and B? That is what the vet gave me......

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Yes, the stuff we have for calves is just one sachet but I'm sure that will be it. The thing is, when they are bottle/bucket fed, whether lambs or calves we give them relatively large quantities all at once several times a day (in calves just twice), but if they were suckling their mother they would be trickle feeding all night and day, so sometimes we give them too much all at once on a relatively empty tummy
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The stuff they gave me says lectate for calves..........should it be given to lambs?!?!?!
so maybe i was right to give him 25mls every 1-2 hours...........this is terribly confusing and stressful. losing one animal is bad enough and im not going to lose 2 in 1 day!
 
Just had a look at the stuff we've got, it just mentions calves too, but I'm sure if the vet gave it to you it should be the right stuff. Does no one on here have sheep! I'm scared I'm rambling on giving you the wrong advice
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I would say that you'll be fine with the calves one, it's pretty much the same for sheep, in fact, I don't think they do a separate one. I tend to mix it with powder glucose as well, withdraw the milk for 24 hrs. It might be that it didn't get colostrum, but now would be to late to give it some, the only other option would be long lasting antibiotics such as Pen strept.
I am afraid you will probably have to wait and hope...
 
The farmer came and gave it an antibiotic jab a couple of days ago.....lets just hope!
So if he makes it in the morning, i should just mix the solution to 35 degress and give him how much? little and often? and def no milk?
re milk: farmer said 100mls every 4 hours but he was struggling with that much all at once so i dropped it to 25mls ever 1-2 hours. should i give the lectate in the same quantities?
Farmer is being useless (in the nicest possible way) but cant blame him as he has hundreds to look after so is v v busy.
 
I have never ever managed to squeeze 100 ml into a lamb in one go... I would say about 30-40 ml every 2 hrs, it won't have it every hour.
I don't remember how much lectate you should give, whatever says on the packet, but split it into small portions.
Defo no milk, if it's hungry - lukewarm water with glucose, you can get powder glucose from any feed merchant.
After 24 hrs you can reintroduce milk, but 2/3 density solution (if that makes any sense), if you feel it needs something extra, carry on with the glucose.
How old is it now? Roughly?
 
Thanks for that

he is 2-3 weeks old apparently. Just been to check him, picked him up and he went for a wee, just seems lethargic. As you look down on his back you cant see any distention (sp!) out to the sides, but if i feel his belly underneath, thats where he feeld bloated.
 
To make you feel better - if they don't commit suicide by 4 weeks old, they tend to do really well from then on.
As to feeling bloated in his belly - I wouldn't worry to much about it, they sometimes feel that way and are ok.
It is very difficult to hand rear a lamb, so whatever happens, remember that you have done everything you could to give it a chance.
Hope it works out.
 
It will be lacking colustrum from the mother which is vital.

If i were you if you know how to if you dont DONT as you can kill them this way. Put a tube down into his stomach and pour some very dilute fairy liquid in. Works wonders although the little guy wont enjoy the experience.

Keep him warm and keep him on regular small doses of milk. Im guessing your mixing it from a powder. Then as he improves increase the richness of the milk.

good luck fingers crossed x
 
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