Bloat - I think -

[boothcreek]

One of my rams was a little off this afternoon when I went to catch them up and put them in their pen. Jason is usually the first to yell at me and run to see if I have grain for him. Today at lock-up he was still walking beside me to their night pen, but not a peep from him and his usual bluster and excitement utterly gone.... about an hour earlier he was still normal...

To me he looks rounder then he should and he is standing hunched looking uncomfertable. He gaze is a unfocused too(clear sign of pain in my book). Wouldnt actually eat any grain or hay even tho he was following me when I had the bucket in hand.

Ran into town and only thing the vet could give me was this "bloat-eze" drench(anyone ever use it? Any good?).
Well he felt well enough to run like the devil was after him when I tried to catch him in the pen, so I had to go and lead the whole herd into a stall in the barn to get my hands on him and get the drench into him.
Afterward I gave his whole gut a good massage(similar to what is done with horses that colic) for which he actually stood still for and just stared at me...

He still poops, haven't seen him pee but then again im not watching non-stop. He peed just fine around 2 pm when he was still acting normal and had to check what I was doing at the goose pen.

Does this sound like bloat? Never had it here so I am not sure, the vet was unhelpful(gotta love livestock vets that only know about horses) and wanted me to bring Jason in.

Anyhow. The whole herd is locked in the barn for the night so I can catch him quick and easy.

Anything else I can do other then sit and wait?

 

[SheepGirl]

Could be urinary calculi.

What's his temp?

 

[bonbean01]

This is a site I found on urinary caculi...hope this is not what you have, but reading the symptoms may be helpful to you in determining if this is what he has or if he had bloat. Hope he'll be okay!

http://www.sheepandgoat.com/articles/urincalc.html

 

[boothcreek]

He had urinary calculi last year, it was vastly different then this is right now. That was 3 days of hell that one.

Just came back in from checking on him and he seems back to normal, his gut isnt round anymore and he isnt hunching up. Still wouldnt talk to me, but I wouldnt either if someone crammed a seringe with peppermint stinking paste into my mouth
I hope it was just a bit of a tummy ache.
They stay in the barn til tomorrow in any case.

 

[RemudaOne]

I had what I think was bloat in a young ewe this past week. I didn't have any bloat medicine so I drenched with 4oz. Corn oil. The signs she was showing were standing stretched out alternating with hunching her back. She had no elevated temp. She actually let the entire flock run off and leave her when I opened the gate for them to come into the smaller paddock so I could catch her up. My husband had to go out and walk behind her to get her to come in. I also gave banamine for the pain and wormed her too (what the heck..). I went to bed not knowing if she'd make it the night. Checked her the next morning and she was just fine, thank God. I turned her back out with the rest of the flock and she's been fine since.

I have no idea what caused it as there was no change in her diet and none of the others was affected... Hope yours works out well, good luck and keep us posted.

 

[Shelly May]

Yes, for bloat mix about 1/4 cup baking soda, with a 1/4 cup water, stir well and give it orally in mouth,
this will cause them to kinda burp, relieve's bloat. give to sheep a couple of times that day.

But I want to know if your pasture have deer running thru them alot, If so he may have menigrial worm,
if he does, it is important that you treat him ASAP or he will die, I only mention this because you said he
was hunched up in his back, this is also a sign for the menigrial worm, (caused by deer worms). after hunch
in back, the next sign is loss of back limbs, they will get down and not be able to walk, treatment has to be done
ASAP, give safegaurd wormer every day for 5 days straight. If caught soon enough they will make it.

Hope its just bloat, remember the baking soda trick. I have even known people who forced 7-up down a sheep
to get them to so called burp. As sheep can not do this on their own. good luck keep us up todate on how he
is doing.

 

[boothcreek]

he was just dandy this am. Actually pulled me up the icy hill when I walked them back to their night pen(everyones working today so no free ranging when no ones home), just grabbed the hair on his back and let him shuffle me up there , he even beat me to the pen(he had to run the last 10 ft in his excitement).

As for deer, the sheep are free range and have 160 acres to play on if they would dare, but no they stick around the house driving us nuts, so no deer here the LGD makes sure of that.
Also I dont believe we can get safeguard up here, according to our vet thats a controlled substance and is not allowed to be distributed here(same with Tylan etc etc stuff you can get without a vet down south here even the vet wont touch with a 10 ft pole, whats up with that).

 

[Shelly May]

We get safeguard at our local farm stores as well as the vet. That just isn't right.
Got to love the Dogs, they are great with sheep, I have 5 and couldn't do without
them. But my husband is having alot of trouble trying to hunt deer, As they won't come
on the farm because of the dogs. LOL sometimes we can't have both. Glad to hear your
ram is better.