Bloat in lambs is a common health issue that unfortunately can kill if not treated early. It occurs when gas forms and accumulates in part of the gut called the abomasal (stomach) and cannot be released. The buildup of gas causes the stomach to distend.
Abomasal bloat seems to occur most commonly in lambs that are 2 to 4 weeks of age. It may occur later in goat kids, as they are typically fed milk for a longer period of time.
The main sign is a swollen left abdomen. Other tell-tale signs include restless acting sheep that get up and down repeatedly, kicking at their belly, grunting and extending their neck and head. A bloated sheep might lay down in distress and not be able to get back up.
As pressure increases, breathing is affected, which can lead to death from suffocation. Cattle and sheep can die from bloat in as quickly as an hour after grazing begins, but more commonly, death occurs after 12-48 hours of grazing on a bloat-producing pasture. The main symptom of bloat is a swollen left abdomen.
Bloat in lambs is a medical emergency and MUST be dealt with quickly. It can be fatal because if the gas continues to build it squashes all the internal organs and the lamb can die in terrible pain.
How do I know if my dog Bloats? Often signs of GDV develop 2-3 hours after eating a large meal. However, it does not need to be associated with eating at all. The classic sign of bloat is unproductive retching (it looks like your dog has to throw up but nothing comes out).
But, we learned from some hurried research in our books and on line, if you overfeed a bottle lamb, the milk will fill their abomasum and the excess will back up to their immature rumen, where bacteria can ferment it, leading to acidosis and bloat.
The major cause of abomasal bloat is believed to be bacteria called Sarcina ventriculi. However, clostridial species such as Cl. sordellii and Cl. fallax can also cause bloat.
Include limestone at 1.5 per cent of the diet in a feedlot. Alternatively, providing a loose lick of 50 per cent salt and 50 per cent lime ad-lib is an easy option. Salt not only acts as an attractant but can increase water consumption, helping to flush the bladder out.
It's important to know that sheep can bloat on hay too, especially risky is a sudden change to hay that is heavy with alfalfa and/or clover. In making any changes to sheeps' diets, always make the changes slowly and gradually.
The classic clinical signs of constipation are tenesmus and the passage of firm, dry feces.
Life threatening distension is treated by venting the rumen through a 10 cm stab incision with a knife targeting the middle of the left paralumbar fossa. Use a sharp pointy knife with a non-slip handle.
Lamb Shaking after a feed
If a lamb shakes following bottle feeding it could simply be a sign that the milk is too cool rather than a lamb fever. The change in temperature when the cooler liquid enters the body compared to the normal body temperature can cause the lamb to shake.
Deficiency, or hypomagnesemia, is most common 4 to 6 weeks after lambing when deficient animals show very characteristic symptoms including uncoordinated walking, trembling or recumbence. Sheep have very small reserves of magnesium to buffer changes in absorption of magnesium.
Management practices used to reduce the risk of bloat include feeding hay, particularly orchard grass, before turning cattle on pasture, maintaining grass dominance in the sward, or using strip grazing to restrict intake, with movement of animals to a new strip in the afternoon, not the early morning.
If feeding using multi lamb feeders or bottles be prepared to feed lambs 3-4 times a day (depending on your system and age of lambs). Ensure you watch out for slow and fast feeders and rearrange lambs into their respective groups to ensure there is less competition at feeding time.
Newborn lambs need to be fed every 2-3 hours for the first two weeks of life (the night feeds can be stretched to 4 or 5 hours) and then every 4 hours for the next few weeks, depending on how well they are doing.
A lamb requires 10-15 % of their body weight in milk. For example a newborn 4kg lamb needs 400 ml-600 ml total of milk, split into 6 feeds of 75-100 ml. As the lamb grows, the amount of milk can be gradually increased. 1 litre daily split into 3-4 feeds should suit most lambs over 3 weeks old.
"Overall, about 5.7 percent of dogs will develop bloat," Romine says. "But that goes up to 20 percent for dogs weighing 100 pounds or more. Great Danes have the highest risk of all—42 percent of them develop bloat if they don't have a preventative gastropexy."
Lower Incidence of Bloat
A raw diet has a higher water content which is known to reduce the risk of bloat. Bloat occurs when the stomach fills with gas and then becomes twisted and this can be fatal and sometimes life-threatening for dogs.
Once an intestinal torsion has occurred there is no effective treatment, so prevention is key. Reduce the risk of Red Gut by providing low protein roughage, vaccinating with A,D and E or alternate grazing.
Lambs less than five hours old will usually respond to warming alone. This is best done with a heat lamp or a hot box, however, care must be taken not to overheat lambs. Stomach tubing with colostrum will hasten the response. This is a relatively simple procedure and definitely saves lives.