Broken esophagus...?

[FriendsHerd]

I might be getting 2 lambs this weekend if one of them makes it long enough. I was told he has a broken esophagus and I was wondering if that's something that is fixable or if his days are numbered....?

 

[mysunwolf]

That does not sound good to me, if it's completely broken he won't survive much longer. Are you sure that the esophagus is what they're referring to? And sorry about this one, but why are you buying a lamb in that condition, if not for immediate butcher?

 

[FriendsHerd]

I am not sure at all what his condition was, and because he was the companion of the lamb we bought, we ended up not getting the sick one but we were going to keep him long enough until we could get a Nubian companion for our lamb. They ended up taking him to butcher themselves and we found a Nubian doeling the next day to be his companion. For the most part they're doing great except yesterday we noticed they both have clear/cloudy mucus coming out of their noses and our goat has been coughing and sneezing a lot. When we got them neither of them seemed to have anything wrong, the lamb went to fair and then we took him two days later, the goat was living with blood relatives in a small pasture down the road. We're going to contact the vet and the guy we got her from to see if she's been worked recently and hopefully it's something we can fix easily. Any ideas on what it is?

 

[babsbag]

Respiratory issues are common in sheep and goats after a move to a new home or after a fair or show. The common name for it is shipping fever. Usually a round of antibiotics will set them straight but a vet is good to have in case you need one in a real real emergency. While you are at the vet take some goat/lamb poop with you and ask for a fecal. Stress can cause a parasite bloom too.

 

[FriendsHerd]

My husband went out this morning to feed them and said there are worms in our goats poop and he thinks they're somehow in her nose too and that's why she's having such a hard time, our lamb came with dewormer but she didn't, do they make a dewormer that can be syringed in to their mouth and not use a needle for goats? I'm not going to be able to get ahold of a vet until tomorrow but I do know that our lamb needs dewormed.

 

[mysunwolf]

My husband went out this morning to feed them and said there are worms in our goats poop and he thinks they're somehow in her nose too and that's why she's having such a hard time, our lamb came with dewormer but she didn't, do they make a dewormer that can be syringed in to their mouth and not use a needle for goats? I'm not going to be able to get ahold of a vet until tomorrow but I do know that our lamb needs dewormed.

Yep, and oral dewormers are the most effective for both sheep and goats. You may want to do a fecal and see what worms you're dealing with before worming, it will save time and money. There should be some options for oral goat wormers in your Tractor Supply or local farm store, otherwise you can get your vet to prescribe something off label.

Goats don't typically get worms in their noses, it's more common in sheep (bot flies). If your goat's nose is runny, it's probably a respiratory infection. If you are seeing worms in the poop, they're most likely tape worms. A white wormer like Safeguard or Valbazen works best for tapeworms. If your goats and sheep are anemic, that is likely barber pole worms and you will need a different wormer, something like Ivermectin or Cydectin.

Hope this helps!

 

[FriendsHerd]

Yep, and oral dewormers are the most effective for both sheep and goats. You may want to do a fecal and see what worms you're dealing with before worming, it will save time and money. There should be some options for oral goat wormers in your Tractor Supply or local farm store, otherwise you can get your vet to prescribe something off label.

Goats don't typically get worms in their noses, it's more common in sheep (bot flies). If your goat's nose is runny, it's probably a respiratory infection. If you are seeing worms in the poop, they're most likely tape worms. A white wormer like Safeguard or Valbazen works best for tapeworms. If your goats and sheep are anemic, that is likely barber pole worms and you will need a different wormer, something like Ivermectin or Cydectin.

Hope this helps!

That helps a lot. We were given ivermectin with our sheep because he was due, we are waiting to hear back on if our doe has been worked or not, it also just occurred to me that he said his does were due in January so now I'm concerned if our doe pregnant or not. We're not even for sure how old she is to be honest. We bought the safeguard I think from Tractor supply but we don't know if we can use it until we know if she's been bred or not. I wish we would have thought to ask all of this when we got her but it was in the middle of the night and we had our toddler running laps around us while we were there.

 

[mysunwolf]

Safeguard should be fine to use with pregnant does. You should be able to tell a general age by her teeth. I wish I could help with the other stuff, you sound just like me when I first got my animals! A toddler certainly complicates the whole thing