Waiting for a call back from my vet but I'm not sure how much time I really have here. Have a goat (3 year old female) that has fallen over and won't stand up. She was getting skinny over the last week or so (and all of my other goats are fat) so I had started jacketing her to keep her warm and feeding her separately thinking the other goats were maybe keeping her from getting the good food. Now I found her today and she suddenly can't stand up at all. She has not gone off of feed or water at all (and is really eating like she has never seen food before from a kneeling position on the ground so I am giving her the best hay I can find and she's getting some yoghurt). She has a normal temp. She is pooping (soft feces so not goat pebbles, but rather a big clump of feces that comes out - not at all liquid though). She is peeing. She is bright, alert, responsive. I gave her a spoonful of molasses and she was trying to crawl over to me on her knees to get more. She was dewormed with Ivomec a month ago and is up-to-date on her CD+T vaccine. She has no swelling in her knees, but her legs are stiff and she has her front legs curled under her so she won't stand on them even if I pick her up. No snot, no drool, no tears or eye moisture. What on earth can cause this? All of the other goats are healthy and doing well. Any ideas? What can I do until the vet gets back to me? Goat kidded in March, so that shouldn't be the problem and she hasn't been bred yet this year.
Adult goat down
- Thread starter dragon18
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bonbean01
Herd Master
I have no clue...but hope the vet gets back to you asap and your patient gets better!!!! 
babsbag
Herd Master
The only thing that comes to my mind is founder, but that is truly a shot in the dark. Here is an article you can read and see if any of it fits your doe. Hope she recovers for you.
http://www.tennesseemeatgoats.com/articles2/founderingoats.html
http://www.tennesseemeatgoats.com/articles2/founderingoats.html
Maybe an internal parasite infestation. Is she anemic? Maybe that is whats causing her weakness...
Since she doesnt have a temp its def not bacterial or viral so dont bother giving her antibiotics.
Since she doesnt have a temp its def not bacterial or viral so dont bother giving her antibiotics.
- Thread starter
- #5
Thanks for all of the advice... Vet finally came out and was... well, not really as helpful as I had hoped, but he did an exam and is going to make some calls and took some samples and hopefully will get back to me with some useful advice. He basically said to keep doing what I'm doing for now. We are shifting her position every few hours and we are propping her up so she can be close to her hay. She falls on her side every few hours so we check on her often. She is still eating, drinking and pooping and still won't get up. Hooves and lower limbs are not hot, so it does not appear to be founder, but she is in really poor body condition and very weak despite eating and drinking normally. I thought I saw her have a slight convulsion last night after the vet left (neck stiffened up and went to the left and she stopped eating for a sec... then she kind of wobbled her head and snapped out of it and went back to eating her hay) so I just don't know if she'll make it but she seems stable at least now. Ugh, just wish there was something I could do for her. She does not seem to be suffering (well except when she falls on her side as that makes her very unhappy) and is still bright and alert and curious with a normal temp and she really wants molasses, but if I knew this would continue to progress I would put her down now to save her from suffering. Guess I'm still hoping for some good news. Can CAE express itself in this way? She just doesn't seem to have the classical symptoms for anything so it's hard to figure out the right course of action here. Hoping she gets better.
ksalvagno
Alpaca Master
Make sure when he does a fecal that coccidia is included. A heavy wormload that has been going on for a while can cause this.
Now that I think about it, maybe meningeal worms? We had a ewe with that with almost the same symptoms.
- Thread starter
- #8
Well he found some coccidia in the fecal culture, but not huge numbers and I think it might be a secondary thing... We are treating her with dimethox (day 2) but so far no improvement.
But this meningeal worm... That just might be along the right lines and wouldn't show up in a fecal test. There are whitetail deer everywhere around us and the symptoms match (although I haven't seen her itching, but that might just be next step). She is still alert and pooping and eating and drinking and not getting up. I've had goats get sick, but never ones that don't lose their appetite like this one. No new tremors, and aside from not using her legs, she looks normal and certainly tells me what she wants with her head. I'm guessing she's too far along as she won't use her legs at all, even if I pick her up now, but I think we're going to get some ivermectin plus for her as soon as the store opens tomorrow (I guess regular ivermectin won't do here?) and we'll treat the whole herd just to be safe and do what we can to keep her comfortable. I kind of feel like we're treating blindly here, but nothing else seems to make sense. This is definitely the worst part about raising goats
But this meningeal worm... That just might be along the right lines and wouldn't show up in a fecal test. There are whitetail deer everywhere around us and the symptoms match (although I haven't seen her itching, but that might just be next step). She is still alert and pooping and eating and drinking and not getting up. I've had goats get sick, but never ones that don't lose their appetite like this one. No new tremors, and aside from not using her legs, she looks normal and certainly tells me what she wants with her head. I'm guessing she's too far along as she won't use her legs at all, even if I pick her up now, but I think we're going to get some ivermectin plus for her as soon as the store opens tomorrow (I guess regular ivermectin won't do here?) and we'll treat the whole herd just to be safe and do what we can to keep her comfortable. I kind of feel like we're treating blindly here, but nothing else seems to make sense. This is definitely the worst part about raising goats
bonbean01
Herd Master
Hope that helps her tomorrow...so stressful when a critter is not doing well...really hope she gets better
porkchop48
Ridin' The Range
This is my Mengineal worm story - Sorry about the copy from another post where I posted it... Just a little busy to type it out right now.
The difference I can see is with Kreature it was her back legs ( which I have heard is how it starts) and looking a Kreature the day before you never would have known she was sick. She is a little on the hefty side. No signs of weight loss at all in her.
Here comes my back leg dragging story... If it helps any.
Kreature if my 3 yaer old boer doe. Sweetheart of a doe. About 2 weeks ago I went into the pasture to hold the gate so Dh could get the tractor through the maze of goats. he pointed out that Kreature looked like she had a hard time getting up. After she got up she tried to pee and had a hard time. I thought ok maybe a UTI.... I ended up watching her for a little while that morning before work and noticed a bit of weakness in the hind end.
I immediately started her on Safe guard at 1 CC per 7 lbs, a shot of banamine and a shot of Ivormec Plus. I went to work. Came home 10 hours later and found her at the lower barn unable to stand at all. Called Dh who came home from work. Drove the truck down and we loaded her into the back of the truck with the help of a heavy blanket. ( we picked up part of her and slide it under then kinda rolled her).
She recieved 5 days of the safeguard, 3 days of the banamine and Vitamin B-12 complex shots daily for 5 days. No real improvement for the first 5 days. She continued to eat and drink. By day 6 she would get up enough to turn around ( with no real grace) and by day 8 she surprised us all by walking out of the barn to lay in the sun. Now she looked like a goat who had already drank a 12 pack or so but she was up and I had some home. 12 days into it she now walks like a 6 packer but is still improving daily.
My vet mentioned menengial worm and was not optimistic in the outcome but suggested we might have caught it early enough.
The difference I can see is with Kreature it was her back legs ( which I have heard is how it starts) and looking a Kreature the day before you never would have known she was sick. She is a little on the hefty side. No signs of weight loss at all in her.
Here comes my back leg dragging story... If it helps any.
Kreature if my 3 yaer old boer doe. Sweetheart of a doe. About 2 weeks ago I went into the pasture to hold the gate so Dh could get the tractor through the maze of goats. he pointed out that Kreature looked like she had a hard time getting up. After she got up she tried to pee and had a hard time. I thought ok maybe a UTI.... I ended up watching her for a little while that morning before work and noticed a bit of weakness in the hind end.
I immediately started her on Safe guard at 1 CC per 7 lbs, a shot of banamine and a shot of Ivormec Plus. I went to work. Came home 10 hours later and found her at the lower barn unable to stand at all. Called Dh who came home from work. Drove the truck down and we loaded her into the back of the truck with the help of a heavy blanket. ( we picked up part of her and slide it under then kinda rolled her).
She recieved 5 days of the safeguard, 3 days of the banamine and Vitamin B-12 complex shots daily for 5 days. No real improvement for the first 5 days. She continued to eat and drink. By day 6 she would get up enough to turn around ( with no real grace) and by day 8 she surprised us all by walking out of the barn to lay in the sun. Now she looked like a goat who had already drank a 12 pack or so but she was up and I had some home. 12 days into it she now walks like a 6 packer but is still improving daily.
My vet mentioned menengial worm and was not optimistic in the outcome but suggested we might have caught it early enough.
