[Jacob-list] marginal vitamin deficiency???

[Mary Hansson]

Hi,

 

Can anybody provide information or a source to study that will give help regarding marginal vitamin B status in sheep?  

 

The NRC's Nutrient Requirements of Sheep, 6th edition from 1985 indicates no need to be concerned with ruminants as they will have bacteria that produce adequate quantities of the vitamin.

 

Laura Lawson recommends regularly when an animal is stressed to provide vitamin B complex.

 

Yesterday, about 30 minutes after feeding, I happened back by the feeding area and found a ewe lamb flailing uncontrollably in the feed trough.  I figured she had gotten herself cast.  She was hyperventilating and undergoing what appeared to be grand mal seizures.  

I figured the best thing would just be to sit there and hold her while she died.  Well, after about 15 minutes, she was starting to hyperventilate less, but was continuing to have seizures, eyes were unequal in direction and movement.  I brought her on in the house and gave her a dose of vitamin B complex that would be pretty hefty---just in case she had depleted her available stores in the stress of whatever happened.  I also thought she might have overheated (my son had febrile seizures when he was really young), causing the neurological symptoms.  Therefore, I put her in the bathtub and cooled her off.  Her panting slowed to a stop at this point except for times of exacerbation of the seizures.

I wrapped her up in a couple towels to get her dried up and held her for half an hour.  Since I had to leave for church services, I put her back out in the field with her mom.  She flipped over and over once again.  My hubby couldn’t stand that, so he spent the next couple hours holding her on the front porch.  We finally put her in a box and snuggled her up for the night.

This morning, came back out and she was still alive.  Crying regularly, but unable to control her movements.  We took her in to the vet and had her put to sleep.

The vet made mention that she might have been treated initially with vitamin B complex to improve her prognosis, but other than poisoning, he didn’t have lots of other suggestions.  

We are fairly confident that one of the ewes slammed her in the feed trough and she was hit in the head in the wrong way—causing the damage.  

This vet told my husband that the juvenile cataract appearance to her eyes could also be caused by vitamin b deficiency---which makes no sense whatsoever to me.  Our regular vet (phoned him last night for advice) had mentioned that with one genetic problem, it could also be likely that she had a second problem.  He felt there might be a liver problem and she had become liver toxic and that the neurological symptoms could be also related to that.

Any knowledgeable advice would be appreciated.  Thanks.



Mary Ellen Hansson, MEd, RD, LDN
ISeeSpots Farm
Jacob Sheep:  Lambs, adults, wool
www.iseespots.com
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