Sheep issues with possible caseous lymphadenitis

[Frenchchickens123]

Hi, I have an oldish ewe about 8/9 years old who has developed an abcess on the side of her jaw. I think it could be CL but what's the best course of action? She's in a paddock with another young ewe and two lambs. I read there is a vaccine, should it be something to consider?? Am considering to cull the older ewe as I really don't want problems with this in my flock. I also have two horses and a ram in the paddock next door. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

 

[WallabyOfChaos]

If it is CL, you should separate her from the others. CL is contagious and if her abcess ruptures then the bacteria will be spread via the pus, so the others may be exposed through the drinking water and/or at the feed trough. At her age, if she were mine I would go ahead and cull her. The vaccines I looked at were for prevention of CL in healthy animals, not treatment. If she is a pet then you may want talk to your vet about trying an antibiotic like penicillin to try to knock out the infection. Either way, I would find a way to quarantine her until you find out what's going on just to keep the others safe.

 

[Frenchchickens123]

Thanks for the reply. I will be going to the vet about the vaccine for the other ewe and lambs and our ram just to be on the safer side. With the older ewe I will try to convince my partner that culling her would be the best action. She has become a pet but I'm worried about the bacteria getting in the ground an being a possible cause for infection in our healthy sheep. She has a bandage on it at the moment it's not burst and I don't think it will for a while. Unfortunately I can't separate her from the others really. We only have the two paddocks and the ram is in the other. So we will make a decision very soon. Thanks for the advice

 

[WallabyOfChaos]

You're welcome. I hope you can get everything sorted out soon.

Just out of curiosity, did you already check inside her mouth to rule out any tooth problems as the cause for the abcess?

 

[Frenchchickens123]

It's something we have considered because I think she does have some trouble with her teeth she's always grinding them and moving her mouth around. The abcess is right where the bottom jaw joins the top and no teeth on the other side but I guess an abcess could develop anywhere along the jawline?? We will try to have a look in her mouth and phone the vet. I hope it is that, we have just moved and the last place we were there was 25 acres for her to roam on and now she's got 2 acres but the land hasn't been used for at least a year maybe two. I noticed the abcess about a month or so after we had moved, and the abcess is a bit painful to touch for her, other than than she seems fine. Just wormed her because her droppings were all clumped but so was the other ewe and lambs a bit, and she's eating well and bright.... Thanks for the advice it's been helpful fingers crossed!!

 

[WallabyOfChaos]

Tooth problems seem to be more common in older animals than in younger ones. If it's an impacted molar then you will know it as soon as you get her mouth open. It's a terrible, indescribable smell. Not just stinky sheep breath, but something truly sickening. If it's just a tooth problem then the vet can probably give her a good cleaning and get her started on some antibiotics to get her turned around and back to normal.

 

[Frenchchickens123]

Hi, well we lanced the abcess and got all the puss out, it was a greenish yellow and like cheese. We put loads of iodine on it and packed the hole with furacin cream.... The one thing I noticed was a hard lump just aboved the abcess? Not sure if it could be he cause of the abcess?? It's all been well bandaged as well. We are going to let it heal and see what happens... Thanks for all your advice

 

[Pecked2Death]

I would have tried to help but even though I am from NZ, and gre up with sheep and fly strike and hoof trimming, shearing etc. I have never heard of the disease you are talking about - we may not have it at home, or it may not have been there when I left. Being pretty isolated, we don't have much in the way of nasties.
No snakes, no alligators/crocodiles, no large predators (the domestic cat is the biggest threat to our bird population - oh, probably ferrets now too as people bought them in to breed for the fur.
We have one poisonous spider, found mainly on the coast of the South Island - very rugger-ed.
We have nothing like Australia and if you search our opossums - you will find that they are much woollier and the fur is super soft.

Sorry, lots of info - no-one probably wanted.