[Jacob-list] Bottle lamb problems

[ARTHUR PARTRIDGE]

--Previous message from Gotothewhip --ouch, that must hurt.....

>My husband came in, saying that one of the lambs ate all but 2 oz of the 

>mix(he ate about 10 oz). The other lamb greedily ate his portion. The lamb 

>that didn't eat his portion was a bit hunched up. Temp was 102.5 , and his 

>stool was watery with a greenish tinge.

>Am I missing something here? Coccidia? 

>The stools appear dark yellow to dark green.

============
Hi,
     Been there, done that. What finally worked for us was switching from
the commercial lamb milk replacer to goat's milk.  The first few bottles
contained goat colostrum.  Do you know any goat people, er..people who
raise goats?  We also gave the lamb yogurt (must contain live cultures),
penicillin shots, and Pepto-Bismol.  Laura Lawson in her book Lamb Problems
recommends adding a couple of drops of vitamin E daily to help the lamb
digest the milk sugars.  The electrolytes help.  Apparently, the bad
bacteria flourish on the milk sugars of milk replacer; yet, the lamb needs
the milk.  I found an electrolyte product that also contains lacto bacteria
cultures, it's called Stamina, for ruminants.  One vet didn't approve of
the yogurt and Pepto.  I found that I received different advice from
different vets.  I haven't heard of giving Penicillin orally for a lamb,
our vets always recommend giving injections.  One ml SQ twice a day for the
first two days and then 1 ml/day for three or four days.  Continue to
monitor lamb's temperatures.  All vets agreed with feeding smaller portions
more often, 10 oz at one feeding sounds like a lot to me.  Your feeding
schedule of 4 oz seems about right.  My advice, if you can, is to get the
lambs on warm goat's milk, or sheep milk.
GOOD LUCK,
Cathy
Moscow, Idaho