What's wrong with my ewe ?

[laurie etc]

Wierd - long - question - but I'm trying to avoid a costly vet bill for a sheep that is already on "the cull list". I've been reading and asking around, but I don't think this ewe has one of the "regular" problems.

This 16 month old Katahdin ewe - first time lamber in early May- has 2 very healthy lambs at her side - and is producing lots of milk. She's slated to be culled because after an uneventful 4 1/2 months of pregnancy she decided to partially prolapse her vagina. Fixed that with a baling twine "harness" and stall confinement, and after a couple weeks, she delivered two large, healthy lambs. Thought our problems were over, but 12 hours later, she prolapsed her uterus. With the help of a knowledgeable friend, we replaced it, reapplied the baling twine, and started her on a 10 day course of antibiotics. She bounced back from near death, everything seemed relatively normal - appetite, elimination, etc. After a week or so I gradually reintroduced her to outdoor living. So far so good, other than she looked a little less thrifty than the rest, but with milking heavily and what she'd already been through, that didn't surprise me. About 10 days ago, while preparing to go out of town, I noticed her take a few strange steps behind. Ok - so maybe she was a bit lame, but she was staying with the flock, eating drinking, making lots of milk. I left my daughter in charge of everybody, but asked her to keep an eye on this ewe, especially. About 5 days ago, she called to tell me the ewe was severely ataxic behind, but otherwise was still getting around happily, albeit strangely. Still eating, drinking, taking care of her lambs. She just keeps falling down, and/or leaning on the other sheep or a fence for stability. I'm home from vacation now, and gotta say that the ewe's attitude is great, but she is getting thinner, even though she runs(stumbling) to eat in the morning; and is grazing, drinking, and caring for her lambs just fine. She is like a wobbler horse- no pain, just doesn't know where her back end is. No noticeable discharge, or other reason to thing this is related to the prolapse, but is it possible that a uterine infection could go to the spinal cord or brain? What else could this be? (By the way - All my other sheep are fine - 3 ewes with 5 other lambs, and 2 wethers).

Also, if she does die, what's the youngest these lambs could be without having to supply milk replacer for them? I can build a creep feeder if necessary - they are grazing and eating lamb pellets/corn already. Lambs are just over 5 weeks now.

thanks for any thoughts,

Laurie

[Bill Fosher]

Hi Laurie,

 

How common are white tailed deer in your area? There is a parasite of white tailed deer that can infect the brains of sheep and cause these sorts of symptoms. More likely, however, is that she suffered some sort of nerve damage either during birth, the prolapse of her uterus, its replacement, or subsequent infection. A more frightening possibility to consider is scrapie, which can't be reliably confirmed with necropsy.

 

I would try giving her an anti-imflammatory like Banamine or its generic equivalent for a few days and see if you see any improvement. If it is a pinched nerve, that should help her.

[laurie etc]

Hi Laurie,

 

How common are white tailed deer in your area? There is a parasite of white tailed deer that can infect the brains of sheep and cause these sorts of symptoms. More likely, however, is that she suffered some sort of nerve damage either during birth, the prolapse of her uterus, its replacement, or subsequent infection. A more frightening possibility to consider is scrapie, which can't be reliably confirmed with necropsy.

 

I would try giving her an anti-imflammatory like Banamine or its generic equivalent for a few days and see if you see any improvement. If it is a pinched nerve, that should help her.

 

 

Thanks Bill! We are overun with white tail deer in our area, but I think it would be SO coincidental that she would be the one affected. Also, from talking to the local hunters, I'm pretty sure that the wasting disease in deer is not prevelant in our area (WV/Northern VA).

I'll see about getting some Banamine and try it. It seems strange to me that if she were going to have nerve damage, it would wait a month after the birthing trauma to manifest itself - that's why I was thinking recurring infection. Also, I've read about Scrapie, and her symptoms don't seem to fit; she came from a (local) healthy small flock, and there haven't been sheep on my property before I got these a year ago. Laurie

[gail]

Hi Laurie,

 

Bill is talking about a parasite, meningeal worm, that deer transmit. He is not talking about wasting disease. The worm infects spinal and brain tissue to cause neurological symptoms. Meningeal worm is transmitted through a symbiotic relationship involving deer and snails - I don't really remember the details.

 

Gail

[Lenajo]

sounds like a calcium deficiency, not sure of proper term but here people call it "milk fever". The stress and strain of what she's been through, the restriction from her normal diet and eating patterns, then the heavy milking sets up a pattern. first symtoms are dullness, weakness, stilted then weak gait.

 

Your vet can give her some calcium and dextrose IV if that's it.

[Rebecca, Irena Farm]

I agree that I'd look at getting her calcium up first.

 

Actually since she's still eating and only showing mild symptoms, you can probably just pick up a tube of calcium supplement from the feed store. My heavy milkers get dothery occaisionally as our soil calcium is very low in spite of supplementation (and you'd have the same problem in your area, very likely). A few squirts of Cal-Mag does the trick usually. My 125 pounders get about 1/3 tube every four hours. I've gotten the best results from the balanced stuff, sometimes the two deficiencies go hand-in-hand. Actually, my favorite (and vet recommended) is Cal-Co-Mag.

[laurie etc]

Hi Laurie,

 

Bill is talking about a parasite, meningeal worm, that deer transmit. He is not talking about wasting disease. The worm infects spinal and brain tissue to cause neurological symptoms. Meningeal worm is transmitted through a symbiotic relationship involving deer and snails - I don't really remember the details.

 

Gail

 

Ok - I did read about that - but I guess was confusing it with wasting disease - I found a good article on it on the Md Sheep and Goat website - http://www.sheepandgoat.com/articles/deerworm.html - I hope that's not it! My sheep are generally not kept in a wet pasture situation- and I haven't noticed an abundance of snails or slugs, so hopefullly not! They were in a pasture that had a "water hole" over the winter, I wonder how long it takes for symptoms to show up. The article did not say. Keeping my fingers crossed that it's something else so the other sheep aren't also endangered. Laurie

[laurie etc]

sounds like a calcium deficiency, not sure of proper term but here people call it "milk fever". The stress and strain of what she's been through, the restriction from her normal diet and eating patterns, then the heavy milking sets up a pattern. first symtoms are dullness, weakness, stilted then weak gait.

 

Your vet can give her some calcium and dextrose IV if that's it.

 

Hmm- she was dull right after the lambing/uterine trauma and off feed, but was still eating hay - just not that interested in her corn. She's been back out on good grass for the past 3 weeks, and is eating lamb pellets and corn just as well as the others at this point (3 weeks or so). The slight stiffness started about 2 weeks ago, and has progressed to this crazy neurologic gait behind, but she is very alert and otherwise seems happy, although she has continued to lose weight gradually. I hope it's just a calcium problem, but would it be just as effective to do as Rebecca suggested and buy the over the counter stuff at Tractor Supply? The vets here are pretty expensive, even just to do a farm call. If I try the OTC oral calcium or cal/mag - what would the dosage be for a 100 lb (thin) ewe? (I wouldn't want to overdose her, either. ) If this IS the problem, how long after treatment should it before seeing results? And how long would you continue to supplement?

 

Thanks everybody, for your input! I should have known that if there was a weird problem, it would crop up in one of MY animals. Par for the course...

Laurie

[Lenajo]

My vet just gives me the IV form and I put it in the jugular. Your comfort level may be different. There is nothing wrong with the oral calcium - may just work a little slower.

 

when I have a weird problem with sheep I call the vet info line at Pipestone Vet Supply (not the 1-800 order line). They have a vet clinic attached to the supply catalog business and Dr Goeltz or his tech will answer you questions. I've even had them call my vet to explain to him what, and how, to medicate a sick sheep.

[Bill Fosher]

The problem with delivering calcium orally to a sheep that is thin is that she may not be metabolizing the contents of her gut correctly, which would mean no calcium (or not very much) getting into the bloodstream.

 

When treating hypocalcemia, I have always used injectible calcium gluconate (23 percent, I think? Comes in a 500 ml container) and injected 60 to 120 cc sub Q, dividing the dose over four sites (usually the "armpits").

 

I didn't think of hypocalcemia for this ewe because I have generally found them down, not long-term staggering, and not just hindquarters affected.

 

Another thought: check this ewe for anemia. Poor oxygenation often strikes the hindquarters first. If anemic, treat agressively for worms: Valbazen or ivermectin sheep drench (levamasole is a poor choice for debilitated sheep) a couple of times a few days apart.