Pregnancy toxemia (twin lamb disease) is a life-threatening metabolic condition in ewes carrying multiple fetuses, causing significant suffering that is largely preventable through nutrition.
Pregnancy toxemia causes genuine and escalating suffering. A ewe with early toxemia experiences weakness and confusion; the condition progresses to profound lethargy, seizures, and death if untreated. The fetal demand that triggers the condition cannot be reduced - the welfare harm is experienced by the ewe while her body is physiologically committed to her lambs' development. The preventability of most pregnancy toxemia through appropriate nutritional management - maintaining body condition through pregnancy, supplementing late-pregnant ewes with high-energy feed - makes its occurrence a management failure. Early recognition and treatment is critical, requiring shepherds to be trained to identify early signs before recumbency.