Hi Stephanie, I believe the leg can be splinted and that will make the ewe more comfortable because it will reduce movement near the fracture (painful!), and the bones will set better that way, as well. If you can splint it, I wouldn't use pain medication because of the effect it might have on the lambs.
Too bad you have such useless vets out there! You might try calling a small animal vet, if you haven't yet - they have splints made for the back legs of dogs, which are pretty much the same shape as those of sheep, and one of these might work well. Or you can use a stick as Helmut wrote, or some thick aluminum wire that you can bend into the proper shape. You want something relatively flat that will sit nicely against the leg, so I don't like PVC pipe for that reason. There are some principles you'll need to know if you've never done this before - I would take Helmut up on his offer to call him for instructions. Several things that are important are: 1) use some roll cotton or other material as padding on the leg, between the leg and splint so that the splint doesn't gouge the skin. If the skin opens up and exposes the broken bone to the outside, you may have big problems with infection. If the skin stays closed, infection is not a problem. 2) put the splint on the outside of the leg (opposite side of the udder) 3) the splint must go from just below the hoof (so the ewe bears weight on the splint, not the hoof) to just past the joint above the fracture. I'm not sure from what you've written exactly where the break is - do you mean it is above the hock(?) which is the joint that sticks out toward the back of the animal? If so, then you want your splint to go up above the knee, which is the joint above the hock that points to the front of the animal. If the break is truly above the knee, then your splint needs to go to the hip. Call Helmut! Good luck, SP On Jan 31, 2006, at 8:47 PM, Stephanie Jones wrote: > OK ---I know there are some knowledgeable folk who can help & I need > it!!!!!! I have a 130 lb ewe heavy with lamb. I'm expecting twins just > any day. BUT, yesterday when I got home she was down with a broke leg. > It is broke above the hop (knee) . Called 2 vets and they both said to > shot her. She is soooooo close to lambing that I decided to wait and > talk to you folks this morning. I did give her some percocet pain > pills--good or bad, because I hated to see her suffer. She seems to be > able to get up and lay down. And she is eating some. My questions > are > this: > > 1--can she lamb with that leg broke? (we are ready to bottle feed) > 2--can the leg heal on it's own? (I know animals in the wild do heal, > usually ending up with a bum leg---but they are alive!) > 3-- Do you folks think it can be set? > 4-- Do you all think I should just shot her and relieve her from her > suffering :( ? > > You all are a good bunch of people and I know that somebody out there > must have had this problem!!!! ALL HELP APPRECIATED!!! > > Stephanie > > > _______________________________________________ > This message is from the blackbelly mailing list > Visit the list's homepage at blackbelly@lists.blackbellysheep.info > http://lists.blackbellysheep.info/listinfo.cgi/blackbelly- > blackbellysheep.info > _______________________________________________ This message is from the blackbelly mailing list Visit the list's homepage at blackbelly@lists.blackbellysheep.info http://lists.blackbellysheep.info/listinfo.cgi/blackbelly-blackbellysheep.info
