Limping sheep - Trimmed hoofs - Getting better! :)

[woodsie]

Well I noticed yesterday that I had a pregnant ewe that was limping on her front left leg, she was laying down a lot and standing with it raised up. I got these ewes in the fall and they were VERY wild and had pretty much been hands off. Their hoofs are long overdue to be trimmed so I assumed it must be an overgrown hoof or hoof rot. So we got a hold of her today and trimmed all her feet...surprisingly the foot she was limping on was the least overgrown...still we cleaned them out and gave them all a good trim. I didn't smell anything foul or see anything that looked rotten but they were WAY overgrown...completely curled over on the back.

This afternoon she is still limping and laying down a lot, maybe even more than before. How long before would I see improvement if it were a result of the hoofs being overgrown? SHould I be looking at something else...didn't notice any swelling although the hoof that she was limping on had a extra wide tip or the hoof, probably malformed because they hadn't been trimmed for so long? Should I have sprayed her foot with something?

Thanks for the help.

 

[secuono]

I had an ewe who sprained her leg, she limped, but never held it up. I checked it over, it didn't bother her, foot was trim, no cut or anything poking her, etc. So I just gave her some grain and left her be. Two weeks and I still saw a limp, but eventually, it went away.

Hopefully, it's nothing serious!

 

[purplequeenvt]

If you didn't see any signs of foot rot or infection, then she could have sprained her ankle. I have a number of ewes that limp off and on due to tripping on the frozen mud.

I'd keep an eye on her. If she doesn't stop limping in a couple days check her foot again. Sometimes if the ground is really wet (rain or snow) they can get what I call foot scald in between their toes. It will damp and sore, but shouldn't have any kind of odor. I spray between the toes with Blue-Kote or iodine.

 

[woodsie]

well it definitely is wet out there....we have had a very unusual winter...TONS of snow (We had almost 2 feet accumulated) and this week it turned warm so it is soupy out there. Plus the sheep tend to stay out of the deep snow and only go on the paths they have made, which are all mud now. I have put a bunch of stemy hay out there to soak up the muck.

Still wants to eat...could be a sprain...it is very slippery and she's fat....I'll keep any eye on her and hopefully she'll get better over the next couple days.

 

[woodsie]

Silk the limping ewe seems to be getting better. The ground has refrozen today and it seems that Silk is on the road to recovery. Still not sure if it was the hoof or a sprain but she is limping less and standing more and no one else has signs of their feet bothering them.

Hopefully I can find a helper to catch the rest of the ewes so I can trim up their hooves before they become a problem.

Glad it wasn't anything too serious - yay!

 

[EllieMay]

I had a ewe limping real bad and her hoof had cracked and peeled away from the skin on the inside of her hoof.
I trimmed her hoof and smelled for any odor (nothing) and dabbed some iodine on it (just in case).
She seemed to limp WORSE the next day; I figured it was just from the pain of having so much hoof trimmed, but I checked it anyway.
All was good.
It took her about 3-4 days before she was walking close to normal again.