# bloody mucus in poop?



## Double C Acres (Nov 25, 2011)

one of my 11month old ewes, non-pregnant, has had soft stools(like pig poop) the last few days and now today I saw bloody mucus on her tail. She had a dose of noromectin sheep drench 2 wks ago. she's acting normal and eating well. any ideas?


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

I'd just watch her before trying any treatments.
As long as it's not watery scours, or an excessive amount of blood, it will probably not be a problem.
If it continues, feed her nothing but hay for a few days

Do her inner eye lids look pale?
Ivomec isn't an effective wormer here, but you shouldn't have the worm loads we do


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## kirsten (Aug 29, 2005)

why not coccidiosis?


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

> why not coccidiosis?


It's a possibility, but that's usually watery diarrhea and other symptoms besides just a little blood or mucus and soft stools, which could be from something she ate



*



Detectable Symptoms include: 

Diarrhea (containing blood/mucus) 
Dehydration, fever, anemia, weight loss, loss of appetite 
Eating normally with little or no weight gain 
In extreme cases, death 


Click to expand...

*http://ag.ansc.purdue.edu/sheep/ansc442/Semprojs/2007/coccidiosis/symptoms.htm




> The disease is characterised by acute onset diarrhoea, dullness, anorexia, dehydration and weight loss affecting a high proportion of the lamb flock.


 
http://www.nadis.org.uk/DiseasesSheep/CoccidiosisSheep/Coccidiosis%20in%20Sheep.htm


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## Double C Acres (Nov 25, 2011)

Thanks for the replies. I haven't seen any more mucus and stools are still soft but not runny so I'll just keep an eye on it. We did do a dose of injectable ivomec last night for all the young ewes just for good measure.


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

> I haven't seen any more mucus and *stools are still soft* but not runny


Fresh pasture or a little too mich grain can do that too.
A little Pepto Bismol might help, but usually a couple of days of nothing but dry hay will fix it


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## Double C Acres (Nov 25, 2011)

Ok, I'm really unsure what to do with this young ewe! and now there's another one! I have them separated from the rest of the herd now. The soft stools and sometimes very watery has had bloody mucus in it quite regularly. The second ewe just started with diarhea a week ago. both were dewormed a month ago, first ewe finished a 5 day treatment for cocci last week ( as per recommended by vet) and it seemed to be firmer for a couple days but now back to runny with mucus. Vet had also suggested possibility of 'johnes'. How likely is that in these cases? They just turned a year old in april and do NOT appear unthrifty yet. They act perfectly healthy except for the stools. They are getting only hay & sheep minerals. Any ideas? I really don't have funds for a lot of unnecessary testing.


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## Ross (May 9, 2002)

While the initial advise sounds fine at this point I'd treat for cocci with a sulfa added to their water. Feed stores should have it or talk to your vet.


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## Double C Acres (Nov 25, 2011)

What about Johnes? Is it likely? I'm still new to sheep and wondering how prevalent it is in Ontario?


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## Ross (May 9, 2002)

Pretty sure you can test for Johnnes and yes it certainly in Ont. CWD in deer too just for fun. If treating for cocci works it wasn't johnnes


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## Double C Acres (Nov 25, 2011)

Thankyou so much for your help. I will talk to my vet shortly for his advice again. The first ewe was treated with Amprol, stool was more solid and now it seems more runny again. Would you treat with Amprol again? or do the sulfa in water only?


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## Double C Acres (Nov 25, 2011)

Today I took a stool sample in to the vet's for a fecal. It showed no cocci and very little for worms. In order to do a 'Johnes' test they would have to send it away and according to the vet, the tests are not that reliable anyway so he said it's expensive and it's hardly worth the money to do the test. So he recommends a 5-day treatment of Borgal shots which I will pick up tomorrow. Hope this will work!


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## Ross (May 9, 2002)

What is he treating for? Borgol is a sulfa but an injectable and most used to treat Pen resistant bacteria. Not very different from Trivetrin for that matter. Be warned it stings like the devil


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## Double C Acres (Nov 25, 2011)

I'm not exactly sure what he's treating for but I believe maybe a bacteria infection. Would that make sense? All of our communication was through the receptionist and she never actually said, just that this is what the vet recommends.


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## Double C Acres (Nov 25, 2011)

This ewe STILL has soft stools and sometimes very runny, green scours and bloody mucous. This has been going on, off and on, since march. She's a little over a yr old now and is looking & acting completely healthy otherwise. She was vaccinated, dewormed with ivomec, and did a round of borgal, a round of amprol, and then neo-chlor in drinking water for 5 days. That finally brought her back to normal pellet stools for a couple weeks, then back to soft and scours. Now the last 2-3weeks I've been doing the neo-chlor water again and it's not working. Should I quit the neo-chlor or might it work yet? She eats only hay & minerals, no grain. A fecal awhile back didn't turn up anything significant. I'm getting quite frustrated with this one! The rest of the flock are great so is this just the way she poops? Any thoughts/advice please!


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## Ross (May 9, 2002)

Back to the vet I guess. Salmonella, e-coli, resistant strain of cocci???


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## Oilcan (Jun 24, 2012)

Good on you for putting up with this as long as you have. If it was me, I would have gotten rid of her rather than stress about it this long. I'm glad you have kept her and hope you find out what's wrong. I'll be watching your posts to see the outcome. Good luck!


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## Double C Acres (Nov 25, 2011)

I got valbazen from the vet just in case it's a different worm than ivomec covers and gave her a dose. She acts perfectly healthy in every way, other than the soft stools. If she's still this way by fall, I'll probably ship her. She was exposed to the ram 1 month in early spring so I'll keep her till after she's lambed (if she's even preggy which I think maybe not).


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## kit (Apr 15, 2004)

Well wouldn't she be pretty young to exhibit Johnes symptoms? And doesn't Johnes cause weight loss?

Did you just get these ewes? And what type of minerals are you feeding them? Why I ask about minerals is that I have 2 older rams in pasture and I allways feed loose minerals mixed with loose blue salt. It had been raining so much that the mineral/salt mix kept getting ruined on me. So I tried a solid mineral block that contained molasses. Within 2 days the rams ate so much that they had scours! I pulled the block problem gone... tried again and problem back. So back to the regular minerals and problem solved! Perhaps it is something simple like that? Or what type of hay are you feeding? Could it perhaps be lush alfalfa hay? Mind you typically a feed change can trigger scours but they usually get used to it and clear up... Sorry not much help but just wondered if you had considered something simple like that?


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## Double C Acres (Nov 25, 2011)

I ended up sending her to meat auction this week and also the other ewe who seemed to struggle with scours off and on but wasn't as bad as the 1st one. They both didn't seem to be growing as well as the others and constantly had scour problems till I was sick of treating them. They were fed exactly the same as 12 other sheep (good hay and a sheep-specific loose mineral from local feedmill) and no one else had these problems. I want to grow a strong healthy herd so decided i'm going to cull early into my sheep experience even tho' we lost money on them. Seems to me prices are down right now here, so I was disappointed that the 3 lambs we took plus these 2 young ewes didn't fetch more for me at the auction. I WAS pleased that my Kat lambs fetched close to the same prices as the wool breeds.


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## kit (Apr 15, 2004)

Yes, you probably made the right decission! I hate messing around with problem animals to... 

And prices are down across the country! Feeder lambs are taking a huge hit... buyers tell me they got burned last year paying to much for lambs and now have feedlots full of fat expensive lambs they can't move.


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## Double C Acres (Nov 25, 2011)

Ouch! I know, not good at all! really hoping prices will increase again by the time we have more lambs to go....


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## RV & IDF (Feb 23, 2012)

cocci generally only affects lambs under 1 yr of age, and typical presentation is watery, dark because of blood in it. This sounds more like worms.


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