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sick sheep
Author: Tom 
Date:   02-02-06 13:36

Last week I had a ewe in her final 2 weeks of gestation come down sick. It turned out that her lambs had died approx. 1+ week earlier. After we removed the dead lambs and injected her with Pen and Vit B she recovered. Now a week later I have another sick ewe that is not eating and is going downhill fast. She too is 2 weeks out from lambing. I am treating her as if she has toxemia but I'm not convinced that is it. She was a well conditioned ewe and has been fed well throughout gestation. Is there be anything else I should be checking/treating her for?
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Re: sick sheep
Author: Gordon 
Date:   02-02-06 18:07

Not being there I would not want to guess at what it might be.
If you see more ewes in trouble you should bring in a vet.
Waiting too long can be costly.
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Re: sick sheep
Author: Deb 
Date:   02-07-06 10:18

Even ewes in good condition can still get toxemia. Their breath has a pretty distinct smell when they have it....sweet, like ketones. We had a ewe go down with calcium deficiency once, believe it or not and once supplemented she came around very quickly. More than likely it is toxemia since it is so close to lambing, but, the vet would be able to diagnose that best. I've seen it in our older ewes (10 + years) who are in good condition but simply can't compete for their fair share when push comes to shove....the fetuses are large and there is not a lot of room for food in the last week or two so food quality has to increase to compensate for that. We try to put these ewes in a pen together and feed them more high quality feed than the younger ewes and dont see any problem.
good luck!
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