Sheep Diseases - Symptoms, Diagnosis and Treatment

Author: Peter Berry
Date Of Creation: 11 February 2021
Update Date: 5 November 2024
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Managing Your Flock, Part 1: Diagnosing and Treating Sick Sheep
Video: Managing Your Flock, Part 1: Diagnosing and Treating Sick Sheep

Content

There are numerous diseases that affect sheep. Many vary from region to region, some are easier to solve, others are more aggressive and bass, so the sooner they are detected, the easier it will be to control.

Many of them can affect not only sheep, but also other animals and humans, through direct contact or consumption of meat or milk.

For all these reasons it is essential that you know how to distinguish the main diseases in sheep.

In this article by PeritoAnimal, we will talk to you about sheep diseases and the respective symptoms, in order to help you better identify these diseases that affect your herd.


Main diseases in sheep

It is important to emphasize that most of the diseases that we are going to mention can be prevented through the application of Preventive measures, such as quarantine when acquiring new animals, correct cleaning of facilities and materials and follow a vaccine protocol appropriate to the species and region. Find out from your veterinarian what is the best protocol to apply so that they can act to prevent and avoid economic losses and animal discomfort.

These simple measures can be the solution to health and welfare of your flock.

In this article, in order to be easier to organize, we have grouped diseases by their similarity of symptoms.

The most common illnesses include:

  • Clostridioses (which cause damage to multiple systems)
  • hoof diseases
  • Skin, hair and ectoparasite diseases
  • Reproductive and metabolic diseases
  • Neurological and muscle diseases
  • Respiratory diseases
  • Verminosis in general (endoparasitosis)

hoof diseases

Its causes are often associated with bad management practices such as excessive hoofing, castration and tail docking with infected materials. The common symptom is lameness (lameness) and, often, the use of foot baths and local disinfection are the best methods to treat these illnesses.


  • Symptomatic carbuncle: also called lameness, affects sheep between 6 months and 3 years of age and is caused by the bacteria Clostridium chauvei. Symptoms of this disease involve depression, fever and the animals limp with prominent swelling in the hind legs. Once contracted, there is no cure and death occurs quickly within 12 to 26 hours.
  • Pododermatitis (hoof rot or foot rot): it is a contagious disease caused by the combined action of various bacteria found in the soil and that invade and multiply in hooves with overgrowth or covered with feces or mud. The main symptoms are lameness and decreased appetite. In the severe form, there is deep necrosis of the finger associated with a foul odor.
  • laminitis: inflammatory process of the blades (sensitive structures) of the hull, which results in lameness and deformation of the hull permanently. It arises, most of the times, as a consequence of ruminal acidosis, as it causes a reduction in the blood flow that reaches the laminae of the hoof.

Skin, hair and ectoparasite diseases

The symptoms that are most associated are loss of appetite, dermatitis (inflammation of the dermis), skin lesions with or without wool loss, wounds, ulcers, crusts, scales and, mainly, itching, pain, discomfort and restlessness.


Among these diseases we have:

  • Dermatomycosis (or mycotic dermatitis): infectious-contagious, caused by fungi of the genus Microsporum and Trichophyton.
  • Dermatobiosis (berne): they are fly larvae that are located inside the skin (in the subcutaneous tissue) forming small bumps with an orifice, through which they breathe, causing pain and discomfort. When the parasitic phase ends, it can cause abscesses and progress to myiasis.
  • myiasis (worms): these are lesions caused by fly larvae that are deposited in the egg around wounds and that, in a few hours, hatch and the larvae move into the wound and feed on living tissue, progressively increasing the extension of the wound.
  • oestrosis (head bug): it is a type of myiasis that is caused by fly larvae oestrus ovis that inhabit the nasal cavities of sheep, adhere and irritate the mucosa, leading to the production of bloody discharge, frequent sneezing and reduced food intake. The larvae ascend and when they reach the brain, neurological signs appear. The animal loses balance, goes around in circles and ends up dying. It is important to control all animals well to detect these larvae and act before they rise and cause the animal's death.
  • contagious ectima: characterized by small formations, vesicles or pustules, especially in the region of the lips, gums and udder. Attention, ecthyma is a zoonosis, that is, it can be transmitted to humans and is highly contagious, so you must be very careful when handling these animals.
  • foot-and-mouth disease: caused by a virus, it is very contagious and starts with fever, followed by an eruption of vesicles (thrush) on the mucous membranes and on the skin, mainly in the mouth, teats and cracked hooves.

In diseases caused by ectoparasites, the control of infestations can be done with the application of antiparasitic agents, fundamentally topical treatments and adequate disinfection and hygiene of the affected areas. For fungi, there is no vaccination and treatment is based on antifungals and disinfection. If myiasis is detected at an early stage, it facilitates treatment and accelerates healing. Often the larvae have to be removed by hand and the area must be cleaned immediately afterwards with antiseptic solutions.

Reproductive and metabolic diseases

Many of them are caused by sudden changes in diet, unbalanced diets with nutritional and vitamin deficiencies or by intoxication, leading to imbalances in the gastrointestinal bacterial flora. The stage of pregnancy, childbirth and lactation can also cause these consequences. Common symptoms, depending on severity, include neurological changes (apathy, weakness or head tilted), gastrointestinal changes (diarrhoea or loss of appetite) and muscle weakness.

  • Pregnancy Toxemia (ketosis): affects ewes in the final third of gestation. An inadequate diet can cause a lack of glucose in the fetus and, consequently, weakness in the mother. In an attempt to obtain extra energy, the mother sheep's body uses fat as an energy source, overloading the liver and forming ketone bodies, which will cause changes in the central nervous system. The animal may isolate from others, grind its teeth, walk in circles, go blind and smell acetone when breathing.
  • hypocalcemia: calcium deficit-associated syndrome in ewes in late gestation or early lactation. It can be influenced by environmental factors or genetic predisposition. The clinical signs observed are staggering gait and tremors. Without treatment and calcium supplementation, the animal dies between 6 and 12 hours after symptoms start.
  • bloat (stuffing): metabolic disease characterized by evident distension of the left flank (where the rumen and reticulum are located) resulting from the inability to expel gases produced during ruminal fermentation due to poorly selected diets or physical obstructions. An animal with bloat has a lot of pain and discomfort and, as a result, becomes restless and stops eating. If not treated in time, the animal falls to the ground and dies within hours. The treatment involves removing excess air from the animal's digestive tract, medication and changing the diet that may be causing this phenomenon (avoid diets rich in grains and deficient in fiber). If you see any animal swollen call the veterinarian because it is necessary to act as soon as possible
  • Mastitis (mamite): there are many agents that can cause this disease, including the Mannheimia haemolytica, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Corynebacterium spp. and Clostridium spp. These bacteria are present inside the mammary gland and outside the teats causing inflammation of the mammary gland, swelling and redness of the udder and lumps in the milk. Its origin can be by contagion or due to poor hygiene places. There are two types of mastitis, clinical, with visible symptoms and occurring more early in lactation, and subclinical, which translates into decreased milk production and increased somatic milk cells. If not treated with antibiotics and cleaning, the animal can develop chronic mastitis and milk is not viable for consumption. It is important to give the withdrawal period so that the antibiotic does not appear in the milk.
  • Brucellosis: it is a serious zoonosis that causes abortions in several animal species, including goats, cattle, pigs, horses, dogs and humans. While normally in primiparous females (females pregnant for the first time) there is an abortion, in those who have already had offspring, abortion may not occur, but the offspring is born weakened. Males can also be affected and manifests itself through inflammation in the testicles, which reduces reproductive capacity.

Neurological and muscle diseases

Usually, the following illnesses can be prevented by prior vaccination. Many of the symptoms are due to neurotoxins produced by the agents and include neurological and muscular alterations such as motor incoordination, tremors, convulsions and paralysis of the muscles, mainly of the respiratory ones, causing the animal's death.

We pay special attention to the rabies that is increasingly appearing in herds in Brazil due to bat bites.

  • Tetanus (caused by the neurotoxin of Clostridium tetani)
  • Botulism (toxin ingestion from Clostridium botulinum)
  • Cenurosis (parasite Taenia multiceps)
  • Anger

Respiratory diseases

Lung diseases are also very important as they affect sheep of all ages, races and genders. Many arise from the combination of various factors and agents (bacteria, viruses and parasites) that, when they encounter favorable environmental conditions, can cause high mortality and great economic losses. As the most common disease, they can highlight:

  • Pasteurellosis: which causes brutal pneumonias in young people and adults. THE Mannheimia haemolytica and the Pasteurella multocida cause this disease and are present in the environment and in the airways of animals. When they are immunocompromised, that is, with defenses down due to stress or illness, these bacteria take advantage and settle in the respiratory tract causing serious damage. Symptoms involve: difficulty breathing, cough, fever and mucopurulent secretion (greenish-yellow mucus). Here, treatment with antibiotics is the most indicated, with tetracyclines being the most used.

Vermin

Endoparasites (internal parasites) cause great economic damage. Animals, especially with worms, have gastrointestinal disorders, becoming debilitated and apathetic, losing weight and decreasing their productivity. Among them we have:

  • Helminthosis
  • Coccidiosis (eimeriosis)
  • hydatosis
  • Cysticercosis

O diagnosis of all these diseases involves collecting as much information as possible, from the region where the farm is located, the most common diseases of the herd, physical examination and observation of the animal and its symptoms. If necessary, laboratory tests such as blood tests and identification of agents through a microscope or other more complex techniques. However, such complex tests are not always necessary, which are costly for any breeder and producer, the veterinarian will indicate what your suspicion is and what is the best method of diagnosis and respective treatment.

It is important to emphasize again that to reduce the incidence of diseases within the farm it is essential that facilities are always well sanitized, quarantine newly acquired animals and apply antiparasitic drugs regularly as well as vaccinate animals for the most prone diseases, always advised by your veterinarian.

Infectious-contagious diseases are very important for veterinary medicine because they are easily transmitted between animals and some of them can infect humans (called zoonoses), so it is recommended to always handle suspicious animals with gloves to avoid contagion.

This article is for information purposes only, at PeritoAnimal.com.br we are not able to prescribe veterinary treatments or perform any type of diagnosis. We suggest that you take your pet to the veterinarian in case it has any type of condition or discomfort.

If you want to read more articles similar to Sheep Diseases - Symptoms, Diagnosis and Treatment, we recommend that you enter our Prevention section.