Kalyssa Meets Her Lamb

Kalyssa's lamb is at Ron's house with the other lambs. She went there today to sheer his wool. 

Andrea washed her lamb for her and Kalyssa is drying him off. 

We took him outside and started sheering him... when we lifted up the flap of wool in the rear we discovered a pile of maggots! Andrea and I got so nauseous! We have never seen maggots on a live animal before. It was disgusting and so sad! 

K... we have an idea how this happened. It might be TMI, if you're squeemish don't read more... But Andrea said Kalyssa's lamb hasn't been eating very well and it might be dehydrated. It has diarrhea, and the flies have been attracted to its bum and laid eggs on it. They hatched and have been eating the

 skin. I don't know if the lamb had an infection or what happened exactly. The maggots used in maggot therapy {maggots that only eat dead flesh and diseases out of the body} are genetically breed and sterilized. This type of ordinary maggots I'm sure eat both dead and live flesh. 

After Kalyssa saw the maggots, she said, "Mom, I don't want that lamb." I told her that her lamb is like her baby... when your babies get sick you can't give them back. You nurse them back to health and love them no matter what. I just hope the hair grows back before she has to show him in the fair.

Andrea and I couldn't finish sheering the lamb once we got close to the rear. Karl and Ron came and finished it and got all the maggots off. Ron gave the lamb a shot and put medicine on its back and bum. 

Karl's daughter, Carlie, works at an animal hospital. She said she sees this problem all the time on animals. 

Now that her lamb looks like he feels 110% better, Kalyssa is more than willing to care for her lamb. Her mother instincts are kicking in and she is worried about him and wants to help him. He is not used to people handling him yet, so she is a little nervous about getting too close. Haha. 

Jul 1, 2013