Ewe lamb is 'off'

[SheepGirl]

My Lady Gaga is acting off. She has been like this for about a week. She has a great appetite (though her sister eats 2-3x faster than her), no scours, nothing 'wrong,' but she walks funny. I've noticed her walking like this for about a week. It's not really a limp, she's just super slow and I haven't seen her run. I checked out her legs and compared them to Katy Perry, and her knees feel big and 'squishy' -- it feels like there's fluid or something in her knees. I took her temp yesterday and it was 103.4. I tested the thermometer (on me ) before I took her temp and I believe it was 96 or 97, so her actual temp may be 1 or 2 degrees higher than what it read.

Any ideas on what it could be? It has me stumped :/

 

[aggieterpkatie]

Not sure about the squishy feeling legs, but it could be some type of parasite issue. Maybe worms or coccidia. My ram lamb got pretty sluggish when I weaned him, so I dewormed him and treated him for coccidia and he was fine after that.

 

[RemudaOne]

You might check out polyarthritis and arthritis on SHEEP 201. Some good info there and you might find what's going on with your girl. hope she gets to feeling better soon!

 

[SheepGirl]

I was actually thinking coccidiosis because she is so much smaller/stunted than her sister, but she has never scoured, so I don't know. I saw arthritis on there, and that's what I originally thought when I saw her walking after she didn't get better after a couple days, but it didn't even occur to me to check polyarthritis out. I think it could be polyarthritis, but her symptoms don't totally match up.

Polyarthritis is an infectious disease of nursing lambs, recently weaned lambs, and feedlot lambs. Symptoms are stiffness, reluctance to move, depression, loss of body weight, and conjunctivitis. Clinically the disease is primarily characterized by stiffness and by conjunctivitis. Body temperatures over 104F are common. Lambs can be treated with several different broad-spectrum antibiotics or tetracycline drugs.

I wouldn't say she's a 'stiff' walker, because she does bend her legs when she walks....so she's not stiff as a board, but still a little stiff. She does tend to be a little reluctant to move, often falling behind the flock a bit and she usually is the first one to lay down. I wouldn't say she's depressed; her attitude is as healthy as Katy Perry's. I also don't think she's losing any body weight (though she's not gaining as fast as Katy Perry). They're 90 days old today, so I will be weighing them when I go to feed them, so I will see how much weight she's gained (or not gained) in the past 30 days.

If I can, I will also try to get a video of her walking so you guys can watch it and tell me what you think. I am also going to go and get some more needles and syringes this weekend and I'm going to get her on some Pen G for her fever. I will probably get some LA200 also and see what the dosage is for sheep from my vet.

 

[SheepGirl]

Lady Gaga didn't finish her feed today. I got a video of her walking, and I shake the bucket, and she just keeps walking. :/

http://s1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh490/SheepGirl94/?action=view&current=DSCN6390.mp4

 

[bluebirdsnfur]

Awww...she is walking like she is uncomfortable. Hope you find out what's wrong and she feels better soon.

 

[Bridgemoof]

Somebody just mentioned to me something abut meningeal worms in relationship to my Snowcap. I wish I would have read about it sooner, it could be what affected him. Apparently, though, it's hard to test for, they have to test the spinal fluid. Do you have a lot of deer where you are? I would imagine you do.

Anyways, it's worth reading up about. http://www.sheepandgoat.com/articles/deerworm.html

 

[SheepGirl]

She finished her feed today. She looked like she was walking normal when I went to feed. But I went out later to take her temp (got a new thermometer) and she was walking funny again. Her temp is 103.8.

I don't think she has deer worms since she was on a dry lot when this started (but yes we do have white tail deer). My neighbor's had two ewes get deer worms and she doesn't have the same symptoms those two did.

 

[SheepGirl]

I gave her a shot of Pen G this morning. At 5 pm I went out to feed the lambs like I do everyday and she actually walked to me half way (Normally I have to walk to her.) Around 7 or so I went out and gave her another shot of Pen G and she walked away normally and in the hour or so I was watching her, she kept up with the flock and didn't lay down (she's been laying down a lot lately). Hopefully in another couple of days or so she will be walking normally. I'm going to take her temp tomorrow morning and see what it is.

 

[bonbean01]

Hope she gets well