Limping sheep and wormsign question

[trampledbygeese]

Poor little sheep is limping and generally not feeling well after a stressful day yesterday. I'm wondering what shall I do for her. Here's the story.

Sheared/shorn? the black welsh mountain flock yesterday. Also last night we had the first hard frost of the winter. Of course. They have wind and rain shelter, but no barn because it seldom gets very cold here.

Gave their trazvec (I don't know how to spell it) 8 vaccine booster yesterday too.

Mini, 3 years old, about 4 weeks from her earliest 'hatch date'. She's very powerful for her size. Delicate bone structure, even for the breed, under 90 pounds of sheep, but she doesn't settle when handled. Very wild and opinionated about being touched. Pasture with free feed hay, regular minerals, sheep text with additional Se supplement.

Poor girl is limping this morning. Left front is worse, but left back also stiff. Shot was given in the right front armpit. Joints are swollen and hurt to be touched, mostly the front right, but all four legs hurt when touched. Very slight (extremely slight, might have imagined it) warmth to the front left leg at the joint/knee/big bendy thing. No problems with her feet (she has the best feet of the lot) except that her 'thumb nail' is a bit long for a sheep.

Since the stiff/pain is on the one side, not both front or back, I'm guessing it's injury/sprain from yesterday. I worry about mineral deficiency but that has always appeared as both back legs being stiff.

Her gums and under eye are pale today (but were bright last week), so I'm wondering if this is actual worm sign, from the vaccine, or simply stress. The others in the flock are considerably paler than they were yesterday and I wonder if wormsign shows in under 10 hours.

eating, pooping, peeing as per normal


What I want to know:
Does my diagnosis of injury sound correct?
Are there any other diagnosis signs I should look for?
What treatment should I consider?
Is it likely worms? Or should I wait a day or two then look again?
I have some NewCells (or whatever it's called, vitamin booster shot thing), which I'm thinking of giving her. Wondering if it's a good idea or would it just stress her more since she's so skiddish - I usually wait until they can't fight me to give them this.

 

[trampledbygeese]

I forgot to mention, she was shivering/shuddering when I handled her. No shivers before I wrangled her - she was strong and really didn't want to be sat on her arse - and stopped shivering about 50 seconds after I let her go.

Stress or pain? Symptom of something else?

Never seen a sheep do this before, although I had an alpaca that did this when stressed but that improved with diet (he is a rescue and had some serious mineral deficiency issues when we got him).

 

[babsbag]

I don't raise sheep but I am not much help when it comes to how they may react after shearing. I do know that worms can be more of a problem when the animal is stressed, like right after birthing. Perhaps shearing would stress them too, IDK. If there eyelids are still pale I would go ahead and worm them.

I have had them limp from the vaccine but that is always on the side I give the shot in, not the opposite. I would guess that she is just sore from fighting the shearing. I know everyone seems to do it but it would scare me to shear this close to lambing. I don't even like to do feet after 3 months post breeding.

How is she this today?

Where in Canada do you live that it doesn't get cold enough for a barn? Sounds awesome right now.

 

[trampledbygeese]

I'm on a little island off the west coast. It' was extremely cold last night, it went down to ALMOST minus 2 degrees C, but up above 10 degrees C in the day. As well as trees, rain shelters and windbreaks, they have two open 'houses', one a three sided small shelter, and the other an old chicken coop with the doors off. It's all free choice environment as the breed seems to love climbing - much more like a goat than a sheep, only these girls go out in the rain.

The shearing date was a bit close to hatching time for my liking, but given how much wool they had, I was having trouble finding their milk factory. Also, I wanted to get the vaccine in so that there would be high resistance in the milk for the lambs. I talked with the vet and the sheerer and they both said the timing was right.

Today her front joint is about the same, the back left a bit more stiff. Her back is slightly arched (aka, front and back legs are standing closer together than normal). Eating and drinking as per normal, interacting with the others as per her normal social position.

She's starting to look pregnant, with that dreamy I got a baby inside my stand they get sometimes - only with her ears back instead of ears relaxed like normal prego sheep have.

Slight shivering this morning in her neck, but again it was triggered by me interacting with them. No fear reaction, as she came up and let me brush against her without her running away.


Is the tetanus vaccine a live vaccine? Can it cause side effects?

 

[trampledbygeese]

I bit the bullet and called the vet with the symptoms. Waiting back on the reply.

Canceled everything else for today - Today is now dedicated to sheep.

 

[bonbean01]

I don't have any answers...I have hair sheep, so no experience with shearing or stress from shearing. Agree with Babs that stress does play a big factor with worms. Glad you called a vet and thank you for sharing this on here...we all learn...and I am interested in what the vet says.

You are in a nice area of Canada...those islands off the coast are beautiful! I'm from Saskatchewan, and every summer as a kid, our family packed into a station wagon for a trip to B.C.

 

[babsbag]

Glad you called the vet on this one. I do not believe the tetanus is live, at least the one in the US is not. Have these sheep been vaccinated before? I guess it is always possible that it could be an allergic type reaction, I know the tetanus vaccine for people makes my arm stiff for days, but it is the arm I get the shot in, not the opposite arm. Really strange.

 

[trampledbygeese]

Thanks guys for the kind words.

Still nothing from the vet yet.

This is the their booster vaccine shot. They had their first shots as lambs, and they get booster every year.


Talking to one of my sheep gurus and she says it is odd to get these symptoms after the vaccine shot. There are suspicious similarities to tetanus symptoms. The thing about tetanus is that it has a decently long incubation period (10 to 14 days according to Merk's).

Then I start worrying about communicable diseases that the sheerer may have brought with him from another flock - I know he disinfects his tools... but... This is driving me crazy not knowing. I wish the vet would finish his lunch and call me!

 

[trampledbygeese]

Vet says that it's not an uncommon side effect. Give it another 24 to 48 hours and it should improve. If not, or it gets worse, call them. There is an anty-somebigword that we can give the sheep, like they would for normal tetanus.

I forgot to ask if this is going to be a recurring issue for this sheep.

 

[trampledbygeese]

As for the worming at this time, it's my call. I could go with my old wormer that isn't very effect any more, ivermec, or I could use the new wormer which has some risk to the fetus and mum's health (although minimal risk this late in pregnancy).