Limping sheep and wormsign question

[babsbag]

That's tough on the wormer. I would be afraid to use Valbazen or any of those on bred sheep/goats, no matter how far along they are. Fortunately Ivermec still works for me.

I have never seen a reaction to the vaccine, hope it just goes away in a day or so.

 

[purplequeenvt]

Supposedly Valbazen is safe to use in pregnant sheep/goats as long as they are over 45 days bred. Personally, I don't like to use it until after they lamb.

 

[trampledbygeese]

Picked up the Valbazen, but I don't think I'll give it to them yet. My reasons:

If Ivomec is starting to decline in strength, then the more I use it the more resistance will build up - there aren't many wormers available here, so I would like to have the opportunity to use ivomec again if I need it.

The paleness may be from the stress of the vaccine and not wormsign. Or it may be wormsign, but her main symptoms can be explained by the vaccine, and worms that are there are unlikely her main problem.

Adding more chemicals to her system when she's under stress like this, may create more stress and slow her recovery (then again, so might a high worm load - so this point isn't that strong).

She's pregnant and any additional risk of damage or death the the fetus adds risk of harm to the mum.

In conclusion: I have the wormer on hand now and can jump in and give it if urgent need presents itself, but until they lamb, I'm going to hold back if I can.

Thank you again everyone for your support.

 

[purplequeenvt]

Any chance you could collect a poop sample and have a vet run a fecal on her? That would help clear things up.

 

[SheepGirl]

What's her temperature?

 

[trampledbygeese]

Temperature feels normal. I haven't a working thermometer at the moment.

I've actually got all the equipment at home for a fecal sample (since I already have the microscope, the supplies cost less than the vet charges for one fecal test). With everything that's happened these last few weeks, I totally forgot about it. Thanks for the reminder. I'll definitely run one before I worm the pregnant ewes.

Worked outside the rest of the afternoon so that I could be near her flock. Limping isn't any worse, but she seems less distressed - ears are more upright, quicker to join in the flock, less zoning out.

It's starting to cloud over now. Either the frost is over or the weather is about to get worse. None of the weather reports agree as to which it is.

 

[babsbag]

That's about right for the weather report. I made plans for the weekend based on a report that has now changed...twice.

 

[trampledbygeese]

The ewe is mending slowly. Still looks pretty miserable at times.

I think the vaccine is definitely what did it, but what to do about this in future. If she's this miserable from the vaccine, I would hate to see a sheep in full tetanus.

So what to do in future? Is she going to respond like this to her booster every year? Do I not give her the shot, which would then mean that her lambs in future don't get the benefit of the added resistance in the milk? Or do I give the shots at a different time, again the lambs lose out and don't receive the additional boost from the colostrum.