I’m still worried about ‘Ster. He is not himself.
He’s finished his course of antibiotics and doesn’t smell of wee anymore, which is good. But his back end is hunched up and he is walking stiffly which could be an indication of kidney stones (urolithiasis) discomfort.
I am giving him huge bowls of soaked sugar beet to up his fluid intake and have spoken to the vet.
A sheep friend suggested giving him ammonium chloride, which will lower the pH of his urine, making it more acidic, which helps dissolve the stone’s components.
To the best of my knowledge (and searching), there is no ammonium chloride on the island so sheep-friend suggested a recipe of red onion, garlic, lemon juice and vinegar – boiled until everything is mush and strained which apparently creates ammonium chloride. It is evil-smelling.
I syringed the liquid down ‘Ster this morning, much to his total disgust but he was a good boy about it and then went out with his friends for the rest of the day, which was an improvement on his recent withdrawn behaviour.
I also gave him some painkillers too.
We will continue with this regimen and I will also order the real ammonium chloride off Amazon. I have also bought a bag of lamb creep (feed for lambs), which has ammonium chloride as standard and everyone will start eating that daily.
As long as I can keep ‘Ster eating, drinking and chewing his cud, then hopefully the potion will nuke the stones and make him more comfortable.
Poor ‘Ster. On a plus, he still likes his hugs and is stealing chicken food!
Oh dear, sorry to hear about ‘Ster still not doing well. Hope what you’re doing helps and he improves soon. Thinking of both of you warmly and with fingers crossed.
When I had goats, it was recommended to add apple cider vinegar to their water to prevent urinary problems in the whethers. I wonder if he’d like sweetened cranberry juice. That is also acidic and is an old home remedy for urinary infections.
Acv is next in my list
As we have stood watching our own animals in the throes of some health crisis, we take comfort in the ability of the ailing family member to rally enough to eat someone else’s food & tell ourselves that the situation cannot be that dire if they are availing themselves of someone else’s food. However, best wishes are being sent to Ster, the hungry chickens, & everyone else.
Having watched my step-dad deal with kidney stones – I feel for ‘Ster. Hopefully your cocktail will help him feel better.
Best wishes and a prayer for Ster. Hope he improves soon.
Hi, we have a cat that gets cystitis and we put Apple Cider Vinegar in the drinking water, so with that in mind I googled and yes ACV can help, I found this (If added to sheep and lamb drinking water apple cider vinegar will assist in keeping waterers free of algae and mosquito larvae. Improves the quality and yield of wool. Reduces the incidence of urinary calculi and kidney stones. It has powerful healing, cleansing, and natural antibiotic and antiseptic qualities.)
I have a large amount of ACV. I just don’t want the sheep to stop drinking that water, though.
Yes it is a difficult one, could you use ACP dilute and syringe that down him, that would cut out the having to boil the foul smelling concoction, I hope he gets better very soon
How much do you put in drinking water?
For cats, a common recommendation is to add 1 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar to approximately 1 cup of their drinking water. So I would guess as sheep are a wee bit bigger 2 teaspoons in 1cup of water, starting with smaller amounts and building up
We also used ACV diluted in the drinking water for 2 of our boys when they had similar problems. They drank it happily and we continued to use it for one of their daily drinks.
I’m commenting here as I can’t get normal comments to load .
Poor Ster , poor you ! We were told to give our boys dilute apple cider vinegar to drink when they had urinary problems and possibly stones. They drank it happily, it seemed to help and we continued using it on a daily basis. It achieved the change in urine acidity ,was pleasant for them to drink and easy for us to obtain. Hope both you and Ster are feeling better soon.
Thank you. Did you dilute and if so, what proportion?
Yes we diluted it . We didn’t measure put enough to cover the bottom of a bucket at half an inch depth and then filled the bucket with water. They quite liked a dash of warm water to take the chill off it. We usedthe same ratio ACV to water if giving a smaller drink in a bowl. It was a favourite treat.
Excellent. I will give this a go. Thank you.
Not sure if my reply to this got through?
Yes, it did. Appreciated
Oh no, I was hoping Ster was all set. Hope he drinks his vinegar water.