Can goats get laryngitis????

[JonesLaneHomestead]

This may seem like a weird question.....

One of my goats started losing her voice. I was out of town over the weekend and when I got back, I noticed her calls were very quiet but rough (she is by far my loudest goat). My brother said he had noticed she would cough, but I haven't heard it other than once.

When I left on Friday, I noticed one of her eyes seem to have a discharge, but it was clear, so I attributed it to dust (we haven't had rain in quite a while). I got home Sunday and noticed her lack of volume. This morning I noticed it again. It is still only one eye.

I don't have a thermometer (any recommendations on where to get one, local or online), so I don't know if she is running a temp. I checked her eyes and they are bright and pink. She is still eating like normal, and her fur is still very shiny. She is a healthy goat in everything else, she just doesn't have her voice.

Any thoughts would be appreciated, in case I missed anything. I did check my goat care book and nothing matched the descriptions (which I am very thankful for because the sicknesses listed in the book seem terrible☹️).

I don't know if this is relevant, but I believe she is a Kiko/Boer (she was advertised as a Kiko, but her mom doesn't quite look like one) and she is just over a year. I have two other goats, her mom and a young buck, who are both normal.

Thank you in advance!

 

[JonesLaneHomestead]

This is what the discharge looks like this morning. Still had a great appetite but just made a squeak sound instead of her loud call.

 

[Chickengirl123]

Yes, goats can lose there voices from crying too much. See if you can find any chewable vitamin c to give her (500 mg twice a day).You can use a thermometer ment for humans, one of the ones that go under the tonge, if you’re concerned about a fever. As for the eyes, I don’t know. Hopefully someone else can chime in on that.

 

[Blue Sky]

When you get a thermometer get a sturdy one. The old fashioned glass tube design seems to be delicate these days. If one breaks clean it up carefully and thoroughly glass shards and mercury are dangerous. My neighbor’s heifer bawled so loud and long at weaning I got up in the middle of the night to make sure we didn’t have velociraptors. Bad enough when the Bigfoot researchers broadcast the chimp screeches. Seriously invest in a good thermometer even if it tells you what’s not wrong.

 

[JonesLaneHomestead]

Yes, goats can lose there voices from crying too much. See if you can find any chewable vitamin c to give her (500 mg twice a day).You can use a thermometer ment for humans, one of the ones that go under the tonge, if you’re concerned about a fever. As for the eyes, I don’t know. Hopefully someone else can chime in on that.

Is there a specific brand of vitamin c that is better or that I need to avoid?

For the thermometer, this is probably a sill question, but would I use it under the tongue?

 

[JonesLaneHomestead]

When you get a thermometer get a sturdy one. The old fashioned glass tube design seems to be delicate these days. If one breaks clean it up carefully and thoroughly glass shards and mercury are dangerous. My neighbor’s heifer bawled so loud and long at weaning I got up in the middle of the night to make sure we didn’t have velociraptors. Bad enough when the Bigfoot researchers broadcast the chimp screeches. Seriously invest in a good thermometer even if it tells you what’s not wrong.

Yeah, she's usually very noisy when she's hungry. I often wonder if I will go deaf one of these days.....

 

[animalmom]

Regarding using the thermometer... no it does not go under the goat tongue. It is used anally, which is not as gross as it sounds. Restrain your goat, take your thermometer, dip it in petroleum jelly (vaseline) and gently insert the tip into her butt. HOLD ON TO THE THERMOMETER. If you are using the glass kind you should wait a couple minutes to get a good read. If you are using an electronic under the tongue kind then just wait for the beep which is between 10 and 30 seconds.

I use the cheap electronic under the tongue kind. Here is an example. https://www.amazon.com/Precision-El...35998&s=baby-products&sr=1-13&ts_id=166862011

Use to be you could get them for a buck at the dollar stores, but since covid they have not been in stock.

The reason you hold on to the thermometer is it can get sucked up into the goat if she sneezes, gets the whim, or wants to totally upset you.

 

[JonesLaneHomestead]

Regarding using the thermometer... no it does not go under the goat tongue. It is used anally, which is not as gross as it sounds. Restrain your goat, take your thermometer, dip it in petroleum jelly (vaseline) and gently insert the tip into her butt. HOLD ON TO THE THERMOMETER. If you are using the glass kind you should wait a couple minutes to get a good read. If you are using an electronic under the tongue kind then just wait for the beep which is between 10 and 30 seconds.

I use the cheap electronic under the tongue kind. Here is an example. https://www.amazon.com/Precision-El...35998&s=baby-products&sr=1-13&ts_id=166862011

Use to be you could get them for a buck at the dollar stores, but since covid they have not been in stock.

The reason you hold on to the thermometer is it can get sucked up into the goat if she sneezes, gets the whim, or wants to totally upset you.

Okay thats what I thought. I just wanted to make sure.

Oh dear. That's good to know Wow, now I can only think about how uncomfortable that would be for the goat....

 

[Ridgetop]

One of my goats started losing her voice. I was out of town over the weekend and when I got back, I noticed her calls were very quiet but rough

Yes, goats can get hoarse from repeated bleating. Since you were gone for the weekend, she was probably calling for you all weekend. When we had dairy goats, we kept bucks and went to shows at various Fairs. Bucks are not allowed at Fairs. We would be gone for several days to a week at a time. We had a young buck penned alone near the does and we left for a short weekend show. When we returned, we were worried since he was not making any noise. When we went to the pen, we found that he was trying to bleat but had lost his voice from repeatedly calling for us and the herd for 2 days! He eventually regained his voice.

Since your goat has a discharge from her eyes, I suggest that you give her some antibiotics since she could have an infection or a cold. The problem with colds in goats is that it easily turns into summer pneumonia.

Livestock thermometers used to be made with a loop at the end so you could attach a string in case the thermometer got sucked up into the animal.

 

[JonesLaneHomestead]

Thank you so much for all the responses!

I went ahead and got the 500 mg chewable and am giving it morning and evening. I will say, she is not a big fan....

She's not squeaking as much and actually has a sound coming out. I did dose her and her mom with ivermectin just to make sure she didn't have a potential worm load on Tuesday. I also gave her a dropperful of goldenseal tincture (my most favorite herb for any health issues).

Her eyes aren't really running anymore. I'm still going to monitor her.

I did get a thermometer and checked her temp (and I held on tight!) and she is perfectly normal. So that's all good.