Bottle jaw and worming questions

[sunnyside]

Hello all!

Just an update...Vet just called with the results of the fecal. He has coccidia. I am assuming coccidia and coccidiocis are the same thing? She is getting the treatments dosed up tonite for us and can pick them up in the morning. She wants us to treat everyone on the farm, not just this little guy. Is that standard procedure? Also, forgot to let her know that we had wormed him with ivermec two days before the fecal. Would that affect the fecal results?

I am just grateful to her for doing this as our farm vet (and the other local farm vets) refuse to treat sheep!

After researching coccidia, I am still trying to figure out where it came from? I hear there is a sprinkle you can put on their feed to increase immunity over time. Anyone use that?

Forgot to add...kept him in the dry paddock last night with hay and water. Let him have some grain this morning with a bit of red cell on it. Let him out to graze this afternoon in new pasture. Bottle jaw was gone by mid afternoon! Should I still be using the red cell and how much?

Hope I am not being a pain in the butt!!!! Apologize if I am!!!!

 

[SheepGirl]

Does your ram lamb have diarrhea? If he doesn't I highly doubt it's coccidiosis, even though that's what the vet said...

 

[sunnyside]

You know, that was kind of strange to me also...no diarrhea at all. Two of the ewe lambs had it rather bad a few weeks ago. Womed them and they seem to be fine now...Why would the vet say that? Think it is because she is not a farm vet? any results that would make it "appear" to be that?

 

[aggieterpkatie]

If the vet saw coccidia (the bacteria that caue coccidiosis) then they have it. It depends on what levels the sheep has if they're going to show other signs like diarrhea and such. I'd go ahead and treat them for it, but I really doubt that's what caused the bottlejaw. Did the vet mention any other parasites? It's pretty standard procedure to treat everyone for coccidia if they're showings signs, but it typically affects young animals more than older ones. Dewormers don't really work on coccidia, you need specific coccidiostats for that.

 

[lasergrl]

I agree that the coccidia is probably incidental. Good to treat it though because his system is down. Probably no worms seen due to being dewormed previously. Bring in another in 10 days and see what you have then. At least you know the dewormer worked.



What dose is the iron injection and is it daily or once?

 

[sunnyside]

Ahhhh....Now I get it! So much to learn with sheep!! So different than horses!! I am having a tough time adjusting to caring for sheep but love these little creatures like no ones business!!!

Aggie, so would you treat all the sheep we have as the vet suggests or should we just treat the ones that were in the same pasture with the ram lamb? Basically I am asking if one has it, do they all? (in general just for future reference) Should we be using a sprinkle on thier feed as maintenance as well?

laser, great idea! I will mark my calendar to do that.

I do have one additional question about fecals, if someone has the time to answer...and I hope this isn't silly....When you do a fecal on your sheep, do you have to run it on each one individually? That would get quite expensive, I would think. Or just pick the one showing the most symptoms and take that one in?

Thanks to all of you for taking the time to answer my questions. It is incredibly kind of each of you to take time out of your busy day to answer!!! Please know it is MUCH appreciated!!!!

 

[20kidsonhill]

Coccidiosis is always in the system, in my opinion it doesn't have to always show signs of runny poop, to slowly kill them, or atleast slowly decrease their weight gain, and damage their stomach lining.

I would say you will see improvement in your lamb after treating for coccidiosis.

the sprinkle you are referring to can help.

We use a medicated feed with a coccidiostat already in it, to help slow down the coccidiosis. the trick is, you want some of it to continue to exist so the animal build an immunity to it, so you don't want to constantly be treating and killing it all off, but if you don't treat at all the animal is at risk for a coccidiosis bloom, especially in the spring and summer, or under stressful situations, like being moved to a new farm, or after giving birth. I have seen even two year old does, be run down my coccidiosis after kidding.

as far as tapeworms go, I have seen quit heavy loads on our farm, and I agree overall they aren't as damaging as coccidiosis or barberpole worms, but they will slow down growth rate it kids under a year old, and cause them to look run down. possibly causing them to become more acceptable to coccidiosis loads and other more dangerous worm loads.

sounds to me that this lamb just needs an all around good worm and coccidiosis treatment every 2 to 3 weeks for a couple months, to help get it under control and build its system back up.