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Author Topic: Poorly goat  (Read 1457 times)

Flump74

  • Joined Nov 2015
  • Ceredigion
Poorly goat
« on: May 20, 2018, 04:13:56 pm »
Hi everyone,

Difficult to know where to start with this.

My little BG yearling that has shown signs of being a maiden milker has been poorly for nearly a week now.
We noticed her being a bit droopy on Monday  and Tuesday of last week. She also seemed to have a bit of a snotty nose.
At this point I was just thinking it was the weather being quite considerably hotter than she is used to living in Wales by the mountains.
By Wed morning she was off her food which rung major alarm bells to me and was incredibly lethargic. So I rang the vets and took her in at half 5 in the evening. By which time she had started to cough a little when exerting herself but had seemed interested in food at tea time, despite spending most of the day lying down in the corner by herself. Her poo until this point had been normal. She seems to do much smaller currants than her sisters, but then she is the smallest of the three.

Vet took her temp....41.6!

So gave her metacam, anti inflammatory injection and one to take away, and Trimabec AB with 2 to take away. He also suggested worming her as a precaution, despite having been wormed in January.

No improvement the following day, if anything I would say she was more subdued. Snot interested in eating and temp remained at 41.6
Friday morning I spoke to the vet again as there was no change and I was getting really worried....so new drug's....Marbocyl. And suggested twin lamb drench to keep her energy etc up

Saturday definitely brought some improvement. She started showing interest in greenery and hay and the fresh straw I put down for her, and even drank out of the bucket herself at lunchtime where up until then I was syringing fluids into her as she was showing no interest.
She seems a little better. Her temp is down today to 40.6 and is happy to eat bramble, ash, sycamore and the rounded leaf willow, but won't touch the slender leaf willow or willow herb which is normally a real favourite!

Oh and she can poo through the eye of a needle!

I have seen her drink a little today, she has had another lot of twin lamb drench and I have syringes some sugar/salt water into her too for good measure. She is tentatively nibbling hay and straw occasionally. She is still spending much of the day lying down and is breathing quite fast and laboured I think.

Think that is about it. No signs of Mastitis as her teensy udder is soft and no hotter than the rest of her.

I have just noticed and googled and realised that goats lose baby teeth at this age and I read somewhere, on fiasco farm I think that they noticed poorly behaviour in teething yearlings. Anyone else have have experience of this? Could the temp and runny nose etc be just teething like in children???
Are we stuffing her full of drugs for no good reason?

I am exhausted. And stressed!

Any opinions welcome and any tips or tricks to help her recovery also gratefully received.
« Last Edit: May 20, 2018, 05:55:19 pm by Flump74 »

Anke

  • Joined Dec 2009
  • St Boswells, Scottish Borders
Re: Poorly goat
« Reply #1 on: May 20, 2018, 06:21:30 pm »

Well with a temp of 41.6 you have to give he AB's and anti-inflammatories as well - I would have thought pneumonia the most likely based on her heavy breathing, coughing and fever. So yes your vet has done the right thing and you hopefully may have gone past the worst.

Flump74

  • Joined Nov 2015
  • Ceredigion
Re: Poorly goat
« Reply #2 on: May 20, 2018, 07:53:02 pm »
I hope that didn't sound as if I was saying that the vet didn't know what he was doing or that I thought that he had made a wrong choice, just that I noticed her wobbly teeth this afternoon as she was trying to eat some greenery. She was really struggling to take any in to the front of her mouth. Would only eat it if it went in the side and the same with the hay. She looked like it was difficult to eat. Same with her tea. She managed a few little goat nuts yesterday and a bit of the muesli this evening.

I was just wondering if the slightly under the weather goat of Monday, was because she was struggling to et and drink, with a snotty nose to add to it, and the hot weather making her feel worse.

The sloppy poo only came after the anti biotics, not before.


What could the cause of pneumonia be? 




Anke

  • Joined Dec 2009
  • St Boswells, Scottish Borders
Re: Poorly goat
« Reply #3 on: May 20, 2018, 09:13:35 pm »
Warm humid weather, especially if their shed is quite warm during summer.

angie

  • Joined Jul 2016
Re: Poorly goat
« Reply #4 on: May 20, 2018, 11:17:08 pm »
Has she been tested for lung worm? Can cause  secondary infection of bronchitis, leading to pneumonia

 

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