Treatments include intravenous fluids, drenching with bicarbonate solution or milk of magnesia, intraruminal antibiotic injections, thiamine or steroid injections, and surgery for very valuable animals.
Mix ¾ cup of water with ½ cup of baking soda and syringe some (carefully) into the lambs mouth. This will help neutralise the gas. Massage the lambs stomach area, this helps the gas move. The lamb may belch or pass gas, this is a good thing.
The main sign is a swollen left abdomen. Other tell-tale signs include restless acting sheep that get up and down repeatedly, kicking at their belly, grunting and extending their neck and head. A bloated sheep might lay down in distress and not be able to get back up.
Abomasal bloat is caused by milk going into the abomasum, or fourth stomach. The milk might be too hot, creating the conditions for the growth of harmful bacteria. These bacteria create a gas and the distinctive bloat. It can strike within 30 minutes of a feed.
Cattle and sheep can die from bloat in as quickly as an hour after grazing begins, but more commonly, death occurs after 12-48 hours of grazing on a bloat-producing pasture.
But, we learned from some hurried research in our books and on line, if you overfeed a bottle lamb, the milk will fill their abomasum and the excess will back up to their immature rumen, where bacteria can ferment it, leading to acidosis and bloat.
Grain overload is also known as acidosis or grain poisoning. It occurs when cattle, sheep or goats eat large amounts of grain, and can result in acidosis, slowing of the gut, dehydration and often death. Veterinary treatment is required for severe cases.
Life threatening distension is treated by venting the rumen through a 10 cm stab incision with a knife targeting the middle of the left paralumbar fossa. Use a sharp pointy knife with a non-slip handle.
The major cause of abomasal bloat is believed to be bacteria called Sarcina ventriculi. However, clostridial species such as Cl. sordellii and Cl. fallax can also cause bloat.
Treatment options for diet-related free gas bloat can include the passage of a tube down the esophagus to the rumen to relieve the gas pressure. Sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) diluted in water can be administered through the tube if acidosis is believed to be the cause of the bloat.
Animals that are mildly affected can be treated orally with an anti-bloat preparation. After dosing, keep the animal moving to encourage the preparation to mix with the frothy rumen contents. Bloated animals starting to show signs of distress need veterinary attention.
Using a syringe, squire 3-4-5 cc of CAST'OR OIL down the throat. After administering this successfully, you will have to feed the sheep 1/2 cc of Neomycin Sulfate (an antibiotic) to restart the rumen. 2 tbsp baking soda.
Once an intestinal torsion has occurred there is no effective treatment, so prevention is key. Reduce the risk of Red Gut by providing low protein roughage, vaccinating with A,D and E or alternate grazing.
Many farmers also place a disk with baking soda inside the shelter, so that the sheep can have 24 hour access to it. Baking soda has been reported to fix rumen pH and thus help in the digestion, especially in a diet high in grains. In all cases, sheep must have 24 hour access to fresh water inside their shelter.
Begin by trying to make the sheep belch by lifting her gently and applying pressure to her sides and stomach. If that doesn't work, pass a rubber tube down her throat and into her stomach. This act should release some gas. If it doesn't, your sheep is likely suffering from frothy bloat rather than mere gassiness.
Constipation can just as easily happen in lambs as it can in humans. Paraffin Oil can be used in the treatment of constipation by adding just 10ml to a bottle of formula. We are sure that Violet was very grateful that this oil was available to her and that it helped to move things along in her young body.
Lambs less than five hours old will usually respond to warming alone. This is best done with a heat lamp or a hot box, however, care must be taken not to overheat lambs. Stomach tubing with colostrum will hasten the response. This is a relatively simple procedure and definitely saves lives.
It's important to know that sheep can bloat on hay too, especially risky is a sudden change to hay that is heavy with alfalfa and/or clover. In making any changes to sheeps' diets, always make the changes slowly and gradually.
If you notice extra belly, try adding water to your lamb's feed to reduce it. This wet feeding technique keeps your lamb from filling up on water immediately after eating dry feed, which can cause excess belly.
Baking soda can be a useful addition to your goat's diet. It can aid in digestion issues and help to prevent bloat, a sometimes deadly condition caused by overeating or eating the wrong food.
Drunken lamb syndrome is the term given to lambs usually around a week old which stop drinking milk, become lethargic and go ataxic (wobbly or drunken) with no ob- vious cause eg no naval ill, scour, hypothermia etc.
Lamb Shaking after a feed
If a lamb shakes following bottle feeding it could simply be a sign that the milk is too cool rather than a lamb fever. The change in temperature when the cooler liquid enters the body compared to the normal body temperature can cause the lamb to shake.
Offer the animals only a small amount of grain to begin with and then slowly increase the daily amount. The rumen and its bacteria can take a long time to adjust to grain feeding. Slowly increase the amount of grain offered to the flock over 10-14 days to adjust to a grain diet.
If feeding using multi lamb feeders or bottles be prepared to feed lambs 3-4 times a day (depending on your system and age of lambs). Ensure you watch out for slow and fast feeders and rearrange lambs into their respective groups to ensure there is less competition at feeding time.