[Jacob-list] sick lamb care

[Jim Millar]

Hello shepherds,

I need some advice on general sheep care.  A friend who keeps a large flock of commercial sheep "gave" me (my 4 kids are suckers) a bottle lamb at a week old.  This little guy had a very tough start..a confused mama, lots of rain, away from the flock, only a little colostrum.  He did fine the first day with us, pooped all over my bathtub and me.  By the second day he would not take the bottle and when I explored his mouth it was stiff and hard to open.  I considered tetanus, and gave him penicillun.  He seemed worse that night, a poster child for tetanus.We all thought he would be dead by morning and were ready to assist him if he needed that.  The next morning, however, he was not stiff, and seemed spunky enough.  His mouth opened on its own.  Today, I took him out to the pasture while I moved my pastured poultry, and afterward he seems so drained, uninterested in eating.  My questions are should I continue the penicillun?  My inclinations are to stop but I am not sure.  My vet, who lives down the street, is in love and I can not find her. Could I have misdiagnosed?  He sure was stiff.  He also has runny stools which I am trying to correct by diluting the replacer.  Any suggestions?
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.pairlist.net/pipermail/jacob-list/attachments/20000611/0f9496c5/attachment.htm