Hypothermic older lamb

StockDogLovr · #1 04/06/12, 03:15 PM

I am taking care of the wooly lamb my friends adopted from the shelter, 3 to 4 mo old? When they got him on Tuesday he was very thin but eating as much as he could. His poops were fine. It was supposed to be freezing at night so my friend took both lambs home to stay in her mud room, and then she kept them at her place for the day. I didn't realize she had run out of hay for them but they browsed her property - there's no grass there. He has otherwise only had hay and grass, no concentrates yet.

Since she and her hubby were going out of town for the weekend, we brought them up to my barn to stay with the ewes and lambs. Everyone was curious about him but he's so laid back that no one was mean to him.

When I went to let them out this morning, he was laying down in the barn when everyone else got up and zipped out. He very slowly got up and lumbered out of the barn. He just stood there looking around. I carried him to where there was grass so he could eat while I fed Henry his bottle. He wouldn't eat. He very slowly meandered his way down to the water bucket I had just freshened and topped off. When I came down to see what he was doing, he had drunk at least 2 pints of water. This lamb probably doesn't even weigh 20 lb! I decided to take his temp and it was 98.8. I had brought all my stuff down to treat him - baking soda, pepto, Biomycin, B complex, etc. but when I found his temp was LOW, I wasn't sure what to do next! I gave him 2 cc of B. He had laid down in the sun for awhile, but then got up and drank more water! Then he looked like he was chewing, even though he hadn't eaten anything. He had hay in the barn overnight. I figured he was chewing his cud.

What next?!!! This lamb has been lethargic since they got him compared to normal lambs, but his appetite was ravenous and his stools normal. In fact, while he was laying down this AM, he pooped a normal poop.

Should I just wait and see? I have a bottle of activated charcoal here - should I treat him on the assumption he ate something toxic yesterday?

This lamb has no discharges of eyes or nose and aside from being too thin and weak, he didn't seem diseased. Henry has been with him since Tuesday and is fine. I hope I haven't exposed my herd to something weird. Stupid.

We'd already wormed him with Valbazen. I forgot to look at his mucus membranes. He does strike me as anemic just in attitude.

**Ross** · #2 04/06/12, 03:36 PM

Sounds like he is starving. You sure he shouldn't be on a bottle? Have you got some propylene glycol (supplement not antifreeze) ? If not how about corn syrup? Get some food of some sort into him I'd even try milk at this point!

StockDogLovr · #3 04/06/12, 03:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ross

Sounds like he is starving. You sure he shouldn't be on a bottle? Have you got some propylene glycol (supplement not antifreeze) ? If not how about corn syrup? Get some food of some sort into him I'd even try milk at this point!

Ok! I do have corn syrup. I was worried about doing that. I thought I killed an older ewe lamb I had last fall that was so thin, wormed her, treated her for acidosis and then gave her Karo - she got worse and died. I was worried that I had created acidosis with the sugar! I do have goat's milk and will see if I can get that into him. Thank you! Feeling like a horrible sheep steward at the moment!

StockDogLovr · #4 04/06/12, 06:14 PM

Thanks for you help. Unfortunately, I lost him. When I went back to give him goat's milk and corn syrup, he had gone into the barn, where it is shady and cool, and curled up in the corner. He couldn't stand or hardly hold his head up. I drenched warm milk into him since he would try to suckle the nipple, but he was fading fast even as I was doing it. I tried corn syrup, too, thinking it was concentrated and could raise his blood sugar faster, but he was too far gone. He died about 10 minutes later. His mouth was so cold when I got him out of the barn. I also confirmed that his mucus membranes were WHITE! He looked exsanguinated.

When this lamb was first brought to the animal shelter, they took him to a very large small animal hospital where they supposedly did blood work and said he was "normal." Compared to what?!! They didn't worm him or vaccinate him, obviously because they aren't set up for sheep at this hospital. From the moment my friend got him on Tuesday, he was weak, tripped and stumbled, but ate and ate and had normal poops. They had to have missed the anemia - he was never "normal." As much as he ate, he never got stronger. We wormed him on Wednesday so if he had barber pole worm that should have at least halted it, right?

They assumed he was weaned. At what point is a lamb's rumen developed enough that it can actually get nutrition from the hay/grass it is eating and survive without milk? They thought this was an older lamb.

My friend is probably going to take him to UC Davis for a necropsy just to figure it out and make sure it wasn't something contagious. I'll let you all know what is learned.

Thank you for this forum. This has not been a fun experience but at least you are here!

**Ross** · #5 04/06/12, 06:54 PM

Sorry it didn't work out.

earthkitty · #6 04/06/12, 09:26 PM

Dang, really sorry.

But you did what you could; at least you tried to help the poor little thing.

Bearfootfarm · #7 04/06/12, 10:18 PM

Quote:

We wormed him on Wednesday so if he had barber pole worm that should have at least halted it, right?

Not necessarily.

Some wormers really aren't too effective in certain areas.
The only way to KNOW is by doing fecals.

Also, if an infestation is too far advanced, the damage to the stomach is too much for them to overcome even after being treated.

I'd check all your animals again, and retreat as needed, possibly with a different wormer

Double C Acres · #8 04/07/12, 06:45 AM

so sorry you lost him. you did all you could.

Looking4ewes · #9 04/07/12, 08:50 AM

It is very possible that the anemia did him in and not the hypothermia. I once killed an older lamb (4 mos old) by worming it. I was told that they can become even more anemic after the barber pole detach from the stomach, leading to internal bleeding in the stomach. It was recommended to me (by another producer, not a vet, so FWIW) that I give a 1/2 dose to an anemic lamb, and dose again a couple weeks later.

The anemia was in place before the lamb came to stay with you. There was nothing you could of done to save him. Sorry it happened on your watch.