# Dead 4 month old lamb?



## adnilee (Feb 1, 2004)

We have lost 2 of our spring lambs now and don't know what is killing them.
The first we found dying (very weak and just laying breathing slowly).
The second was found dead after being perfectly healthy earlier in the day.
The flock appears very healthy, well fed and besides being hot, seem fine.
I did inspect her stomach before I burried her and couldn't see worms or anything, just a lot of grass!
If they had worms, would I see them in the stomach contents?
Any Ideas as to what could cause sudden death?
I am going to look for toxic plants this weekend. could these cause sudden death, or would we see a warning first?
Thanks,
Adrian


----------



## Ross (May 9, 2002)

Are they vaccinatied? Prosperous lambs will drop like flies from pulpy kidney. If they aren't get the rest done now! You may have gotten as bad batch of vacine if they are vaccinated you'd really need a Post Mortem done ASAP (within a couple of hours of death) to be sure.


----------



## Patty0315 (Feb 1, 2004)

Is this in the CDT shot ? I also lost 2 lambs in a week. I did revaccinate and move them {the rest of the lambs} out of the main herd. I also put them back on medicated feed and rewormed. I think mine was mostly due to the heat.

Patty


----------



## livestockmom (Apr 2, 2005)

It does sound very much like Pulpy Kidney ( Enterotoxemia, Over Eating Disease) and right at the age this would most likely occurs. The best fed and most thrifty of the lambs sucumb most often. We vaccinate with Covexin 8 at 6 weeks ( feed creep feed and they can overeat.) The usual symptoms is a dead lamb, nothing else. If you were out in the pasture at the time you would see them stagger, fall down, draw their legs in and kicking at their sides, coma soon follows and quick death. 

We keep CD Antitoxin ( hard to find ) in the barn fridge for an emergency.
I give Oral and Sub Q together, It can be given if you get to them fast enough but death is usaully swift. We feed our show lambs pretty heavy so we are always on the lookout for it. The best prevention is to feed regular amounts, they cant handle surges of food at at once, and to feed a bulky fibrous diet, a larger amount than normal of grains is usually the culprit.

Was the covexin 8 or CDT handled properly? I would revaccinate with a new batch and be sure to keep it on a cold pack driving it home from the feed store - 

Im so sorry for your loss... Thoughts of comfort coming your way from California.


----------



## Celtic Herritag (Jul 14, 2005)

Our farm was hit pretty bad by bacterial phnumonia, it seems it's hitting everyone bad here in california, even the wild sheep. Did they have a lot of yellowish snot coming out of their noses? It also might be white muscle disease, do you live in a selenium deficient area. Your local vet would know, don't trust the maps, we were supposedly in an area that wasn't deficinent and got hit with white muscle. When white muscle hits it can be rapid and they often seem fine the in the morning then they'll be barley alive in the afternoon. If your not sure wither they are deficient your vet can do some simple blood work. Most poisonus plants do give off some warning, usually neurological trauma, from the poisoning but it may have been a plant that causes sudden death, like yew.


----------



## adnilee (Feb 1, 2004)

We lost another lamb last night and took it to the vet for a post mort.
He said it was loaded with worm eggs and coccidia. We missed worming before realeasing the ram this spring and I think we are paying for it now. 
I wormed them with Panacur this evening (vet reccommended this for use on preg ewes). 
The vet also sold me a gallon of 'Corid' which can be added to the sheeps water to rid them of coccidia. Has anyone else used this product? What rated did you administer it (or how much per gallon of drinking water?).

Hopefully this will help.

We vaccinated all lambs at 3 days old with CDT, but the vet said we should be vaccinating all sheep every six months? Is this true? The vet also said to worm every 2 months. Is this necessary? Our sheep are on pasture only until winter and look perfectly healthy.

Thanks again,
Adrian


----------



## livestockmom (Apr 2, 2005)

Be careful with the Corid ( Amprollium ) and perhaps get a 2nd opinion before using. Corid can cause Polio as it depletes the body of Thiamine. Be on the watch for "stargazing", one of the 1st symptoms. My 1st choice would be DiMethox 40% or Sulmet for treatment of Cocci, anyone else hear the same thing about Corid? I bet there is info online about it.

An animals immune system is not set up to take on a vaccination and make antibodies at a few days old so immunizing them befoe 4-6 weeks would be
no value so it leaves them vulnerable.

Im so sorry you lost another one. Good for you for getting to the bottom of it!

Unless you had way too many head to catch them and give them a daily dose of Sulmet or DiMethox everyday, I would do the daily catch and administer or medicine. The water treatment can be very expensive as it needs to be replaced and made new each day. Remove any and all other water source, and keep water in the shade. Some people salt their food so they up the water intake and are sure each has recieved enough water to be effective. Something you will not know for sure unlike the oral dosing.
I would follow up with another fecal in 2 weeks to confirm effectiveness.


----------



## sheeplady (Oct 31, 2003)

Check the gums and lower eyelids on your remaining sheep/lambs. Should be a nice dark pink. Pale pink or white means the sheep is very anemic, a sure sign of parasites. Advanced stages can get bottlejaw, a swelling or edema of the jaw.At that stage not a good prognosis. 
We had a severe infestation of liver flukes earlier this summer. Not detectable on a fecal test and you wouldn't see them in stomach contents. Only detected in a postmortem exam on the liver. Valbazem is the most effective wormer for this. But don't use in first trimester of pregnancy, can cause birth defects. 
If you notice the pale gums, besides worming, give them an iron injection ( only once a week) and also Vitamin B Complex ( can be given daily). Your vet should be able to get these for you as well as the wormer, but they are both availabe through livestock suppy catalogues. 
Corid can be given directly to each animal with small oral syringe, once day for three days. Your vet should give you the dosage amounts. Ading to the drinking water is iffy as not all drink the same. How many sheep do you have? Some salt mineral loose mixes have an additive for coccidious which is good as a preventive once you get it under control. 
Corid is getting hard to obtain, so glad your vet had it. Its the most effective against coccidiosis.


----------

