Lameness in sheep Flashcards
What diseases are associated with the foot?
- Footrot - benign footrot, interdigital dermatitis, scald, virulent footrot
- CODD
- White line disease
- Toe granuloma
- Foot abscess
What are other problems causing lameness?
- Foreign body
- Interdigital hyperplasia
- Overgrown / misshapen claws
- Arthritis
- Fractures
- Muscular
- Neurological disease
What is seen with benign footrot / ID / scald?
- Lameness
- Interdigital skin inflammed
- No horn underrunning
What is the main bacteria causing benign footrot / ID / scald?
- Dichelobacter nodosus
- Fusobacterium necrophorum is sometimes found
What are factors associated with footrot + ID?
- Warm
- Wet under foot conditions
- Muddy
- Housing
- Gathering
- Genetics
How would you treat scald?
- Topical tx - Oxytet spray
- Foot bathing - formalin
How would you treat footrot?
- Quickly - isolate
- Treat individuals / groups
- LA oxytet or LA amoxicillin
- Do not trim unless necessary
What is seen with CODD?
- Ulcerative / proliferative lesion start at coronary
- Progressive under running of hoof wall
- Hoof sloughs off
- Often mixed infection with footrot
What are the different grades of CODD?
- Grade 1 = coronary band lesion only
- Grade 2 = <50% horn capsule separated
- Grade 3 = 50-100% hoof capsule off
- Grade 4 = healing but still active lesion present
- Grade 5 = healed
What is the aetiology of CODD?
- Treponeme bacteria
- T. medium
- T. phagedenis
- T. pedis
- Dichelobacter nodosus
- Fusobacterium necrophorum
What are risk factors of CODD?
- Seasonal trend - late summer / early autumn
- Large flocks
- Lowland pasture / lush pasture
- Footrot / scald
How is CODD treated?
- Isolate
- Antibiotics - LA amoxicillin - may need multiple courses
What can be done to minimize foot problems throughout the year?
- Vaccinate twice yearly - footvax
- Treat lame sheep quick
- Biosecurity
- Environmental challenge
- Cull chronically lame sheep
What is white line disease?
- White line separation
- Doesn’t cause lameness unless sensitive tissue affected - impaction with stones, mud etc
How can you treat white line>
- If no infection and just separation = trim separation off
- If abscess = trim to release pus - avoid damaging sensitive tissue
How can you treat toe granuloma?
- IV regional anaesthesia
- Cut back granulation tissue
- Cauterise disbudding iron
How do you treat interdigital hyperplasia?
- Clean + Antibiotics
How do you cure soil balling?
- Remove, clean + topical antibiotics
What can cause laminitis?
- Excess access to high energy or cereal based feed + acute disease such as metritis / mastitis
What is treatment for laminitis?
- NSAIDs
- Address underlying cause
What are causes of pedal joint abscess?
- Consequence of extension of interdigital infection into distal interphalangeal joint structures
What are the clinical signs of pedal joint abscess?
- severe lameness
- Swollen foot
- Interdigital space widened
- Purulent discharge
What is the Tx for pedal joint abscess?
- Flush + antibiotics
- Digit amputation
What is the method for a digit amputation?
- Disarticulation between P1 + P2
- Sedate - Xylazine
- Local anaesthesia - regional IV
- 5-10ml procaine
- or ring block around foot
- Clip + clean
- Disarticulate
- Bandage
- Change after 3-4 days
- Antibiotic
- NSAIDs
What is strawberry footrot?
How do you treat it?
- Scab lesion on distal limb
- Usually orf or dermatophilus
- Systemic + topical antibiotics + move to dry fields
What are bone diseases of sheep?
- Fractures - Tx = casting, surgery
- Rickets - Tx = vitamin D + calcium supplement
What can cause infectious arthritis?
- neonatal infection - strep dysgalactiae
- Tick pyaemia - staph aureus
- Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae
