Eventful

I started supplementing Anna Belle's twins with a bottle today. Usually it is a fight to get lambs to suck on a bottle. But they were hungry and took right to it. It seems that Anna's milk is not coming in. We can get milk from her, but it seems like she is fairly empty all the time-like she isn't keeping up with the babies.

Last night I had a vet come out. He arrived just after dark. I thought Anna might have retained placenta. But she was also depressed and shivering (fever?) She was running a fever and after a thorough internal exam, the vet felt she had an infection in her uterus. Clancy held her still, I held the flashlight, and the vet used a long pipette to flush her uterus with tetramyacin. Anna also got a shot of banamine to easy pain and help her let down milk.

I'm glad to report Anna looked 100% better this morning. She was bright-eyed and alert again. She was interested in her lambs too. I still don't think she's making much milk. But she's acting like a new mother again. I will continue to supplement the twins until Anna can keep up with them. If she can't, I suppose I'll have bottle lambs on my hands. We'll just have to see.

Considering the obvious Selenium and Vitamin E issues I'm having here, I do not fault Anna for having this trouble. Deficiencies can cause very hard births with subsequent tears, infections, retained placentas, etc. I'm just so grateful she bonded with the lambs in spite of her discomfort. Even if I end up feeding them, they are not orphans.