Lambs are very delicate when it comes to health. They often get stomach infections without any prior signals. Lamb scours are basically diarrhea, which can be determined by the sudden increase in feces excretion volume and frequency. If you are hesitant to try home remedies for lamb scours, be assured that they are influential on the disease.
As we just mentioned, a sudden increase in feces volume and frequency is a red flag, and most probably, your lamb has gotten diarrhea or lamb scours. Additionally, blood and mucous could be present in the feces and have a foul smell. Sometimes, the color of the feces changes as well. While the greyish-white faeces are referred to as white scours, the yellowish one is referred to as yellow scours.
Lamb scours can occur in lambs due to numerous reasons. They can be bacterial, viral, parasite, worm infections, or even food poisoning. Studies have shown that if lamb scours are left untreated for an extended period, only 54% of lambs survive. Usually, farm owners keep a lot of lambs, and due to their financial condition, most of them are unable to afford frequent visits to the vet. In these cases, home remedies for lamb scours come in handy more than anything.
If you assume that since home remedies for lamb scours are not as costly as prescribed medications, it is not very effective, you have been mistaken. Let us look at what the options for us are:
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5 Simple Home Remedies For Lamb Scours
Most at-home treatments are straightforward, and you won’t have much to do. Just follow the proper procedures and take good care of your lamb’s health, and it will get well within a week. If none of the remedies works, then for sure, seek medical assistance. Now, let’s talk about what remedies you can try out to treat lamb scours at home and how.
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Keep the lambs hydrating
Dehydration is a common problem if lamb scours occur in lambs. As stool excretion gets more frequent, lambs lose a large amount of their daily required water. So, if the infected lamb does not get enough water in the first few days, the body will gradually collapse.
Providing clean drinking water is the easiest lamb scours home remedy you should try to combat the disease. Keep filling your lamb’s water bowl throughout the day and supervise him if he’s drinking enough water to keep his body hydrated.
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Feeding activated charcoal
This lamb scours home remedy has been used to treat lamb scours for a long time now. Activated charcoal clears all the toxins from the stomach, essentially cleaning the stomach and relieving stomach pain due to diarrhea.
If you administer 500 g of activated charcoal mixed with drinking water or provide him oral solution once a day, it should treat the lamb scours disease within 6 days of consumption. It can naturally cure the infection in the stomach without causing any harm.
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Providing electrolytic solution
Electrolytic solutions are considered the most suitable lamb scours home remedy by most lamb owners as well as veterinarians. These solutions naturally soothe the stomach and help in the digestion process without irritating the stomach. Generally, 100-200 ml electrolytic solutions are given 3-5 times per day to treat lamb scours.
These solutions help restores the electrolytes in the body and keeps the lambs dehydrated. Normal water sometimes falls behind to keep the function of nerves and muscles ongoing, and electrolytic solutions do that perfectly.
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Feeding baking soda
Feeding baking soda to the sick lamb is an excellent lamb scours home remedy you can opt for. Baking soda is an object known for reducing bloating and stomach pain as well as stool emission. As both bloating and stomach pain are symptoms of lamb scours, baking soda is an excellent treatment option to go for.
You can dissolve as much baking soda as possible into 10 ml of water and orally administer it to the sick lambs. If they are not willing to drink it, dose it with a bit of cooking oil and repeat this process once a day, and it should help. However, if they vomit, stop this process immediately.
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Changing the diet to grass hay
Changing his diet to grass hay is the easiest among home remedies for lamb scours which you should definitely try. Lambs already like to eat grass on their healthy days, changing their diet to only premium-quality grass hay. This method will reduce the infection and indigestion in the sick lamb’s stomach, thus eventually providing relief from the pain.
You should only provide the leaves of the grass hay as they contain more nutritional value, which will provide the required energy to the lamb’s body. The digestible fibres of grass hay work as a natural home remedy for lamb scours for cleaning the stomach.
Feeding probiotics
Probiotics are natural anti-microbial elements that combat microbial infection upon administration. Due to its health-improving nature, it is considered a very innovative and effective lamb scours home remedy.
Probiotics enhance nutrients in young lambs, essentially protecting them from lamb scouts. Giving probiotics to the lambs that got infected from lamb scours as per your suspicion can prevent the further manifestation of the disease.
Segregating the sick lambs from the rest
Although not a conventional lamb scours home remedy, segregating the sick lambs from the rest can eventually save your herd from the additional spreading of the disease. Massaging affected lambs and feeding them grain-free food can be quite beneficial for treating lamb scours. Also, isolation of scouring affected lambs allows you to focus mainly on their diseases. Foods like bananas can be quite beneficial if your lambs are affected by scours.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Which home remedy for lamb scours is the simplest to concoct?
Ans: Although it is quite difficult to point out a single lamb scours home remedy as the perfect, we can easily pick electrolytic solution as the medium and baking soda as the easiest solution which can be applied on lambs for curing scours in them.
2. Does baking soda work as an effective solution for curing lamb scours?
Ans: Yes, baking soda is an effective and easy-to-concoct solution for curing scours in lambs and sheep.
3. Is the electrolytic solution a more effective medium for lamb scours than plain water?
Ans: Although plain water has many curative properties, it is advisable for you to concoct electrolytic solutions and feed them to your lambs to restore electrolytic balance in the body.
4. Can I rely solely on home remedies to cure lamb scours instead of consulting a vet?
Ans: Although lamb scours home remedy is quite effective on your lambs, it is advisable to consult a vet if the conditions of your lambs or sheep worsen. Lamb scours home remedy can be quite a fascinating solution to cure small but potentially persistent diseases as a lamb scours. At the same time, it helps you maintain an overall electrolytic balance and healthy conditions for your lambs.
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