Hello, What a day its been. Woke up to a set of twins born this morning, one of which was nearly comatose because of hypothermia. While we were warming her, another set of twins was born, and by the time we got to them, one of THEM was chilled, though not nearly so bad as the first. The first lamb took a long time until her temperature even reached the 94 mark on the thermometer (as low as it goes) while the other took less time. After hairdryers and immersion in warm water, they finally warmed up and were ready to eat. They had their first meal as colostrum in a bottle. Since about 1 today, when they both had normal temps, were standing and eating, I've tried taking them back outside, and even though they go out to the barn dry and warm, they got chilled quickly. The first lamb nurses quite well, the other seems to have no clue, so I've been milking out the colostrum and bottle feeding him. Hopefully tomorrow when I'm less tired I can get him to nurse. Any idea on how to get them back outside without freezing? Each of their siblings are doing fine outside. Its supposed to get up to 45 tomorrow, so I'm hoping an afternoon at 45 will help them get used to the climate in the barn. And also, one of the ewes that lambed today still hasn't passed the placenta. Its partly hanging out with the cord attached and its been a little over 12 hours. The ewe is fine...eating and caring for the 1 of her 2 lambs (though supplying milk for the both). I figure if she hasn't passed it by morning I should call the vet. Is that usually just fixed by an injection of oxytocin? Maybe she'll need penicillin to keep infection away. Haha. My 9 month old border collie pup is quite amused at the lambs inside
I would use oxytocin to get her to clean the placenta, although I'd hold off on the PenG. I'd also give your chilled lambs a small shot of B complex, it will help it metabolise his food. I hate teaching bottle babes to nurse, good luck! My 6 month old BC is pretty sure she likes new borns, she's pretty sure the old spaniels in the house can't look at them at least! She was curled up with a chilled one the other day, too bad I missed getting a picture!
I called the vet this morning and picked up a cc of oxytocin. I haven't given her any antibiotics. I just gave her the injection so hopefully she'll pass it soon. The lambs took to the bottle very quickly, probably because they hadn't had the real thing first. They are active and fiesty this morning, bumping my legs for the milk. Its too funny when they try to find the teats on the dogs! Leah
