lame lamb

[packmomma]

I have two lambs that have respiratory infections. I gave them both a shot in the neck with Pen G and now one of them is lame on the front leg of the side I gave the shot. Did I hit a nerve or something? I read a few years back about someone giving it on the back leg and this happening.. but want to make sure. He seemed fine before the shot and its been about 2 hours. I have him and the other sick lamb in the barn together because although I want him to be able to eat some lovely grass..he doesnt seem to want to stand and eat without that leg anyway. The other lamb is fine so it makes me think maybe it was too far down the neck and it sort of put his leg to sleep. How long till this is suppose to get better?

 

[BrownSheep]

I suspect you either a) hit a nerve or b) the shot made him a little achey. Give him a couple of days.

 

[packmomma]

thanks. I've given shots before to lambs and horses and never had this happen. It is a bit scary!

 

[Sheepshape]

I'd tend to agree with BrownSheep, and it is likely to recover.

Why not give the penicillin into the muscle of the thigh? That's where I use for intramuscular injections. Admittedly there is not much meat on the thigh of a lamb, but it usually is not difficult to do and there are no surface nerves.

Sandie