Are baby lambs supposed to smell horrible?

Elsveta641

Songster
Sep 30, 2018
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I was gifted a 3 day old black ram lamb. He was filthy so i washed him. Not only did he still smell, he immediately crapped and lay down in it lol. So my question is, are they supposed to smell awful? This isnt a typical smell, it is worse than a goat buck. I cannot hold the poor creature without gagging. It smells like rotten beef almost. He has no wounds. This smell doesnt seem to be his poop that he insists on rolling in, but his own odor.
 
No animal is supposed to smell bad. It sounds like he is sick. Something is wrong, that's for sure. Have you taken his temperature to see if he is running a fever? This is a long shot, but if I were you I would go to the health food store or the health food section of one of the larger grocery stores and get some live acidopholous (sp) culture ASAP. It comes in both liquid and freeze dried powdered forms. Liquid is better. This will inoculate his gut with beneficial bacteria and help him digest his food.
 
You mentioned the lamb was lying down in his own poop. All babies of whatever species must be kept clean and dry. Whatever is allowing this to happen must be fixed. Add more bedding or something. Whatever you use must be absorbent. I used straw and/or shavings. You can even put disposable diapers on lambs and baby kids.
 
He is much better now, thank you to everyone that answered. The vet said he was just filthy is all. What happened was this was a production meat lamb my husband met at a job (hes a builder). My husnand told the farmer how I have a bad habbit of bottle feeding baby buckings and making pets of them. The farmer gave this meat lamb to him along with some money, which is apparently the custom in his country when someone has a new child. It was very sweet, but the lamb was so gross. At that farm the sheep live basically wild and however they wish until theyre processed. He has had a few baths with dog shampoo and now we can snuggle. It took several times for the smell to go away. But he seems to feel so much better and has been playing with my bottle goat
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If you haven't already, get some baby diapers and use them. It will make your life and his much better. I used them a lot when I had preemie baby goats to raise. The diapers made it so much easier to keep the babies clean and dry.
 
He is much better now, thank you to everyone that answered. The vet said he was just filthy is all. What happened was this was a production meat lamb my husband met at a job (hes a builder). My husnand told the farmer how I have a bad habbit of bottle feeding baby buckings and making pets of them. The farmer gave this meat lamb to him along with some money, which is apparently the custom in his country when someone has a new child. It was very sweet, but the lamb was so gross. At that farm the sheep live basically wild and however they wish until theyre processed. He has had a few baths with dog shampoo and now we can snuggle. It took several times for the smell to go away. But he seems to feel so much better and has been playing with my bottle goatView attachment 2011063
Awwwww! He is precious..:love
 

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