This is Penelope Jane. She looks so little here. She is a small goat, but really not that small. A few weeks ago she was laying on the ground and would let out a blood curdling scream. I took her into the milk room and checked her out all over. Nothing I could see was wrong with her. She didn't do it again til Tuesday evening. She'd lay on the ground and then just scream, kind of like she was in labor. So I checked her out again and only found a little sore spot right between her front legs. I put some antibiotic gel on that. Went ahead and wormed her with Valbazen. And gave her Nutridrench too. She seemed o k.
The next morning (July 4th of course) she was worse. So took her to a vet I like up and over the mountain. While I was waiting, I noticed Penelope scratching at her right ear. And she coughed too. So did Zarah. So I told the vet. She checked her ears and they were full of crap. She looked to see if there was anything in them alive but nothing. Just crappy ear goop. She also checked her with the stethiscope. Her lungs sounded pretty bad. We thought maybe lung worms since she and Zarah both coughed quite a bit. So she gave me 2 syringes of Nuflor, a strong antibiotic, to give them that day then today. Since I had already wormed them both with the Valbazen that morning. Penelope is a whole lot better today. I also gave her a CDT shot.
And this is Zarah Belle. This morning, a few minutes after giving the Nuflor shot to Zarah, she's laying on the ground, stretched out and screaming every few seconds. Then she'd get up and just jump in the air. I called the vet and left a message. I still have not heard back from her. So called a friend in Ohio. She has goats too. She said it sounded like tetanus. So I ran in here to the computer to see what to do for that. I had some of the things so ran around getting sugar water for electrolytes, Kaopectate, probiotics, and a shot of Pro Pen G. Gave her all that too. Also gave her and Penelope and Iris a CDT shot too. Oh, also gave her a shot of Ivermec under the skin because that kills lung worms. She was laying on the ground for awhile and then she'd move to another spot. I had also called another vet closer to see about getting some Banamine for pain.
And Friday is my day to be with my 95 year old lady for the day. I take her to get her hair done, get groceries, pay her bills... So had to tell the other caregivers I couldn't come today because my goat was dying.
So I went to the vet and was telling them all her symptoms. The vet said it was a Thiamine deficiency. So got a bottle of Thiamine. (When I got home, I read that B Complex would do the same thing if I didn't have Thiamine. And I had B Complex.) I am supposed to give her 3cc every day til she gets better. When I got home Zarah was up and eating hay. She had drank all her water. I gave her more. She drank it. I went ahead and gave Penelope a shot. Then had to catch poor Zarah. She didn't want any more shots! And this is what she looks like now. Normal!
So these 2 goats have had all kinds of worm treatments, CDT shots, antibiotics. You name it, they have had it the past few days. So something has to work. And I am sick of all this too. I am going to put them all on a dry lot and just feed them hay. I also read that sulfer is in molasses and they should not have that. It depletes the thiamine in their bodies. I feed my milk goats 16% all grain with molasses in it. Then just started feeding the rest of the does and the buck a sweet feed pellet with molasses in it. They will not get any more of that. It's really hard trying to keep these animals healthy. And I hope all this helps.
If anyone has gone through this, would you please share how you treated it? I am always learning new things. And it's so helpful to know there are others out there that go through the same things.
This is just a view of what I have done with these 2 goats. I am not a vet, although I am learning so much by doing a lot of this myself. I can most of the time figure out what is wrong with my goats and sheep. But most of the time I ask for help and advice from my goat friends and vets. I can give shots and trim feet and help birth kids and lambs. So I know a little. And I learn a little more every day.
5 comments:
When discussing about many various goat diseases, I have discovered that many people are not informed of the essentials of the physical data that must come with proper diagnosis.
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And it's hard to diagnose an animal over the phone. There are too many diseases apparently that are so alike. I thought it was tetanus so was treating for that. But tetanus is usually not something they will pull out of. Right now both does are not rolling on the ground screaming. They're both up and eating and walking around.
I'm not really sure what you mean about the physical data. When I took the first doe to an actual vet, she never said a thing about Thiamine deficiency. She didn't really know what was wrong. And the goat was right there in front of her.
The 2nd vet today, after just hearing the symptoms, said right away that it was a Thiamine deficiency.
Forgot to ask if you have goats, Toby?
WOW, sounds likes a couple of rough days for you and the goats. Sorry I know nothing about them.
Hope all is well now and you don't have to go through all that again. Hard to see the critters suffer and not know what you do for them. Sometimes you just have to learn the hard way.
They are both so much better. It's like they both were not close to death at all just a few days ago. Back to their old silly selves again. I am so glad. It's so hard when they can't tell me what's wrong and I have to figure it out for them. I just bought some sprinklers and am watering the dry grass in their yards and in the sheep yard. I didn't even realize how bad that is for them to eat the dead dry grass. So it is being watered well. And hopefully God will water it soon too.
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