A Five-Year Retrospective Study of Small Ruminant Cases Presented to the State Veterinary Hospital, Ibadan Nigeria

Abstract

A five-year retrospective study was conducted using clinical case record of sheep and goat presented for treatment at State Veterinary Hospital, Ibadan, Nigeria between July 2013 and June 2018. A total of 520 small ruminants were presented within this period.Simple descriptive frequency statistic was employed to determine disease prevalence. Out of the 520 small ruminants presented, 360(69.2%) were sheep and 160(30.8%) were goat. The most frequently diagnosed diseases in these animals were endoparasitism (31.3%), viral infections (18.3%), bacterial infections (15.6%), reproductive conditions (8.3%) and musculoskeletal disorders (7.7%). Prevalence of diseases among small ruminants revealed that endoparasitism (22.5%), viral infections (12.3%), bacterial infections (10.2%),musculoskeletal disorders (6.3%) and reproductive conditions (5.2%) were the most prevalent in sheep while endoparasitism (8.8%), viral infections (5.96%), bacterial infections (5.4%) and reproductive conditions(3.1%) were most prevalent in goats. The study has shown that endoparasitism, viral infections, bacterial infections and reproductive conditions are the leading problem ravaging small ruminants. Therefore, there is need for urgent intervention with special interest towards ensuring proper animal management to control the effect of these agents. It is recommended that livestock farmers should adopt best management practices that will minimize the vulnerability of small ruminants to disease. More so, there should be mass vaccination campaign against preventable diseases like PPR.