# lamb grinding back teeth



## kirsten (Aug 29, 2005)

He is not dying nor in pain but still grinding his teeth. Is there any other reason on earth for teeth grinding besides pain and death throes?!

I brushed his teeth in case something was stuck. Mouth is normal and fine. can suck, doesn't choose to often becuase he has bad pneumonia. The pneumonia we can cure but the grinding is utterly perplexing me.

kirsten


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## SilverVista (Jan 12, 2005)

The pneumonia is why he's grinding his teeth. He IS in pain. The grinding will stop when he feels better. Are you giving antibiotics? If he's not nursing enough to meet his nutritional needs, have you thought of milking the ewe and giving him a few ounces by tube?

For future reference, grinding can also be caused by a heavy worm load, severe mineral deficiency, bloat, acidosis, many kinds of illness. But if your lamb has pneumonia, that's definitely the cause at this time.


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## Ross (May 9, 2002)

I agree, and are you giving any expectorant? OTC human stuff works great, and makes them more comfortable. (Don't bother with the stuff that has a cough suppressant. I guess the lamb could have a secondary problem but as it's not doing worse I'd guess you have only to deal with the infection.


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## veme (Dec 2, 2005)

I agree it's probably pain and there could be lots of different reasons. Gastrointestinal is where I would look.

I would try 1/2 - 1 baby aspirin (depending on size) every 4- 6 hrs. ground fine into his milk (from an older ewe /or mom is best here) via stomach tube.

Good luck.


veme


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## kirsten (Aug 29, 2005)

Oh. forgot to mention some things: 12 day old bottle lamb. 
gave him more than a cc of banamine and he still continued grinding his teeth.
I have also tried baby aspirin twice- still grinds his teeth.
I know acidosis and abdominal pain cause grinding since that happened when my ewes broke out once upon a time. 
Mineral deficiency? I could work on that, sprinkle some of a soft sheep and goat block mineral on his feed or give him a nutri-drench or something.

I was going to try vicks but can never find it so what is expectorant and what name does it go by? I think he might eat well if he was not so darn clogged. I have only gotten him to drink maybe 4 oz on his own, for the rest we tube feed him and that not even much. I know that sounds mean but he is not dehydrated- I check his skin all the time. So far he doesn't even like to drink water from a bucket. If at all possible, I shall wean him by 3 weeks. He eats pelleted creep pretty darn well for such a young thing which is what might save him. May his rumen develop abnormally fast!! I have tube fed lambs for days but not weeks and I really don't want to tube feed for weeks.


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## Ross (May 9, 2002)

guaifenesin, is the expectorant I'm thinking of. Kind of shooting in the dark but maybe he needs a sulfa scour halt, just in case he's fighting a mild coccidia prob.


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## eieiomom (Jun 22, 2005)

Ditto on what SilverVista said......How long has he had pneumonia............what have you treated him with and for how long ?


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## kirsten (Aug 29, 2005)

I got him when he was 10 days old and I gave him nuflor and tomorrow I will give him another shot of nuflor. He is not scouring, I believe he would be scouring with coccidiosis.


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## eieiomom (Jun 22, 2005)

Hi Kirsten,

Nuflor is what I have used with most success, sometimes it may require more than the two shots. Hopefully you will see improvement and if you do, talk to the vet about an additional shot.
There are other antibiotics that a vet can administer if all fails.

An additional possible treatment would be to ask the vet about giving him some Dexamethazone in addition to the Nuflor. It is amazing what that can do in the case of pneumonia that needs extra care.
Is he coughing some stuff out ?
If you can hear/feel him rattle and it doesn't come out, a puff of albuterol can do the trick if you know anyone who has an inhaler for their asthma.
Sounds bizarre but it works 

Also, have you given him some sub -Q fluids, sounds like he might need some to feel better ?

Hope this helps,

Deb


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## kirsten (Aug 29, 2005)

HI.
My lamb is improving, eating more by the bottle now. I guess he just couldn't breathe well enough to eat enough. He is not cured. He does rattle and cough and still grinds his teeth no matter the pain reliever but I think that he will overcome this to be a good eater. We have been using vicks to help his breathing prior to eating and I am also buying a baby snot-getter-outer since my shepherd friend said that is very helpful. He isn't dehydrated. I check that about 6 times a day- his skin. I really despaired of ever getting this lamb to weaning. I have had trouble with mechanical pneumonia in bottle lambs before but never the congestion of this year but everybody, all the people, all the chickens, all the lambs are congested this year around here. It has been a bit of a trial. I also took a lamb that was so far gone, it had it head laid back to its spine, near to croaking but I tube fed it for the first day and all it needed was food. Last year, it was all navel ill and entropian, this year, it is congestion and pneumonia and starving. I give the second shot of nuflor tomorrow so we will see how that works for him. The congestion, I suppose will just take time- no cure for that, temporary relief but no cure. thanks.


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## Blossomgapfarm (Jan 23, 2007)

This is our first year for lambing so I have a question about something mentioned above. What age is it normal to wean a bottle baby and can a lamb weaned at 3 weeks be kept healthy? Is it worth while to wean this early - will they continue to grow at a healthy rate?
Dawn


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## shereen (Apr 20, 2005)

did you say you gave him over a cc of banamine?
all at one or over a period of a few days?
the dose for banamine is 1cc/100# (for goats), but i'm pretty sure the same would apply to lambs.
please correct me if i'm wrong.


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## kirsten (Aug 29, 2005)

Yes, I did give him a cc of banamine. I also probably gave my ewes with acidosis 1cc too. Hmm... You are probably right; however, I called my vet and asked him if a cc was alright and he said yes. I suppose 1/2 a cc would have been more appropriate now that you mention it and likely had the vet actaully dispensed it to me instead of his assistant, I probably would have ended up with a half cc but even one cc didn't help. However, the lamb is greatly improving on the nuflor shots. I am done tubing him. He is still only eating half as much as he should and we are trying to feed him twice as often. Oh, the over a cc was becuase the first time I shot him, I shot through both folds of skin and saw my shot shoot out the other side so that is when I called the vet to make sure if I tried it again, that it wouldn't be too much.

To Blossom:

It is not common practice to wean lambs before 30 days, many go longer. Some of my lambs have weaned at about 25 days, others 45 days. At about 30 days, switch to once a day for a couple days and then stop feeding. What their bodies. On the left side of their body/back is a puffed up place which is their rumen. If that remains puffed out, they are weaned. If the lambs get deflated looking, they are not weaned and require more milk. Every lamb is a little different. But I think I remember that I just go by puffy or deflated. Then too puffy is bloat- the second hurdle post weaning. You'll be shocked by how puffy they get. My first year, I treated them for bloat so many times! When I didn't need to half the time. I dosed them and put baking soda on their food and fed it free choice. I was crazy. But they looked crazy.


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## shereen (Apr 20, 2005)

i'm glad to hear he's doing better-
i'm surprised the cc didn't help 
weird
lambs are such sweeties it's so hard to see them in pain
good luck with the little guy


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