Just under three weeks before we were due to start lambing we noticed that Celestial wasn't as bothered about ewe nuts at the morning check. But once the others had finished she set off with them, up into the Quarry, so we just made a note to keep an eye on her.
Late morning there was an opportunity to take another look - she was no longer with the flock, which is very unusual for sheep. After a lot of searching she was found, laid up on the back of one of the rocky crags, looking out across the valley. From a distance she just looked to be resting but we already knew there was something amiss. Approaching her, she didn't make much attempt to run off, which is very unlike her, and when she did finally decided to try, she couldn't stand properly.
Getting her back to somewhere to have a closer look was a job in itself, as she had to be carried down the steep slopes and balanced in the footwell of the quad, but she had no energy to fight. It was hard to work out what the problem was to begin with but we ran through a set of checks and narrowed it down to hypocalcaemia or twin lamb disease. Luckily we're prepared and had a bottle of calcium injection and some twin lamb drench in the medicines cupboard. Despite this, we'd never had to use either. She was very reluctant to take the drench but we eventually got this down her using multiple squirts from the drenching gun. The calcium injection was another new skill acquired, giving large volumes subcutaneously. As the day wore on it became clear from her developing symptoms (and the lack of a miraculous response to the calcium) that it was twin lamb disease. This wasn't good news, as the prognosis for the ewe is poor and even worse for the lambs she is carrying. We managed to speak to the vet who said we were doing all we could, to continue to monitor and repeat the treatment the next morning.
Those doses were given but she was still showing no signs of being interested in food beyond a brief nibble. The problem in twin lamb disease is that the energy demands of the growing lambs outstrip what the ewe can provide. This can just be due to their rapid growth later in pregnancy or it can be precipitated by some additional stress. Unless Celestial started eating enough to provide that energy she would continue to metabolise her fat reserves and increase the levels of ketones that were poisoning her. By lunchtime she seemed more active and was obviously desperate to get back out with the rest of the flock - standing with her feet up on the side of the pen and bleating.
We took a chance and let her out - if it was her last wish then so be it. But perhaps this was the impetus she needed to live and over the coming days she gradually started to eat better and by the end of the week was back to her normal self, butting away any other sheep that tried to snaffle the nuts she was eating. We monitored closely for the remainder of her pregnancy but didn't see any sign that the lambs had died or been aborted. Yet we weren't really holding out hope - not losing her was success enough.
So, why did it happen? A day or so later a neighbour mentioned that they had seen some people walking through some of our fields with a loose dog the day before Celestial became ill. The fields they were in do not have any public footpaths and the only access would have meant climbing walls or gates. This loose dog could well have been enough to stress the flock and precipitated Celestial's illness. As our oldest ewe she would potentially be most at risk. The sheer irresponsibility of some people is staggering at times. But then they probably had no idea at all of the risk they were creating and how their actions very nearly cost Celestial her life.