Injured Orphan bottle baby lambs

[raggedy]

The lamb with the bump and infection on her nose, which may or may not have been orf, is pretty much healed but now drools when being bottle fed and the drool has blood in it. She has had a cough since we got her at 7 days old. She is now 5 weeks and it has gotten worse over time. In the beginning she mostly coughed only after being bottle fed. She is also walking stiff especially in her hind quarters. She has been eating well and grazes with the other 2 lambs. But today seems somewhat lethargic but still took her bottle about the same. I can just tell she isn't feeling well. She has stopped calling to me for her bottle and she was the most boisterous of the three until a few days ago. She weighs approximately 15lbs. If I get antibiotics does anyone know what I can get from the farm store and how much to give her? The vets office is closed today and I feel like I need to get her started on something. I also wondered if this could be lungworm. Please advise.

 

[raggedy]

raggedy....welcome....sorry it's a 'bumpy start' for you.

Much like purplequeenvt said, I would re-splint the lamb with the fracture. When a similar thing happened to me a few years back (ewe broke lamb's leg). I used a couple of lollipop sticks either side of the fracture, cotton padding immediately on the leg, sticks next, vet wrap over, and changed the 'splint' to a larger one after about 3 weeks. I kept the splint on for a couple of months altogether, with a second splint change a few weeks later as the leg grew. The leg looked absolutely normal after this time. She fully bore weight and that was the end of the story.

As cjc said , I'd be thinking of joint ill with the second lamb. Are other joints affected? Over here we use Penicillin and Streptomycin injected daily for a week (has to be prescribed by the vet), plus metacam for pain and inflammation. Our vet will give us the meds after discussion and don't charge for this.

I've had a couple of lambs who have developed big bumps on a nostril. Usually it is a collection of blood under the (thick) skin and goes away by itself over a week or two. Orf or a 'pimple' are other possibilities. A pic. would help.

Good Luck.

I re-splinted the leg using your suggested method. So far so good with the exception of her hoof slanting off to the the side just the past couple of days when she's standing. The vet wasn't in to ask but the receptionist suggested it might be that the hoof isn't getting worn down as it normally would. Should I trim the hoof? I have no idea how to do this but maybe youtube will have a good video for it.

I took the little one to the vet this past Monday. She had a temp of 104. The vet was quite concerned about the joints in her leg and only gave her a 50/50 chance of survival. She suggested a 5 day antibiotic regimen + anti inflammatory pain med twice a day + 20 min mineral soak once a day. I gave the last injection yesterday. She puts weight on the leg and acts like she feels much better but the hoof and knee joints of that leg still look about the same. Not sure what to do next. I'll call the vet on Monday and see if there is something further that can be done. I hate to lose her, she is everyone's favorite, not to mention the work, money and effort that has gone into her survival so far.

The other lamb is described above in a separate post in this thread and is having new issues.

 

[Sheepshape]

Can you post a pic of the leg, raggedy? Sounds like the vet thinks she has joint ill.

Maybe the bones haven't set in an ideal position, but she probably won't be too fussed about this. Current wisdom from this side of the pond is 'never trim'. that may be going a bit far if the hoof is long and catching all kinds of muck underneath it, but the hoof will wear itself off once weight is being placed on it. To trim a hoof which hasn't worn down because the hoof underneath is sore (like in foot rot) means that, should you trim, the sore area will be then directly on the ground.......a sheep limping a little becomes a sheep limping a lot!

If it's any consolation, some years back I had a ewe lamb who broke her hip, back leg... the leg was pulled right up. The vet said that there was little that could be done apart from euthanasia or giving her pain relief and 'see what happened' I chose the latter. Over the period of some months the leg came down and she used it to walk very effectively, though she had a huge 'bow leg' on that side. It didn't prevent her from getting fat, having several lambs and living a fairly long life....about 5. She then started to show signs that she had arthritis in that leg and had difficulty getting up or keeping up with the flock. At that stage she went to market. i can, in all honesty, say she lived a normal and healthy life.

So, good luck, and keep us up to date with her progress.

 

[raggedy]

Can you post a pic of the leg, raggedy? Sounds like the vet thinks she has joint ill.

Maybe the bones haven't set in an ideal position, but she probably won't be too fussed about this. Current wisdom from this side of the pond is 'never trim'. that may be going a bit far if the hoof is long and catching all kinds of muck underneath it, but the hoof will wear itself off once weight is being placed on it. To trim a hoof which hasn't worn down because the hoof underneath is sore (like in foot rot) means that, should you trim, the sore area will be then directly on the ground.......a sheep limping a little becomes a sheep limping a lot!

If it's any consolation, some years back I had a ewe lamb who broke her hip, back leg... the leg was pulled right up. The vet said that there was little that could be done apart from euthanasia or giving her pain relief and 'see what happened' I chose the latter. Over the period of some months the leg came down and she used it to walk very effectively, though she had a huge 'bow leg' on that side. It didn't prevent her from getting fat, having several lambs and living a fairly long life....about 5. She then started to show signs that she had arthritis in that leg and had difficulty getting up or keeping up with the flock. At that stage she went to market. i can, in all honesty, say she lived a normal and healthy life.

So, good luck, and keep us up to date with her progress.

My biggest concern at the moment is the one with lungworm or pneumonia just not sure what's wrong.
Ya, she said it's likely joint ill in the small one. The one in the splint is fine other than the hoof.