[tattycat]

Well folk's just lost a beautiful little girl due to debudding meningitis. .
went to vet(not normal lady) for painkiller,  didn't  seem to work
Neighbour's planted large laurels all around boundary nd other 2 babies OK ,  so lent to laurel poisoning....she kept going downhill...back to vet nd too late...
such a shame nd I hate debudding even more now!!

[clydesdaleclopper]

Oh how awful. I had never heard of it. My two were disbudded on Thursday is there anything I should look out for?

[mojocafa]

You have my sympathies,

my fruit loop neighbour has planted laurel on our boundary as well , I'm hopeful that her prize winning Arab horses eat it before my goats!

[Beeducked]

So sorry to hear about this after all your other trials.


I think if i had any remaining doubts about my decision not to disbud my kids this has settled it in my mind so thank you for sharing this. Hope all your others do well.

[tattycat]

Thanks all.
It's been a rough year but hopefully all over for now.

[Anke]

A vet that knows what they are doing will do a proper job - I have so far not lost a kid to post-disbudding meningitis. My vet always gives a shot of LA antibiotic and an anti-inflammatory too, the only time where I think a prophylactic AB is advisable.

You may want to have a chat with your vet, the Goat Veterinary Society has produced a DVD/Video of proper goat disbudding procedures, unfortunately only vets can buy it. This is because the GVS is well aware that vets never learn disbudding during their studies, and only pick it up if they have goats on their customer list. It is also really quite different from disbudding calves...

My current vet learned from the older partner in the practice, who did a lot of goats in the 1980s, he is now retired, but the younger vet is good at it and has taught the next new vet in the practice.

[tattycat]

Just wish I'd  seen my normal vet...she's  been on the goat journey with me...she'd  have thrown antibods nd anything else at her disposal...never liked disbudding nd this has put me off even more, however mum has horns nd she's  battered one of her kids before...can't  win....

[landroverroy]

Apparently, you need an experienced vet to disbud goats as their skulls are thinner than calves and it is easier to go too deep with the iron, ie into the brain. Not a nice thought, and probably doesn't happen very often, but it always used to worry me when I kept goats.

[tattycat]

I took my first 2 girls to the vet nd it took them 6 hours to come round from the anesthetic nd still got bad scurs...the guy that does them for me has probably debuded 15 kids nd this has been the only one we've  lost...heartbreaking though...

[Anke]

If you bring them to the vet's practice they really should be using gas & air, very quick to get them to come round again afterwards. Mine usually are ready to come home again within the hour.

[Lesley Silvester]

Mine were both done and conscious again in less than an hour but my vet is very experienced with goats.  Sorry for your loss, tattycat.

[tattycat]

I'm in rural Ireland and no vet near here knows anything about goats!! Nearest vet that does is 2 nd half hours away!!
My vets response was to let the horns grow then saw then off!! Think she's  getting attached to the girls too....

[Roxy]

So very sorry about your loss.  This brought back horrible memories for me.
Two years ago I took 5 AN kids to our local vets to be disbudded.  It was a disaster from the beginning. I was not happy with the young vet who was to do the deed.....she seemed to lack confidence.  She jabbed all the kids one after the other, and they dropped on the spot.  I told her I was concerned at the speed they went out, and then all hell broke loose.  She yelled for another young vet, and they injected them all to bring them round .....but they did not wake up......she then grabbed 3 kids, the other vet 2 kids and rushed off to put them on oxygen .  It was 20 minutes before they were all awake.  The vet denied she had overdosed them, and blamed the needles .....  Went back the following week and she managed to put them under, but struggled to disbud two of them.  A couple of days later, one of the female kids developed what looked like a giant hole in her head, and was really ill.  Back to the vet, and  more jabs, but I was terrified I would lose the kid. 
Thank goodness I rang Jane (Wytsend) who said it sounded like meningitis and told me to ring the BGS vet.  He was brilliant, and insisted my vet ring him, and he told her what to use.  Thankfully the kid responded.
I changed vets after that, and last year explained to our new vet my concerns, and all went well with disbudding.  Although this year I have not had them disbudded, due to £50 plus vat per kid.

[Penninehillbilly]

Sorry for your loss Tattycat, but I hate horns, and will continue disbudding.
Last year I had a bad experience with a disbudding, so decided to try another vet. this year went to a 'large animal' practice, kids came round quicker, it was cheaper, but further to go. worth it though.
3 of them were boer kids, 2 males and a female, one male went to a nice home today, BECAUSE he was disbudded, though he was more expensive to cover the cost. female will stay here, but I may part with one of the adults with horns. another 4 females disbudded and no problems.
I have a bad problem with my knee, I believe caused by the adult boer catching my knee with her horn as she ran past me in the passageway. I've been told I may need an operation to repair damaged knee.
No idea who can look after the goats if I have to go into hospital, all because of those horns.

[tattycat]

On no penninehillbilly!! If I was nearer to you I'd offer to help!! Surely someone on here is close enough to offer...

Don't  get me wrong I've had a couple of close one's, eyes nd ribs,  but none done maliciously, just lack of care on my behalf..

If I could find someone competent enough,  but no vet's in this area are used to dealing with goat's, nd not meny vet's here have the inclination to specialise in goats as not enough goats to deal with!! Also the trauma of the distance to a competent vet would be about a 4 hour round trip..too much! Along with the 6 hours to come round from anesthetic. ....