Rectal prolapse starting in lamb?

[rockdoveranch]

Hi Natisha,

I am glad you got good news today. I do have a couple of questions though.

When you talked about changes to make your lambs stool firmer, I was wondering what your lambs stool looks like. Is she making only soft pellets, or pellets that are soft and clump together, or not making pellets at al.

I also wondered if your vet had an opinion on the weaker rectal spincter eventually failing causing your lamb to eventually prolapse even with a diet change. I am not meaning to sound negative, but I was curious.

Thanks.

 

[Natisha]

Hi Natisha,

I am glad you got good news today. I do have a couple of questions though.

When you talked about changes to make your lambs stool firmer, I was wondering what your lambs stool looks like. Is she making only soft pellets, or pellets that are soft and clump together, or not making pellets at al.

I also wondered if your vet had an opinion on the weaker rectal spincter eventually failing causing your lamb to eventually prolapse even with a diet change. I am not meaning to sound negative, but I was curious.

Thanks.

The stool is either soft & looks like a cow pie or has soft clumped together pellets. She was on a very rich alfalfa & he thinks the protein could be too high. He said the high protein causes the food to run through the GI tract too fast. It will take a while before the stool changes.

He didn't find any evidence of a prolapse & thinks she will be fine. She has strong muscles on the bottom & sides of the anus so he doesn't anticipate any problems. He did isay it was a shame that people are cutting the tails off so drastically. No one really knows what the future will bring but I feel much more confident that she will have a quality life. She'll never have to have babies so that worry is gone.

Her name is Dolly Lamba.

 

[rockdoveranch]

This tail docking thing where there is no tail left to protect the rectum or vulva is just beyond my understanding. It is all done for the convenience of man, and not the protection of the animal.

Love the name Dolly Lamba. You need to post her picture!

Has she ever produced firm little poop pellets?

 

[Natisha]

This tail docking thing where there is no tail left to protect the rectum or vulva is just beyond my understanding. It is all done for the convenience of man, and not the protection of the animal.

Love the name Dolly Lamba. You need to post her picture!

Has she ever produced firm little poop pellets?

Thanks, I'm glad you like her name. My other sheep is named Sheepins, he needed a home & has been with me for about 5 years. He has a 5" tail.
Lambo is the one I lost. He didn't have a tail either. No show sheep around here have tails & I don't like that. Apparently they like the round butt look for showing. When I sheered Lambo I left wool above his parts so he had a cute little tail. Next year Dolly will have one too. Not as good as the real thing.

Dolly had pellets when she first came but they were kind of clumpy. I fed her according to how the seller recommended. Maybe he is used to feeding show lambs?
I'll post pictures when I can. Would I post them here or in a different thread?
Thank you for your interest in my little family. It's nice to talk to others who understand.

 

[aggieterpkatie]

This tail docking thing where there is no tail left to protect the rectum or vulva is just beyond my understanding. It is all done for the convenience of man, and not the protection of the animal.

It's not even for convenience, that's what makes me so mad. It's just as convenient to do a decent length dock as it is a short dock. It's purely for looks!

 

[Natisha]

This tail docking thing where there is no tail left to protect the rectum or vulva is just beyond my understanding. It is all done for the convenience of man, and not the protection of the animal.

It's not even for convenience, that's what makes me so mad. It's just as convenient to do a decent length dock as it is a short dock. It's purely for looks!

That is a shame, plus I don't think it even looks good at all. A tail is certainly cuter.
Some States don't allow close docking. I am thinking of making it a life goal to get the practice stopped in Wisconsin.

 

[aggieterpkatie]

This tail docking thing where there is no tail left to protect the rectum or vulva is just beyond my understanding. It is all done for the convenience of man, and not the protection of the animal.

It's not even for convenience, that's what makes me so mad. It's just as convenient to do a decent length dock as it is a short dock. It's purely for looks!

That is a shame, plus I don't think it even looks good at all. A tail is certainly cuter.
Some States don't allow close docking. I am thinking of making it a life goal to get the practice stopped in Wisconsin.

I'm in Maryland and a few years ago it was a rule that the tails had to be a certain length, but it was hard to enforce because there's really no absolutely exact way to measure the tails. The show industry fought it, and cried about how kids were getting lambs out of state (with no tail rule) and being turned away at fairs and blah blah blah. Even when they did sort of enforce it, they were still letting kids show lambs that should not have been passed. I think they gave up on trying to enforce the rule now. It's a shame.

 

[rockdoveranch]

Natisha,

Start another thread and post her pictures!

We love pictures!

Aggie,

If we could post about politics I certainly would do it now when it comes to rules/laws and rules/laws being broken here in the United States.