Six month lamb breathing issue or bloated?

[Tommy_T]

I have a six month old ewe lamb under the weather.
Yesterday noticed she did not travel with the other seven ewe lambs and was led down. She was making small groaning noises and her breathing a bit funny. Like she was holding her breath for one second before letting it go with a small groan/grunt each time. I thought maybe she had a touch of bloat, although I don’t know what from as no access to anything she could eat excessively and no abundance of clover. As far as I can see her side doesn’t look massively large or bloated, but when I rubbed her belly gas was coming up.
Today she has been up and moving about, eating, chewing cud, and toileting okay, but still she is doing these short breaths, hold, release, grunt. Was going to give her a bloat remedy of some kind although (with bicarb) although not sure how much to give? But any other ideas? When I’ve read about bloat it seems they’re led down and ballooned up, but for all intents and purposes she’s moving normally aside from the breathing. No
Coughing, gasping, frothing, either.

 

[primmiemoo]

It doesn't sound like bloat, you're right. If she's passing normal dung, then there shouldn't be blockage. How's her temperature? Have you had a listen for wheezing, just in case of a touch of pneumonia?

Having said that, some sheep do sometimes grunt. There is a reason for it, from dim and distant memory it's to do with the oesophagal flap, and just one of those things associated with being a cudding animal.

If she is up and doing, it could be that things are resolving and she's had an equivalent of indigestion.

 

[Tommy_T]

Thanks Primmiemoo. No, she isn’t wheezing. She was grinding her teeth periodically as well which told me she was in some sort of discomfort. I gave her a mix of warm water, veg oil, and bicarb. Figured it wouldn’t do any harm at least. She’s been sticking with the flock and grazing etc so an improvement from yesterday when she was sat by herself looking miserable.
I have heard the same grunty groany breathing in a couple of the adults before and tummy rubs produced belching. Maybe it’s a breed thing. I have two breeds and it’s only these I’ve noticed an issue with. I am prob over-sensitive and worry more as well as only in my second year of keeping sheep! But I guess being over-cautious isn’t a bad thing.

 

[Pistonbroke]

Quite often look bloated with pneumonia

 

[Tommy_T]

That’s useful to know Pistonbroke, thank you. She definitely wasn’t looking noticeably bloated, but she did seem a bit gassy as rubbing her tummy produced a bit of burping. Can sheep have plain indigestion without it being an issue? She’s up and about this morning, but when she moves can still hear her tummy grumbling.

 

[primmiemoo]

I sometimes think we should be thankful we don't keep dragons ...

Some short-nosed breeds snuffle and make noises. As with snub-nosed dogs, their nasal passages are all scrunched up within a small space.
Grinding teeth upon pad does indicate discomfort, though. Carry on keeping an eye on her, because another consideration might be she's picked up a foreign object. That is much less likely than digestion troubs, so don't panic

If she's keeping up with the flock, and not showing general flatness in herself, she could have had a blip with her digestion.
If you feel the need to repeat the drench, something the vet advised me when preparing a drench against bloatiness was to add a small drop of washing up liquid as a surfactant (a v small drop if it's the concentrated kind).

Hope she is soon fine.