[Roxy]

I have in the past had goats get to 16 and 17 and neither of those seemed  to lose their teeth, and kept weight on. Yet others get to their early teens, and lose condition.  Its like any old anmal, coming into winter they do lose weight, and have to use any fat reserves to keep warm, so a coat may well be the answer.

As Wytsend says, the fast fibre is good, we use that for older ponies.  Also soaked sugar beet, I soak it in warm water for the oldies, and they drink the water too.  Oldies do struggle with certain types of hay, if this is the case, then one of the good quality horse chops are good.

Lack of minerals and vitamins can be the cause too. 

To my mind, if the goat can still eat - may take a few tries to get feeds she can actually eat - and seems happy enough, then keep her going the best you can.  Losing weight is part of the ageing process, and you may well find you cannot get the old goat fat.

[Hopewell]

Losing weight is part of the ageing process.

There will be a reason for the weight loss, it may be age related in that one or more of the organs are failing but it isn't simply due to old age. I suggest speaking to your vet about her.

[Roxy]

My vet hmself ageed that the ageing process is a major contributing factor to an animal not doing well and keeping weight on. This was regarding my 32 year old pony, who was checked for anything and everything, and there was nothing amiss apart from her advancing years.

I have no wish to start an argument - but my observation was based on 40 years of horse and goat keeping, and I stand by what I said about weight loss being due to advancing years.  but was assuming that any other cause had been ruled out before accepting this.

[Hopewell]

Sorry if I came over as arguementative it wasn't my intention. It just frustrates me when something such as poor condition gets put down to simply being old age, especially when the animal concerned doesn't appear to have had the simplist of investigations or seen recently by a vet. 

[Roxy]

   I do see your point, Hopewell .....not suggesting for a moment you wanted an argument, just that sometimes on forums, things can get a bit, well, heated.......and  I am all for a quiet life ....most of the time!

[clydesdaleclopper]

There will be a reason for the weight loss, it may be age related in that one or more of the organs are failing but it isn't simply due to old age. I suggest speaking to your vet about her.

I have spoken to our vet but they seem to know nothing about goats which is why I posted on here as people seem much more knowledgable than a vet who never sees goats.

[clydesdaleclopper]

If she was wormed a few months ago then that doesn't really count as recent worming. BGS recommendations are actually to worm every three weeks from spring to autumn if no safe pasture is available. The description you give of your pasture is one where the goats have continuous access and therefore isn't safe from a worm point of view. Every three weeks does sound excessive and I don't do mine as frequently as that, but it will depend on how many goats are in that area. Also Panacur is from the group of wormers that most commonly have resistance to them so I don't think you can rule out worms. If she's never been a good doer for the last 2 years it does sound like there is an underlying reason.

There are 2 goats in the 1.5 acres. I've spoken to Wytsend last night and I'm going to try an Ivermectin wormer on her.

[little blue]

If she's never been a good doer for the last 2 years it does sound like there is an underlying reason.

Is she CAE tested?
does she have knobbly knees?

[Lesley Silvester]

Hope you get it sorted soon. 

[Penninehillbilly]

I have spoken to our vet but they seem to know nothing about goats which is why I posted on here as people seem much more knowledgable than a vet who never sees goats.

I'd find another vet, The one we use for dogs didn't know what I was talking about when I asked about CAE testing. I was going to phone one about 12miles away, but thought I'd phone one slightly nearer, who I thought would be a 'pet vet', turns out she does work for other local 'goaty' people I know. I'm happy to split work between vets if they know their own stuff.
There again, it might be worth taking the dogs to her as well, she certainly seemed on the ball up to our vet, who diagnosed a dog with bronchitus, a week later after pushing tablets down the poor boys throat, had him xrayed-so full of cancer we didn't wake him up, poor boy, he suffered that last week, it still hurts me.
sorry to hijack the thread-back to goats - hope she picks up.

[little blue]

certainly worth a CAE test - can make the goat a "poor doer" and old, doddery, and boney....

[clydesdaleclopper]

We had her CAE tested when we rescued her and she's not been off the premises since so I didn't think it was likely.

[little blue]

thats good then ... just old age

[clydesdaleclopper]

Well we managed to get a good look at her molars today and they are really sharp so I think that might be an issue (thanks to Wytsend for suggesting this). The vet is going to come over and file them down and see if that makes a difference.

[wytsend]

Get him to check the condition of the inside of her cheeks.... there might be abrasions there which are sore. 
If so, ask him for some antibiotic as a goat mouth can be harbouring all sorts of bacteria which would be no problem normally but if abrasions are present might cause minor infection.

Goat molars are usually sharper than incisors  but it is also possible that her teeth are out of alignment which would make cudding less effective.