[Bumblebear]

So, my run of crappy luck continues.....Ashia, my 2yo BA stopped eating and started scouring.  Very watery with a little bit of blood in it sometimes.  Vet has taken a sample (blood and stools) and given antibiotic, saline and left me with a rumen starter; diarsanyl; more pen and an anti-inflammatory.

Having been reading all about cocci, that was my initial fear but the vet said she is too old for that.  Also, she gave my boy Baycox but the girls couldnt have it anyway as it has no withdrawl for milk consumption.

Any ideas of what else I can suggest to the vet?  Or how I can help Ashia.  The vet noticed head tilting which made her think maybe there was some neuro issue, but there are no other nuero signs.       Feeling very sorry for myself and Ashia of course.

[Roxy]

So sorry about Ashia, and it is obviously worrying for you.  Has she had access to haylage?  Just wondering, as the head tilting, alerted me to how my Jinty was last year, and she was scouring; She had listeria. I am sure the vet would have ruled this out?  Live yoghurt is good for scours - mine will lick it it  off a spoon.

[jaykay]

Adult goats can get coccidiosis, it's just rarer than in kids.

The head tilting could be thiamine deficiency, which can go with coccidiosis. Treated by big doses of B1.

Or it could be listeria.

Hopefully Wytsend and Anke will come along.....

[wytsend]

Would defo treat for Cocci................goats of any age CAN get it......I know,mine have had it.   I now treat everybody once a year with Vecoxan.  All kids routeinely get 1st dose at 4wks old & then again at 7wks.
Listeria is a very real risk.......by now you will know if she has it.............it is very fast moving.  From the first symptoms, scour, loss of appetite, head tilting,  usually  it is obvious within 24/36hrs.
Sad to say, very few goats recover from it.   Sheep seem to more easily.
Haylage is chief culprit................I no longer feed it, having lost 2 goats to Listeria...........and this haylage came from a source I had used for 25 yrs.    The weather can have a major effect on haylage production.   SAFER TO FEED HAY ONLY.

[Anke]

Yes I would also think that listeriosis is a possibility - lots of AB's needed. Difficult to get a good outcome, mainly because by the time symptons become obvious disease has progressed too far already.
 
However that a medication has no milk withdrawal time is NOT a reason not to prescribe a potentially life-saving medicine to a goat - you then just have to go with the customary 7 to 8 days (or longer) withdrawal period. If a goat is really ill she will most likely dry up anyway.
 
But my vet is also of the opinion that adult goats only VERY rarely get coccidiosis, and diaorrhea is caused other agents.
 
One of my GG's had recently a really scary episode of massive scours, she was very weak and down for most of the day. Strong AB's and loads of water with Rehydion, saved her I think, plus when I brought in some comfrey she got up from her corner, ate it and then started to go back to some hay! Vet thought that it was a bug, very much like the 24 hour ones that humans can get too.

[Bumblebear]

Def wouldn't deny a treatment just for lack of using milk but from what vet had read we could never have used the milk ever.  She isn't even in milk yet, she's a goatling we were planning to put in kid this year.  We dont feed haylage, just hay.  The head tilt is very slight.

She's eating hay and had electrolytes and her poo is thick but runny now rather than just water.

Vets were brilliant I have to say.  Seemed very thorough.  I'm just at a loss.  The other two are completely fine.

[jaykay]

I really hope she improves 

You can use the milk yourself, you just have a make a judgement on how long to pour it down the sink for. I usually go for 10 days for things like tricoabenazole (fluke), less for antibiotics. Nothing is ever licensed for goats, so there's never proper information.

[Bumblebear]

Thanks jaykay, that's really helpful.  The baycox did only mention sheeps milk, so we just assumed the same would apply to goats milk.

[ballingall]

No, sheeps milk doesnt always mean the same thing for goats milk. Dairy goats actually have a lot of similarities to a dairy cow remember.
 
I agree adults can get cocci. As the animal gets older, it develops resistance to cocci, so therefore in theory adults should be fine. However, in practice there seem to be different strains of cocci, and an adult might be immune to the cocci you have on your land, but if moved to another holding, can then fall to a slightly varient of cocci. How long have you had her? if less tahn 6 months it is entirely possible that it is cocci, and this is her just displaying symtoms now. If it was listeria, I wouldnt expect her to be improving yet, and from what you say, she sounds a little better.
 
Do you treat for fluke? I have had goats that scoured quite badly as one of the first symptoms of fluke damage....
 
My mother (qualified vet) would always say you have clear up the scour first anyway before you treat the cocci/fluke/worms as doing otherwise can just overload their system and even kill them.....
 
Beth

[Bumblebear]

We've had her over a year.  Shes just sitting feeling very sorry for herself with floppy ears and a morose expression.