# Lamb with diareah



## KatahdinMomma (Nov 1, 2015)

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 (Nov 1, 2015)

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 (Nov 1, 2015)

babsbag said:


> 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?
> 
> ...


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 (Nov 1, 2015)

babsbag said:


> 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?
> 
> ...


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


----------



## purplequeenvt (Nov 1, 2015)

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 (Nov 1, 2015)

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 (Nov 1, 2015)

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 (Nov 4, 2015)

@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!


----------

