# UPDATED...need help with lamb, sounds congested



## 3pygmymom

i have a previous post about difficutl delivery with twin lambs describing this little guy. the owner this morning came in while i was feeding him and said well it looks like he isnt going to do it on his own so if you want him hes yours. so now i have to try and get him better and i will call the vet this morning. the problem is he sounds congested in the nose, he isnt coughing, its more in his nose and i am afraid it is in his chest. when he was born, i think he inhaled some fluid as it was a very long delivery and i had to pull him out, the owner was at work and nobody else was home at his house. i thought he had passed on during the night because when i went out to check on the goats and him this morning he wasnt in the bonding pen with mom and sister. i heard a little noise and he somehow got out of the pen and was over by the watering trough trying to walk into the fence. i know there is a problem with his vision and i will have the vet look at that also but in the meantime i dont know when he can get here and i want to try and get something in him to help him along. i dont believe this baby had any colostrum either and it made me angry. i tried to get him to nurse and the owner did come and let him got two hours before deciding to give him a bottle. he could have milked mom out but im not sure. im going to set up half of our little shed for him and put a heat lamp in there. i know it is day by day and not sure if he will make it, i just hate having to pick up where someone leaves off to try and get babies better and i am hoping sheep are similar in care to goats so we are going to give him the best chance to survive and if he does we know he will be a special needs pet. we're ok with that.


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## StaceyRosado

*Re: need help with lamb, sounds congested*

if it sounds like it is in his nose try using a snot sucker to get it out -- it might just be birth fluids like you said.

if he is getting aspirated pnuemonia then he will need to be on antibiotics. A vet looking at him is a good idea :hug: to you for trying all you can


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## 3pygmymom

*Re: need help with lamb, sounds congested*

thank you stacey! i did get him to the vet and they gave him an antibiotic, penicillin, a steroid, thiamine and a tetanus shot. the vet said it is early but he has an uphill battle. we swaddled him up in a blanket as his temp was 100.3 and i have him in our basement in a box near the water heater. i am reluctant to do a heat lamp as the basement is pretty close to our house temp, a little cooler. he is eating and peeing and pooping. i will go down every few hours and get him up to feed so he stands while he wont aspirate any into his lungs. the vet gave me penicillin for the next four days as well. it is going to be thin ice for awhile so we are not getting any hopes up and just want to give him a chance. the down part is i hope the sound of the furnace does not bother him. it is an unfinished basement and our washer and dryer are down there. thanks for all of the support!


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## StaceyRosado

*Re: need help with lamb, sounds congested*

oh I doubt the sounds will bother him.

as to the pen - thats good, glad he is on antibiotics to help fight that infection that sounds like was starting.


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## liz

*Re: need help with lamb, sounds congested*

Sounds like you have a course of action going for him, I hope he pulls through for you and thrives...now, it's too late for him to have any benefit from colostrum and the tetanus shot was a good call on the vets part, what are you feeding him? Goats milk is good if you have it, replacer is fine too...just be sure you get one labled for sheep because even the universal ones out there may not be good for him due to the copper content.


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## 3pygmymom

*Re: need help with lamb, sounds congested*

i have him on sav a lamb right now as i had it on hand. i am however going to see if i can get goats milk and gradually change him over. i dont want to do it yet as his body is going through a lot right now. i really thought we were going to lose him after coming home from the vet as he was just so drained and listless. i put hot water bags behind and on him, well on the blanket that was around him, and we had a function we needed to go to. i was very anxious to get home and honestly thought i was going to find a little dead lamb. i went downstairs and his head was up, he had gotten himself out of the blanket. we took him out of th box to stand and walk a little bit. he took about six ounces walked a little and then laid down. i put a clean comforter in the box to make it warm and comfy and draped the other blanket on him and he was drifting off to sleep. i know he wont do a lot of walking as i dont expect his energy level to be much of anything right now. he does eat standing so that is good and he is peeing and pooping. the one thing the vet said when he looked at his gums and tongue that the color was good so it was positive. only time will tell now how he will fair. no idea if he indeed is blind as the vet said he was so out of it from what he was fighting it was hard to tell. he will evaluate him in two weeks again to see where we are if he reaches that milestone. i am still not going to do the heat lamp the basement is about 45-50 degrees and i think that is warm enough, i dont want to over heat him. have put up some barriers in case he manages to get out of the box. i am debating leaving the light on or turning it off. i feel a little better with him in the house and close that if i want to check him i can but probably wont as i dont want to wake him up. thank you again for all of your encouragement and advice!! :hug:


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## liz

*Re: need help with lamb, sounds congested*

Great that you have the Sav a Lamb, it might be best to keep him on that if he continues to do well on it, don;t want to stress his system more than it already has been. I'm glad to hear that he's feisty enough to want to move about...and the temp of your basement is fine for him, check his temp often to be sure he is regulating it, also if you can get some Sheep nutri drench into him, it may do some good..after reading the label on my bottle of Goat nutri drench, theres no added copper in it so if you have the goat drench a squirt or 2 may help. I pray that he has chance to see the vet again in 2 weeks :hug:


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## StaceyRosado

*Re: need help with lamb, sounds congested*

Save a Lamb is good

hope he pulls through for you


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## 3pygmymom

*Re: need help with lamb, sounds congested*

i have to go to ts today so i will pick up the nutridrench. i am going to put him in one of my dogs crates for the day so he can get up and move and i know he will be safe. i am considering leaving him in the basement for at least a week if not a little longer til i get some body on him. he did good this morning, i came down and he was half sitting up wanting to stand so i took him out and let him stretch his legs and walk while i made more formula and a bottle. he took 8 oz. but he hadnt eaten since 8:30 last night. i wont give him anymore than that. hes pooped twice however i didnt really examine to see if he had peed in his box yet, is my next step. im sitting with him for a while then will put him back in his box until i get the dog crate down for him for the day. he walks stiff legged but i think that may go away as he starts to improve. i was very nervous about giving his penicillin shot this morning but think i did ok, vet showed me how to hold his skin. i have given the goats their shots but they arent just skin and bones lol. thanks for all you guys have helped me with, i really do appreciate it. im now waiting for the pygmys to kid in a month so maybe this is my pretest???? :laugh:


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## cdtrum

*Re: need help with lamb, sounds congested*

Been watching this thread.....I hope he makes it for you, what a great thing your doing, trying to give him a chance :hug: .

Good luck....hope to see healthy pics of him soon!


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## 3pygmymom

*Re: need help with lamb, sounds congested*

im going to stop at petsmart and get a dog crate, my husband thinks the dog will freak out if we take her crate. he does stand up in the box and turn around and i had him out pretty much all morning walking around in his normal baby steps. i will feed again when i get home, 8 oz. for 6hours should hold this little guy, its about what i have been feeding. it will be a little dark down there but have had the light on all morning, will put i on when i get home again and maybe figure out some way to put a light on that wont be as bright as a flourescent all day. i'll try and post some pics i took this morning later, thank you all again!


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## liz

*Re: need help with lamb, sounds congested*

Glad to hear that he is still fighting!!

Also, if you have a normal light socket such as a table lamp would have or even the one a heat lamp has, you can use one of those energy efficient flourescent twisty bulbs in it....I currently have a 25 watt flourescent in my heat lamp shroud as a night light for my doeling, not too bright at all and does not throw any heat to speak of.


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## farmergal

*Re: need help with lamb, sounds congested*

Good luck with the little one! And yes, sheep and goat nutridrench is very comparable... I currently have a nutridrench bottle that's labeled for sheep & goats both, so I'm guessing they just use the same formula (no copper) and attach different labels!


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## toth boer goats

*Re: need help with lamb, sounds congested*

Praying for the little one....... ray: :hug:


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## 3pygmymom

*Re: need help with lamb, sounds congested*

still fighting  i got home from work and he was laying in his box looking like he was just lounging lol took him out and stood him up for a bit while i heated up a bottle he kind of just slowly walks around and i think either his sight isnt quite developed yet or he does have a sight issue, we'll re-evaluate that in a few weeks at the follow up with the vet. ts was out of nutridrench but i am going to another feed store and will pick it up there. he sounds snotty again but the vet had said it may do that off and on and there is nothing on his nose or clogging it. he took 7 ounces and dont want to give him too much more, he ate at 6:30 this morning and took 8 oz. i did stop at pet smart as they had dog crates on sale and got the dog a new crate and going to put the lamb in the old one, a win win! will keep everyone updated it just seems at each morning/afternoon milestone that he is still hanging in there i want to celebrate lol. going to post facebook link for pictures later as i cannot figure out how to resize the pictures on this new computer ugh!


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## 3pygmymom

*Re: need help with lamb, sounds congested*

ok got the nutridrench in him, he walked around for quite awhile and wanted to lay on the floor by the wall near the furnace, i put him in the dog kennel and he finally got the idea and laid down for a nap. will try and feed him a little around 6:30. hopefully we can start to get him filled out a little, he is just skin on bones it looks like.....


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## 3pygmymom

just wanted to update that the little guy is doing ok, however he does keep his left eye closed off and on and it does get runny. we noticed it is cloudy so i am pretty sure he is blind in that eye, but we are going to give the vet a call in the morning. he does sleep a lot is not crying or making many noises. we take him out to the sunporch in the afternoon after it warms up and let him roam or just lay down.he's eating about 10 oz. a feeding which is approximately every 6-8 hours. he does look like he is getting some meat on his bones :clap: i cant really hear much rattling anymore in his chest and the clear runny nose has pretty much stopped. i gave him nutra drench for a couple of days and am not sure if i should continue giving it every day or just see how he does. he does seem unsure when he lays down how to do so but he does get it. hoping we keep slowly climbing uphill, knowing that we could still lose him.


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## StaceyRosado

thats some good news. watch the eye for infection -- he is still on penicillin right?


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## 3pygmymom

i gave him his last dose of penicillin sunday morning. i think it is pink eye, going to call the vet when they open first thing this morning. symptoms are runny eye, swollen, pink around the eyelid and now its starting to turn cloudy, all of what i found describes pink eye. im not sure how he would have gotten it as he was confined to a bonding pen with his mom and sister for two days before i took him. will update in a few days hopefully with more good news ray: because allis is on day 141 so i need to start watching her to kid :ZZZ:


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## StaceyRosado

pink eye can spread to humans to be careful and wash your hands good.

Have any of your kids had pink eye before? do you have the eye drops they give you for it? if so just use that for the lamb and it will clear up much faster then with penicillin


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## toth boer goats

check the baby for inverted eye lid(s)...the lashes will inward... rubbing on the eye and irritating it ...making it cloudy.... If it is inverted the area that the lashes rubs on will be the most irritated... 

with pinkeye ...it is an ulceration that starts in the middle of the colored part of the eye.... 

Where gloves either way to be safe as Stacey mentioned Pink eye is contagious to humans.. :hug:


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## 3pygmymom

i wasnt sure about the transmission with the pink eye so i am wearing gloves and i have the handsanitizer on the shelf next to his pen. i did look for the inverted eyelids and i did the eyelash check. the cloudy area is in the middle of the eye. i think i have this ointment from when my daughter had pink eye, i am going to check and see if i threw it out or not. will that work also?

checked and i have erythomycin ointment that goes in the eye for pink eye. would this be too thick or should i give it a try?


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## StaceyRosado

yah give it a try -- if its pink eye that should clear it up quickly


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## 3pygmymom

one more question, his poop has changed from sticky and yellow to a dark green and ploppy. i know his feedings were off this weekend as i was not home on sunday and my girls were feeding him. could this cause the change or is there something else i need to be watching? he is eating, ive cut back to 8 oz. every 8 hours his flanks look sunk in still after he is done eating, not really filled out. it is not runny or watery, still thick but not the consistency or color it has been.


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## StaceyRosado

he is a couple days old right? then I would try and feed him more often then 8 hours if you can. 

green can be food induced. try mixing his formula a little differently to see if that helps


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## 3pygmymom

he is one week old today. i was feeding him 12 oz every 8 hrs and just started 8 oz 8 hrs but i can do 6hrs, see how he does.


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## StaceyRosado

kids and lambs nurse small amounts through out the day -- try and emulate that and see if that helps. It maybe to much all at once


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## 3pygmymom

i will try that and see if i can keep him on track. thanks so much for your help!


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