I took fecals of both boys in, along with an extensive history of their treatments since this whole thing began - note, I can't stress enough what a valuable tool this is for the vet - yesterday. The initial diagnosis was slightly incredulous, and they hedged a bit, saying it might be pollen they were seening, and would get back to me.
Well, they got back to me and confirmed the diagnosis - giardia!!! They rarely if ever see it in sheep, though it's common in other species such as llamas.
I've done some surfing and contrary to popular belief, there are lots of ways to catch giardia, and fecal-oral is one pathway. Who knows where it came from. Anyway, the intensive fenbendazole treatment they recently received should have knocked it out, but giardia can be resistant. Another drug is Valbazen. However, the directions were to take them off pasture, grain and supplements, give them only long stem grass hay for at least a week to see if any improvement. If not, check back for more directions.
I finally just got a message from my horse vet, who assured me it could take weeks for the intestinal damage caused by cocci (and giardia, which he hasn't heard this diagnosis), to resolve. Once again, dry hay, to get the fiber content in the gut up, as well as yogurt to get the intestinal flora rockin' again.
In addition, I am told not to worry about them as long as they are just pushing out the cow pies and not squirting voluminous quantities of liquid feces. They are both healthy, alert, cheeky and energetic, with good appetites.
So there you go kids, another tool in your shepherd's tool kit. It appears that if anyone is going to go through baptism by fire, It's going to be me. Hopefully, I'll "come out the other end" so to speak, much the wiser.
Regards,
Barb L., beginning the lamb countdown.
=============================================== This message is from the Blackbelly Sheep mailing list (http://www.awrittenword.com/listserv/index.html). To respond to this message, send e-mail to [email protected] To unsubscribe or change your membership options, go to http://lists.coyotenet.net/mailman/listinfo/blackbelly To search the archives, go to http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/
