# Lamb Near Death



## MyFather'sSheep (Jul 16, 2019)

I have a 4 month old, 4-horned, Jacob Sheep ram lamb that is near death. He can't stand and his eyes look bugged out. This morning he was acting strangely, and stayed standing still in the corner when i fed the sheep this morning. I petted him and went about my chores. He is missing one of his horns, and the rest of the herd is well, I haven't seen any clympy poop to indicate worms. I don't know what it could


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## AmberLops (Jul 16, 2019)

I'll tag some sheep people for you...
@Sheepshape @Baymule @secuono @Ridgetop @Mike CHS


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## Sheepshape (Jul 16, 2019)

Oh heavens. Could be lots of things.Sounds like he needs the vet ASAP.
Is the area where the horn is missing looking infected? If so, clean and get antibiotics. Could he have been fighting if he has lost a horn? (Has he had a head injury?)
How is his breathing? Any snotty nose, foamy mouth? If so, think respiratory infection.....needs antibiotics.
Wormers up to date? If not....worm him.
Could he have eaten something toxic? If so, monitor him closely. Bring him in....just hay/grass/silage for feed, plenty of water.
Has he had access to mouldy hay/silage/feed? Confusion, staggering. circling......think Listeria....high dose penicillin or tetracycline, after via drench gun etc.

It can be SO difficult to identify what is happening in a prey species which only shows signs of their illness when it has reached a very advanced stage. But, bring him in, water via the drench gun if it is hot and he seems dehydrated and can swallow OK and get him to the vet would be my course of action.


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## Mini Horses (Jul 17, 2019)

Agree.  Vet.


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## MyFather'sSheep (Jul 17, 2019)

No snotty nose, no foam. We wormed him judt in case. He's only been on bermuda hay for the past week and a half, so no chance he ate something strange. The hay did get wet the other day, but it isn't moldy. It smells great actually. DH thinks it may be a head injury because his eyes are falling down then focusing repeatedly. He may have gotten hit hard, explaining his horn, which doesn't look infected. He is the runt of the herd. His mom got mastitis and we had to bottle feed him, but he never got as big as his siblings. We aren't out there all day, but we have not noticed increased fighting.


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## MyFather'sSheep (Jul 17, 2019)

Thanks for the support, but he didn't make it through the night. What does this look like? His stomach is quite big, but he has always had a fat looking stomach.


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## Baymule (Jul 17, 2019)

I'm sorry that he didn't make it. As a runt, he might have had other issues going on that were not apparent. I had two runts this year from FF's, both seem to be healthy, just not growing like they should. 

I am sorry that you lost him. Sometimes things happen that are beyond our control.


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## AmberLops (Jul 17, 2019)

I'm sorry he didn't make it


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## Sheepshape (Jul 17, 2019)

So sorry he didn't make it. Sometimes they succumb no matter what we do.....and usually it's the ones which we have invested a lot of time and effort in.

Sheep are notorious of going downhill and dying very rapidly.


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## Ridgetop (Jul 18, 2019)

If he was bloated before he died it could have been a case of enterotoxemia or bloat.  However, if the stomach looked bloated *after* he was dead when you found him, most likely it was just the buildup of gasses inside that occurs after an animal dies.  Their stomachs bloat after death.

Such a shame for you, but if his eyes were wandering and unfocused after losing a horn it may very well have been a head and brain injury in which case there was nothing to be done to save him.


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## MyFather'sSheep (Jul 18, 2019)

Thank you for your responces. We are still so hurt, trying to figure out what we could have done differently. He was DH's baby. And like SheepShape said, we put the most effort into him. So sad.


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