Sheep Help -ewe foaming at the mouth

[patandchickens]

Do not be galloping off on the 'rabies' thing. Sheep do get rabies sometimes. However rabies is pretty rare in sheep *and* by no means always involves foaming at the mouth, whereas bloat or poisoning are VERY COMMON and definitely DO involve foaming at the mouth.

The "clover slobbers" that horses get does not AFAIK occur in sheep.

I am soooo not an experienced sheep person, and would urge you to post over at BackyardHerds in hopes that the seasoned sheep/goat people can advise you ASAP, but if it were me I would be checking to see if she seemed bloated (is she expanded in the rumen area?) and considering giving her a bloat treatment. If you do think it's bloat, the thing I have used is a drench of about 1/4c baking soda, 1/2 c tepid water, a few Tbsp of vegetable oil, all shoook up as well as possible to mix it and then dosed with a drenching syringe so that the majority of it gets into the sheep, repeated a few times as needed. I am not offering this as "best experienced advice", just as better than nothing

Best of luck,

Pat

 

[Riocotesei]

Thanks pat. I wasn't really considering rabies because I don't see how she'd get that. I've never heard of sheep getting rabies or any livestock for that matter.
Mostly I was curious if that could even happen, I wasn't considering it as the actual problem because so many other things are more likely than sheep rabies.

 

[sewchick]

Quote:
What animals can get rabies?
Only mammals can get rabies; birds, fish, reptiles and amphibians do
not. Most cases of rabies occur in wild animals—mainly skunks,
raccoons, bats, coyotes, and foxes. In recent years, cats have become the
most common domestic animal infected with rabies. This is because
many cat owners do not vaccinate their cats before the cats are exposed
to rabid wildlife outdoors. Rabies also occurs in dogs and cattle in
significant numbers and, while not as common, has been diagnosed in
horses, goats, sheep, swine and ferrets.
Improved vaccination programs and control of stray animals have been
effective in preventing rabies in most pets. Approved rabies vaccines are
available for cats, dogs, ferrets, horses, cattle and sheep. Licensed oral
vaccines have been used for mass immunization of wildlife.
What are the signs of rabies in animals?
Once the rabies virus enters the body, it travels along the nerves to the
brain. Dogs, cats, and ferrets with rabies may show a variety of signs,
including fearfulness, aggression, excessive drooling, difficulty
swallowing, staggering, and seizures. Rabid wild animals may only
display unusual behavior; for example, an animal that is usually only
seen at night may be seen wandering in the daytime. In addition to
those signs seen in dogs and cats, horses, cattle, sheep, and goats with
rabies may exhibit depression, self mutilation, or increased sensitivity
to light.

I found this on:
http://www.avma.org/

BTW it was only meant as a suggestion NOT a diagnosis. Jeepers.

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
Absolutely yes, it *can* happen -- in fact, cow and horse rabies cases are one of the higher risks for human exposure, because it is often real hard to guess that it IS rabies until a buncha people have been exposed to the animal's saliva. Horses ought generally be vaccinated for rabies in rabies-endemic areas (for some purposes, it is even legally required); cattle aren't that often, except valuable breeding herds or sometimes 'pets', and sheep and goats even less often, but vaccines do exist and some people do it. Exposure is the presumably the same way as any other animal gets rabies -- encountering a wandering or dying rabid coon/fox/cat/whatnot and getting scratched or bit or etc. In livestock cases of rabies it is most often not specifically known when or with what the encounter WAS, though. Which is really part of the problem.

Not trying to worry you. And in fact it sounds like your sheep has come right again, for which I am glad

Just filling in some of the blanks about rabies in livestock, in general

Pat

 

[Riocotesei]

Thanks for the replies on rabies- I didn't know that about livestock.

pw_quiltworks -
I meant no offence or harm in what I said, and I hope you didn't take it as so.

I checked the ewe this morning when I got back from work. She is doing well and I am thankful that she is. I guess she must have been choking on something. Which was something suggested in one of the links in this thread. I've only had a sheep choke on something once before and he did not foam as much as this girl did, so I kind of ruled it out.
The things you can learn from owning animals.

Thanks again everyone.

 

[aggieterpkatie]

Sounds like it could have been a few things...bloat (but you would have seen her left side abnormally large and high), acidosis, poisonous plant, choking, etc. Glad she's better!

Walking isn't really a normal treatment for bloat in rumenants. Colicky horses, yes. If the animal was bloating, I'd give mineral oil first, then maybe baking soda or dish detergent (breaks up foam), and if it's severe I'd tube the animal to get the gas out. Also, one person mentioned a broom stick. The broom stick does not go down the throat, because it won't go far enough to reach the rumen, and it's solid and won't flex which will seriusly injur an animal. Most likely she used the broomstick like a bit in a horse, to keep the animal's mouth open and give them something to "work" in their mouth which will increase saliva production and help buffer the rumen and break up the foam. In really extreme cases where the animal is really badly off, I've used a trocar to puncture a hole in the rumen to let the gas out ASAP.

In this particular case, I'd make sure she has plenty of fresh, cool water and lots of hay. I'd hold off on grain for a day or two if she gets any, just in case her rumen was a little acidic.

 

[la dee da]

My mom knows someone whos goat got rabies. They were drinking her milk so the whole family had to get shots.

 

[Godsgrl]

Quote:
There was a place near here-one of those places where they run it like an old fashioned farm, and people come to see how things used to be done. They had a goat that all the visitors petted as they came by, then found out it had rabies. Very scary stuff. I don't know the final outcome of all that though.