I have a lot of questions so I will just tell you everything that has happened and hope someone has suggestions.
We bought three bred icelandic ewes this winter. Shortly after we got them home one started coughing. As the coughing progressed she had discharge from the nose and started running a fever. I called the vet and he gave me antibiotics suspecting it was pneumonia. That reduced her fever but her coughing/wheezing/discharge never went away. Then our other ewe started with the same symptoms. Same deal with the antibiotics. Two months or so later one of their lambs started with the raspy cough. No response to the antibiotics (we tried three different kinds). The vet said he didn't think they would still have any disease and that it is just leftover damage to the lungs. They sounded really bad tho.
As the weather started getting hotter I noticed the one ewe really having trouble breathing. She looked like she had an obstruction in her throat, opening her mouth really wide and gasping. I called the vet out examine them this time. Nose swabs resulted in Mycoplasmal pneumonia being shown, but the vet didn't act like I could do anything about it (And I suppose after exhausting three antibiotics maybe I couldnt?).
Then that ewe, the first to come down with the cough and the worse off by far, died suddenly about a week ago. She didn't seem any different the day before. They are rotationally grazed and I saw nothing of alarm in their small enclosure. There was blood coming from her nose. She seemed like she had died early in the morning.
So we chalked it up to whatever internal thing had caused her so much grief.
Then my ram lamb got a fever of 106.5. He had never shown signs of the respiratory distress. He had always been healthy. I rushed him to the vet and he has been there the last few days, slowly looking better but pretty bad overall. The vet suspects Clostridial disease. After going through my records I realized I gave them the first dose in utero but forgot to give the booster after they were born.
Costly mistake. The next day we checked the other two ram lambs and they had fevers of 104.7 and 104.2 but they were not acting bad like the first lamb. I am waiting to hear from the vet if he thinks this is all the same thing or separate.
Does ANYONE have any suggestions? We just started out with icelandics and tunis and don't have that many. I am afraid something is going on that will kill all our sheep before we ever get to breed them in the fall!
Been having a real hard time getting ahold of my vet because he is always out on calls, the receptionist isnt ver knowledgeable and I need to know if that ram will even be breedable if he survives. Its a lot of money to spend just to end up slaughtering him. Anyone have experience with clostridial disease? I'm a bit confused on it. Basically an infection of the intestines cause by a number of bacteria? What is the longterm damage like? Can you pass it from animal to animal or do they have to pick it up on pasture?
Thanks!
We bought three bred icelandic ewes this winter. Shortly after we got them home one started coughing. As the coughing progressed she had discharge from the nose and started running a fever. I called the vet and he gave me antibiotics suspecting it was pneumonia. That reduced her fever but her coughing/wheezing/discharge never went away. Then our other ewe started with the same symptoms. Same deal with the antibiotics. Two months or so later one of their lambs started with the raspy cough. No response to the antibiotics (we tried three different kinds). The vet said he didn't think they would still have any disease and that it is just leftover damage to the lungs. They sounded really bad tho.
As the weather started getting hotter I noticed the one ewe really having trouble breathing. She looked like she had an obstruction in her throat, opening her mouth really wide and gasping. I called the vet out examine them this time. Nose swabs resulted in Mycoplasmal pneumonia being shown, but the vet didn't act like I could do anything about it (And I suppose after exhausting three antibiotics maybe I couldnt?).
Then that ewe, the first to come down with the cough and the worse off by far, died suddenly about a week ago. She didn't seem any different the day before. They are rotationally grazed and I saw nothing of alarm in their small enclosure. There was blood coming from her nose. She seemed like she had died early in the morning.
So we chalked it up to whatever internal thing had caused her so much grief.
Then my ram lamb got a fever of 106.5. He had never shown signs of the respiratory distress. He had always been healthy. I rushed him to the vet and he has been there the last few days, slowly looking better but pretty bad overall. The vet suspects Clostridial disease. After going through my records I realized I gave them the first dose in utero but forgot to give the booster after they were born.
Costly mistake. The next day we checked the other two ram lambs and they had fevers of 104.7 and 104.2 but they were not acting bad like the first lamb. I am waiting to hear from the vet if he thinks this is all the same thing or separate. Does ANYONE have any suggestions? We just started out with icelandics and tunis and don't have that many. I am afraid something is going on that will kill all our sheep before we ever get to breed them in the fall!
Been having a real hard time getting ahold of my vet because he is always out on calls, the receptionist isnt ver knowledgeable and I need to know if that ram will even be breedable if he survives. Its a lot of money to spend just to end up slaughtering him. Anyone have experience with clostridial disease? I'm a bit confused on it. Basically an infection of the intestines cause by a number of bacteria? What is the longterm damage like? Can you pass it from animal to animal or do they have to pick it up on pasture?
Thanks!
