Contagious Diarrhea in Adult Sheep?

[Stephine]

Sooo… I have three babydolls, a ewe Posie, wethers Beau and Pip, 2 1/2 yrs old. Posie suddenly got green smoothie diarrhea about ten days ago. I thought she might have been skipping her morning hay in favor of eating greens in the pasture (it’s “springtime” pasturewise in California, with everything just beginning to come up after the first rains, but slowly, because of the cold/freezing nights). I started keeping everyone in with hay till mid day, opened a bale of tastier (less stemmy) hay that they would actually like to eat, before bringing them up to the pasture. No change for three days, poo stripes and a very messy bottom which she would absolutely not let me wash off… Called vet, changed to feeding mostly soaked orchard grass pellets (which they warmed up to quite slowly, so kept feeding a bit of hay on the side), offered baking soda, kept them in their stall all day. Next morning Posie pooped pellets again - hurray!!! Got her a tush trim (my shearer is an angel), and continued with pellets and hay, put them out again afternoons, because the boys were starting to fight. She has been fine since. Two days after she recovered Beau started up. Looked exactly like Posie before. Continued pellets and hay, mid day pasture times. No change till today when it seems his poops are getting a bit thicker again. Now just tonight I am seeing a thin line of green down Pip’s behind…. Argh! Also, they get cold ears! When Posie was sick her ears felt cold while the boys’ were toasty. Now Pip’s ears feel icy, Beau’s just cool and Posie’s feel nice and warm. So I am thinking this is an infection they are passing around. The vet (who admittedly mostly deals with horses) is stumped, because they have had no contact with other sheep. We have for the first time let the horse graze down the dry pasture a bit before letting the sheep back on there about six weeks ago and there are a few horse apples here and there, but I don’t think that horses and sheep share any diseases, do they? The horse is healthy. I can’t think of what it could be if not a bug, nothing feed related makes any sense.
Does anyone know what this could be? Will drop off a sample for fecal test on Saturday…

 

[Ridgetop]

Best thing is a fecal sample tested for worms and infection. Coccidiosis diarrhea is usually dark.

 

[Stephine]

I kind of don’t think it would be worms if it just goes away again on its own…

 

[Baymule]

When I have diarrhea, I take apple cider vinegar and honey, mixed half and half. I put maybe 1/8 cup in a small glass of water and sip on it. In 30-45 minutes, diarrhea is gone. This works for food poisoning also, even when “running at both ends”. LOL ACV and honey will save a trip to ER. ACV is natures disinfectant, it will kill bad bacteria and not the beneficial bacteria. Honey is antiviral.

Just because I like home remedies, and because it works, I’d mix up a batch of ACV and honey and drench all 3 with it.

 

[Britgoes2market]

When I have diarrhea, I take apple cider vinegar and honey, mixed half and half. I put maybe 1/8 cup in a small glass of water and sip on it. In 30-45 minutes, diarrhea is gone. This works for food poisoning also, even when “running at both ends”. LOL ACV and honey will save a trip to ER. ACV is natures disinfectant, it will kill bad bacteria and not the beneficial bacteria. Honey is antiviral.

Just because I like home remedies, and because it works, I’d mix up a batch of ACV and honey and drench all 3 with it.

Truly, you take this when it's coming-out the front end too!? *Logging this recipe away for myself

 

[Stephine]

When I have diarrhea, I take apple cider vinegar and honey, mixed half and half. I put maybe 1/8 cup in a small glass of water and sip on it. In 30-45 minutes, diarrhea is gone. This works for food poisoning also, even when “running at both ends”. LOL ACV and honey will save a trip to ER. ACV is natures disinfectant, it will kill bad bacteria and not the beneficial bacteria. Honey is antiviral.

Just because I like home remedies, and because it works, I’d mix up a batch of ACV and honey and drench all 3 with it.

I’ll remember this for myself! Have you actually done this successfully with sheep though? I can’t quite tell from what you wrote.
I worry because they have a completely different digestive system from ours and it getting acidic is a problem - that’s why they get baking soda. I don’t want to experiment on them, especially since I don’t have much experience with sheep yet…

 

[Britgoes2market]

I’ll remember this for myself! Have you actually done this successfully with sheep though? I can’t quite tell from what you wrote.
I worry because they have a completely different digestive system from ours and it getting acidic is a problem - that’s why they get baking soda. I don’t want to experiment on them, especially since I don’t have much experience with sheep yet…

I give free ACV in a bucket for mine to drink as a worm preventative, I doubt a little would hurt them.

 

[Ridgetop]

I kind of don’t think it would be worms if it just goes away again on its own…

If t goes away then it was probably something they ate. Or does it come and go? If it keeps coming back, it may be something on the property they keep getting into or eating that is causing this.

 

[Baymule]

Truly, you take this when it's coming-out the front end too!? *Logging this recipe away for myself

Yes, even if you are throwing up, sip it slowly. Enough will get in your system to do some good.

I’ll remember this for myself! Have you actually done this successfully with sheep though? I can’t quite tell from what you wrote.
I worry because they have a completely different digestive system from ours and it getting acidic is a problem - that’s why they get baking soda. I don’t want to experiment on them, especially since I don’t have much experience with sheep yet…

I have given my sheep ACV. Mix with water. You can add it to their bucket of water, it does have healing properties.

 

[Stephine]

If t goes away then it was probably something they ate. Or does it come and go? If it keeps coming back, it may be something on the property they keep getting into or eating that is causing this.

I don’t think it’s something they ate because it’s been one after the other and the one who started it and healed is still fine, doing and eating exactly what the other two are. And I have walked their pasture multiple times. Other than a few acorns from a live oak (brown, not green ones) that I pick up every morning, I don’t see anything problematic. A little bit of horse poop at the far end is the only difference to years before. No mushrooms. I also think if it was something they ate, they would eat it at the same time and get sick around the same time. They usually stick together and if someone finds something interesting the others will check it out, too.