[Sarah J]

My (new to me) 4 year old ewe deveoped a boil of some sort yesterday...it is on her lower jaw, right-hand side. About the size of a quarter, only perfectly round/ball shaped. It does NOT seem to be bothering her at all. My DH and I cornered her (no mean trick - this girl is in excellent condition and about 250 pounds! Just a big breed, I guess...). We lanced it and the nastiest pus and blood came out. The pus was thick and white with a bit of creamy/yellow mixed in. The blood came behind it. I'm glad I was wearing latex gloves and had a clean towel to squeeze it into! The lump was really soft to the touch until I squeezed the pus all out. Then I could feel a hardness under it. We sprayed the whole site with iodine pretty thoroughly and left it open to drain.

I'm picking up penicillin tomorrow at the vet's office (had no transportation today). Is there anything else that I should do? She seemed ticked off, but otherwise okay with it - not rubbing her head or anything. What is it? Is it something that I should be more concerned about? Can anyone tell me what could have caused it? There is no injury to the site or anything other than my incision.

Perplexed and concerned,

Sarah

 

[LeahN]

Sounds like an abcess. I had a ewe with one that probably came from a little nick when I was shearing (I didn't notice I had nicked her, but I'm guessing I did). I didn't (but should have, in hindsight) lance it, but it burst by itself. It ended up coming back and the same thing happened, but I think its gone now. I treated with 3 days of 8cc penicillin. I should have gotten some Novalsan to squirt into the abcess to clean it out. She's fine, and was only uncomfortable when I handled the swollen abcess before it burst. Ask your vet when you see him/her tomorrow. She may have had a little scrape or cut that you didn't notice that abcessed. I'm not sure if they can just come up without a trigger like that but it doesn't take much, since as I've said, I didn't notice any nicks after I sheared her, and I did check. She'll probably be fine, just keep an eye on it! Goodluck.
Leah

 

[Ross]

I expect Leah is right simply an injury you missed, splinters are the worst offenders. Caseous Lymphadenitis (CL) isn't sudden and is usually a more noticable. You could get the pus tested, but I'm not sure I'd bother.

 

[Guest]

I have a similar question also: When we sheared about 1 out of 10 ewes had a similar abcess as described a above, could this be Caseous Lymphadinitis?
Cal

 

[Ross]

You'd have to test to know for sure, the CL I've enbcountered has been much larger lumps in the Lymph areas and when popped produce copious amounts of hardish white pus. Haven't had much to do with it in quite a while though but if the flock has been vacinated with Glanvac (mine has) they will throw a false positive with the testing I'm familiar with.

 

[Sarah J]

Checked with the vet this morning when I picked up the penicillin. He thought it very unlikely that it was CL and thought it was probably just a simple abcess. It looks fine again this morning - still a lump, but isn't angry-looking or infected visibly...just a lump again. Wondering - should I try to lance it again this afternoon? Or let it go on it's own and see if the pen takes care of the rest? She's a B**** to try to catch - and once caught is nearly impossible to restrain, as heavy and strong as she is (my hubby's 260 pounds and *strong* - and HE had a hard time holding her last night! Ugh...). I think I can sneak an injection in while she's eating her grain and preoccupied - she still lets me get that close - I just can't get near here with any restraining device...and I'm pretty quick and accurate with injections in the neck (thank goodness!).

-Sarah

 

[Ross]

Technically open and draining is the best way to treat an abcess like that, however if it's a risk to life and limb......... Get the PenG into her first and see how much energy ya got left!

 

[Sarah J]

I gave up. I can come to her empty-handed and she's fine...will let me look as long as I don't touch too long, etc. But if I have *anything* in my hands (lead rope, syringe, even the water bucket) she is off like a shot and not letting me anywhere near her.

She's fine - I see nothing amiss with the abcess...she is obviously not in distress and I'm not going to try anymore to get the pen into her...maybe she'll eat garlic??? :haha:

-Sarah
(who doesn't think the pennicillin is worth *that* much trouble at this point)