Breathing hard in ram lamb

[askoi83]

I have a 2 week old babydoll ram lamb. I got 1 week ago. He is a twin. Mom would not tske them. He got colostrum at birth and has been bottlefed since day 2. I got him 1 week ago and they said he had started breathing funny after a bottle. We assumed he aspirated formula because he is an aggressive eater. I took him to the vet, they gave him penicillin and a dose of Resflor to last 4 days. Then, I went back for another dose 4 days later of Resflor because there was no change. He is active, eating, pooping & peeing and growing well. But he still breathes hard all the time, but it gets much worse after a bottle. We have him on a slow flow bottle so he is not still aspirating it. He has been indoors since birth. Twin is doing fine. Any ideas? Could this just be the way he is or is going to be? Do I need to do more?

 

[Mini Horses]

Sorry. I'm no help but, call vet & ask "what next?"

 

[askoi83]

The vet is out of town til Monday but I planning it.

 

[Baymule]

Same advice. 3 vets in the clinic I go to and they are all gone until Monday.

 

[Finnie]

Is this the same lamb that had the boils all over him? How is he doing now?

 

[askoi83]

This is a different baby than the one with boils. I switched to a larger baby nipple..the ones that go on calf bottles and he seems to do much better. When he overexerts himself he sounds like he has asthma. It doesn't keep him from thriving though. He is growing like a weed along with his twin sister and the tiny one with boils all over him. My crash course into lambs has been a crazy first month.

 

[Ridgetop]

But he still breathes hard all the time, but it gets much worse after a bottle.

Make sure you are holding the bottle low enough. Ruminants are born with a milk stomach and a flap in the esophagus. This flap opens to divert milk into the milk stomach when the baby tilts its head up under the mama. If the bottle is not held low enough to cause the head to kink back the flap will not open properly and milk can go into the lungs. Once the baby begins to eat solid food, this flap begins to close so that food goes into the 4 chambered stomach of the ruminant.

 

[askoi83]

Thanks for that info. We have been doing this, but it's more like he gets overexerted....and then breathes funny. But then eventually it calms down.

 

[askoi83]

And the one with the boils?? He's doing so well. The boils are healing but I'm almost certain it is not CL, but maybe actually bug bites like I was told. They itch him and they are not on lymph node sites but all over him, on his back, his sides, his belly, his legs, his neck, his rump....but he seems to be healthy otherwise.

 

[Baymule]

Make sure you are holding the bottle low enough. Ruminants are born with a milk stomach and a flap in the esophagus. This flap opens to divert milk into the milk stomach when the baby tilts its head up under the mama. If the bottle is not held low enough to cause the head to kink back the flap will not open properly and milk can go into the lungs. Once the baby begins to eat solid food, this flap begins to close so that food goes into the 4 chambered stomach of the ruminant.

I knew that bottles needed to be held low to keep milk from going into the lungs. But I didn’t know about the milk stomach.