# Week old lamb w/ scours



## sde219 (May 19, 2010)

I have a week old lamb scouring and I can't figure out why. She's with her mom, not on milk replacer, and had been doing fine til today. The only change is she went from the lambing jug to inside/outside access with three other ewes and two lambs. I've been giving her ewe a cup of grain a day to maintain body condition til the grass comes in (we live in southern Wisconsin). 

Per several of the other thread recommendations on lamb scours, I'll try giving her pepto bismal to treat the diarrhea, but I'd like to figure out why she's scouring in the first place. She's our 9th lamb so far this year, and while one other lamb had some softer poop for a week, it wasn't anything like this. All the rest haven't had any health problems. We haven't wormed yet this year, could that be it? The ewe is in good condition though. 

Thanks for your thoughts/ideas.
Anna


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## bergere (May 11, 2002)

There can be so many reasons for a lamb getting scours. Could be she picked up something from wild birds or rodents. Here is a write up from a web site.

http://www.sheepandgoat.com/articles/scours.html


Diarrhea in young (neonatal) lambs and kids

Despite improvements in management practices and prevention and treatment strategies, diarrhea is still the most common and costly disease affecting neonatal small ruminants. A study at the U.S. Sheep Experiment Station (Dubois, ID) showed that diarrhea accounted for 46 percent of lamb mortality. Diarrhea in lambs and goats is a complex, multi-factorial disease involving the animal, the environment, nutrition, and infectious agents. The four major causes of diarrhea in lambs and kids during the first month of life are E. Coli, rotavirus, Cryposporidum sp. and Salmonella sp. E. coli scours are most common.

E. Coli 
E. coli scours is an opportunistic disease associated with sloppy environmental conditions and poor sanitation. It is seen in lambs and kids less than 10 days of age, but is most common at 1 to 4 days of age. It usually presents itself as an outbreak in lambs and kids between 12 and 48 hours of age. It is also called "watery mouth," because affected lambs salivate and have a cold mouth. Fluid therapy is the mainstay of therapy.

Antibiotics are used for both treatment and prevention of E. coli scours in lambs. Spectinomycin oral pig scours medicine is commonly used, though it is not approved for sheep and goats. Ewes and does can be vaccinated with bovine E. coli vaccine before they give birth to increase passive immunity. The use of neomycin in lambs that appear normal may stop the progression of the outbreak. Adequate ingestion of colostrum by newborns decreases the incidence of the disease.

Infectious causes of diarrhea in sheep and lambs
Bacterial	E. coli
Salmonella sp.
Clostridium perfringins
Viral	Rotavirus
Coronavirus
Protozoa	Cryptosporidia
Coccidia (Eimera sp.)
Giardia sp.
Non-infectious causes (or contributing factors)
Parasitic	Gastro-intestinal worms 
(not Haemonchus)
Nutritional	Dietary changes
Overfeeding
Simple indigestion
Poor qualtiy milk replacers
Inadequate intake of colostrum 
Poor quality colostrum
Poor quality or stagnant water
Lush or wet pasture
Inadequate dry matter intake
Plant and fungal toxins
Allergies
Management 
(Poor environment)	
Overstocking/Overcrowding
Poor sanitation

Stress	Weaning
Handling 
Weather extremes
Shipping/Transportation
Rotavirus
Lambs and kids are infected with a group of B rotaviruses, whereas most other animals and humans are infected with group A rotoviruses. Rotavirus generally causes diarrhea in lambs and kids at 2 to 14 days of age. Young animals become very depressed and dehydrated.

Rotavirus is treated with supportive care. Vaccinating ewes and does with bovine rotavirus vaccines before they give birth will increase passive immunity. Viruses tend to be less a cause of diarrhea in lambs and kids than calves.

Cryptosporidium
Cryptosporidium parvum is a protozoa that can cause diarrhea similar to that of rotavirus infection. Cryptosporidia can cause diarrhea in lambs and kids 5 to 10 days of age. Affected animals are often active, alert, and nursing. The diarrhea is usually very liquid and yellow.

No consistently effective treatment for cryptosporidiosis in ruminants has been identified. Anectodotal reports suggest that decoquinte (DeccoxÂ®) and monensin sodium (BovatecÂ®) may be useful in the control of Cryptosporosis. Ammonia and formalin seem to be most effective at removing Cryptosporidium from the environment. The best control of cryptosporidiosis comes from lambs and kids getting adequate immunity through colostrum soon after birth.

Salmonella
The bacteria Salmonella has thousands of serotypes and all can potentially cause diarrhea in animals. Salmonella can cause diarrhea in lambs and kids of any age. Animals less than 1 week of age are more likely to die without clinical signs, whereas animals older than 1 week are more likely to have diarrhea. Salmonella also causes outbreaks of diarrhea in late gestation and is frequently associated with abortion. Bleach is an effective disinfectant to use during an outbreak. Vaccine efficacy is questionable, and to date vaccination has not been thoroughly evaluated in sheep and goats.

Giardia
Giardia-induced diarrhea is more commonly, but not limited to 2 to 4 week old lambs and kids. The diarrhea is usually transient, but infected animals can continue to shed cysts for many weeks, providing a source of infection for other animals and possibly humans. Infected animals can be treated effectively with fenbendazole (SafeGuardÂ®, VabazenÂ®).

Nutritional
Infectious agents are not the only cause of diarrhea in neonates. Nutritional problems can result in diarrhea. Nutritional diarrhea is most common in orphaned animals as a result of poor quality milk replacers, mixing errors, and overfeeding. Consumption of lush pasture or high-energy diets can also result in diarrhea in young lambs and kids.

A scouring lamb or kid loses large amounts of fluids and electrolytes, such as sodium and chlorine. Usually the cause of death in scouring lambs and kids is dehydration and acidosis, or increased body acidity. Whatever the microbial cause of scours, the most effective treatment for a scouring lamb or kid is rehydration by administering fluids.


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## sde219 (May 19, 2010)

Pepto bismal seems to be clearing the diarrhea up. Thanks for the info on possible causes.


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## eieiomom (Jun 22, 2005)

Anna,

Glad she cleared up with the pepto.

Even though this wasn't the cause of the lamb's scours, lambing time is really a good time to deworm the ewes, since there's an elevation of worm load at this time.

Deb


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## birchtreefarm (Jul 22, 2007)

Glad to hear the Pepto helped.

Was the color of the poo the normal yellow but just runny? Or was it pale?

We had a lamb once get "scours" because she was the only lamb, and mom was probably making enough milk for three. Sometimes, as someone told us, mom just "hoses" the lamb with milk.  Too much of a good thing. Our lamb never acted sick, and the runny poo cleared up in a few days when mom's milk supply adjusted itself.


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