Withering Lambs

[tsylvester]

Question for you all.  This not a specific case but something I've seen a couple times a year and wondering if anyone else has solved this riddle.  None of the lambs it happened to were worth investing in vet charges so I've tried to solve myself with no luck.

Here is the scenario....
Lamb is fine, growing at normal pace and at about 4 months old it begins being lethargic and reduces feed intake.  Over time it gets thinner and eats less.  I will supplement with a liquid diet, deworm, use various antibiotics, bo-se, vitamin B, CD antitoxin (not all at once or to the same lamb but I have tried all these at some point) with no change.  They wont have a fever or diahrea and show no physical signs of weakness in joints, limbs or muscles. They have had 2 CDT shots by this time.  I know it is not contagious and I know it will take a couple months before they die.  Maybe sometimes they will have a cough.  It seems as though their body cannot process the nutrients in food anymore.

Certainly, I'm not the only one to see this every now and then?

[EmsoffLambs]

Honestly, I don't recall ever seeing this. A couple things come to mind though. First coccidiosis. It doesn't always present with scours. Their intestines can be so damaged that the absorption of feed is reduced, leading to poor doers. Either that or you are dealing with resistant worms. Have you ever done a fecal on these lambs? I would probably try that and see if you are dealing with coccidiosis or internal parasites.

The other thing that comes to mind is Johnes, but this typically doesn't affect them until they are older, like over a year and appetite is still good but they waste away anyway.

[Don Drewry]

Two suggestions.  First, if you can't figure a sheep disease out and particularly if the sheep are raised on a lot of grain and not in a pasture operation I'd give the Pipestone clinic a call.  See their webpage at www.pipevet.com

My best guess is like Crystal posted that the lambs intestine has become so scarred it can't absorb enough nutrients.  The most common way for this to happen is for the lamb to have coccidiosis severely.  You may have appeared to have treated the lamb and it's stool is firm but the interior damage was to severe on a particular lamb for it to survive.  We've had a few over the years that basically stopped growing for 3 or 4 months.  In that time period they perhaps gain 5-10 lbs.  Eventually, it's like enough tissue grows in the intestine and they reach a critical mass where they can start growing albeit at a still slower than normal rate.