Cruels and Boil Pest in sheep

[Ridgetop]

Has anyone else heard of this abcesss disease? It is NOT CL, and I read that is it more prevalent in Icelandics (?) Anyway, the abcesses are usually on the face (not in the lymph nodes like CL). They grow and when the hair falls out in the center they are ready to lance. The spot where the hair falls out will become soft. I separate the animal from the rest of the herd. Make sure not to get any of the pus on the ground so have lots of paper towels ready to catch it. I wear nitrile or latex gloves when doing this (the cheap thin ones). I use a disposable scalpel to open the bottom of the soft spot, but I also read that an X cut works well too. Squeeze all the green pus out onto the paper towels - I take a plastic bag with me to put the used ones into while working. You can use a syringe without the needle to squeeze iodine into the hole after emptying it completely. I like to see fresh blood to make sure I got all the pus before irrigating with iodine. Then you can give some antibiotics sub Q. One site said LA200, another said Penn G was better, a 3rd said don't bother with antibiotics. It heals up in about 2 weeks and doesn't come back. I have finally found a couple of articles on this - most of the other articles about abcesses are only about CL.

Any thoughts?

 

[bloonskiller911]

never heard of it. hopefully some one else has insight for you.

 

[Blue Sky]

I have dealt w this sporadically for several years. While unattractive it doesn't seem to cause the animal distress. Caused me some when I wasn't sure it wasn't CL. My observations: Boils/Cruels affects my breeding age ewes. Never see it in my rams. It reoccurs and seems to run in "families". The cheek sores appear overnight or gradually over several days. I have drained abscesses and seen a quick healing I have ignored them and seen the same. I vaccinated w CL vaccine and saw no affect on symptoms or reduction in new cases in my case in my flock. I am not denouncing the vaccine. I concluded that CL wasn't my culprit. At most ten percent of my ewes have been infected at one time, none died, all lambed normally some ewe lambs went on to acquire it at breeding age most did not. I'm curious too and will look for more info. Lavender Fleece Icelandic site has some good info. I have no vet opinions on this as there weren't many sheep in my area and vet experience was limited. Better now but I haven't had any worrisome cases. Hope this helps.

 

[norseofcourse]

I have heard of it, but (thankfully) I haven't had to deal with it in mine so far. But since it does seem to happen in Icelandics, I'm glad I at least found a few articles on it (probably the same few you found).