# Orphan ram in trouble! (EMERGENCY!)



## littlelambx3 (Mar 25, 2013)

I rescued an orphan ram on Wednesday 3/20. He is an Icelandic 7-8 day old male. He is pretty light in weight and on the small side, I am guessing a runt. His eyes are clear, his mouth and gums look fine, and he is still the complete sweetheart that he normally is. He was only 2 days old when I got him and was very weak. He was found outside under a tree, weak and sick looking, and his previous owner called me asking if I wanted him. Of course I said yes, and got him that day. 

He was fine the first 2 days, he was almost perfect! He took his bottle amazing, without any issue or trouble at all and ate on a schedule. He was playful and had plenty of energy. He is currently in my house, due to being so little and needing to be bottle fed, and also the freezing cold Ohio climate. He loves attention and is all around such a sweetheart! He was going to the bathroom perfectly, his poop and pee looked just the way it should. Then things changed. 

On Saturday (3/23), I noticed he was not hungry as much. He would turn the bottle away and then lay down. But then at other times, he took it immediately and ate a decent amount. He was not as playful and slept throughout most of the day. 

Fast forward to Sunday night (3/24-3/25), around 1:00am. I wake up to him screaming his head off, so I think he is just hungry. I made his bottle, and then when I got to him, he was covered in watery green diarrhea. He had normally a yellow paste like poop, and then to this. I knew that it could be a serious issue, so I got him fluids (watered down formula)and gave him some medicine to calm down the diarrhea. It worked and he slept the remaining of the night. 
Now it is Monday, and he has diarrhea again! He is also turning down his bottle. I was notified just a few minutes ago he did NOT get his first drink from his mom and has not had any colostrum, and no one told me this until now. I have an idea of what I should do, but want to hear other opinions on this situation. 
He is in great living condition, and is cleaned after every time he uses the bathroom. I make sure his butt is completely washed after each poop. He is kept in a very clean area, and is checked on and cleaned often. His mouth/gums look fine, and I don't see any sores or anything. His eyelids look a bit pale, and when I pinched his skin to see if he was dehydrated he in fact IS.

I am feeding him MannaPro Lamb Milk Replacer. He is fed 6 times a day, between 2-4 hours, depending on if he takes the bottle. I am following the directions as they say, but did water down the formula last night because I thought maybe it was too rich for his stomach to take. 


I plan on getting him colostrum mix and some electrolytes (I was thinking Pedialyte or even a home made remedy, if you have any please suggest!) 

Please, if you have ANY thoughts, feel free to post. I really don't want to lose this little boy! Any advice is needed and appreciated, thanks so much!


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## Roving Jacobs (Mar 25, 2013)

I would take a fecal to the vet ASAP. Lambs are super susceptible to all sorts of things, especially things like coccidia, which can kill so fast. Does he have a fever? Have you given him some probios?

At this point colostrum isn't going to help. Their digestive tract can only take up those antibodies the first day or so, after that it closes up and will just digest them. Make sure he gets some electrolytes because dehydration can kill quickly. If you don't have it on hand you can warm up 6 tsp of sugar/molasses and a 1/2 tsp of salt in a liter/5 cups of water and give him a few ozs every hour or so. Good sheep electrolytes will have more vitamins though so pick it up when you can. 

Personally I don't like feeding lamb replacer either and haven't had good luck with it. Lots of scouring babies. Goat milk is great if you know someone with goats who might share. I've also used a formula where you take a gallon of whole milk and pour out 3.5 cups (save it for later), add to the jug 2 cups of buttermilk, a can of evaporated milk and then top it off with heavy cream. Be sure to shake well before using. It was kind of a pain to prepare and I much prefer to use goat milk now but my lamb thrived on it at the time. Even plain whole cows milk is better than most replacers in my experience.


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