The causes of hypothermia in 89 lambs were identified on the basis of history and clinical biochemistry. Excessive heat loss accounted for 24 per cent of the cases, and depressed heat production because of either severe hypoxia during birth, immaturity or starvation accounted for 72 per cent. Exhaustion of energy reserves and hypoglycaemia were marked characteristics of lambs which became hypothermic after 12 hours of age. Most of the lambs were either twins or triplets. The implications of the findings for both the treatment and prevention of hypothermia in newborn lambs are discussed.
A technique was developed for the resuscitation of hypothermic newborn lambs. This technique consisted of three major components: the administration of glucose solution by intraperitoneal injection to lambs aged six hours or more in order to reverse hypoglycaemia (10 ml/kg of a 20 per cent solution); rewarming the lambs in air at 40 degrees C; and careful attention to the nutrition and husbandry of the lambs after rewarming. The results indicate that careful application of this technique during lambing would considerably reduce the losses from hypothermia.
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