Sniffles...

[goodgirlmolly]

Hello guys!
My 2 week old Nigerian Doeling has sniffles.
She's fine in every other way.
Any advice? Too young for a dab of VetRX?

 

[glenolam]

Does she have a temperature? Is she still eating/drinking/pooing/peeing well? Does she seem off? A little more info might help.

 

[goodgirlmolly]

Sorry. No fever. She's nursing & her poop & pee are fine.
She's bouncing off the walls (and anything else she can bounce off of)
with her brother too. She's just sniffly - a tiny bit raspy - upper respiratory though. I put her chest to my ear (she's tiny). I don't hear any weezing or crackling.
I thought there might be something I should have on hand as a preventative or just in case it turns into something.
Thanks in advance

 

[Emmetts Dairy]

More info might help...but could be anything..what exactly so you mean by sniffles?

Running nose..running eyes..cough??? I would take a temp for sure.

Just a small sneeze here and there and a wetter nose at times just could be a bit of dust from hay??

 

[goodgirlmolly]

I'm in CT. too, by the way!

 

[goodgirlmolly]

Runny (clear) nose & has sneezed a few times. Could be dust. Normal temp.

 

[Emmetts Dairy]

Im sure additional advice will come thru..but I would watch closely and not let these symtoms go on too long. Make sure there are no drafts and shes kept warm.

Could be just dusty hay and change of weather..but shes young so I would watch closely!

Good Luck...

 

[cmjust0]

Could be dust, allergies, etc., but those things sometimes lead to secondary infection. Watch her closely. If she goes off **at all** I'd start her on PenG @ 1ml/15lbs of bodyweight 2x/day for about a week and look for improvement within 24-36 hours. If you don't see improvement by then, see a vet for a better antibiotic.

Also, use an 18ga needle for PenG if you can stomach it, but NO LESS than a 20ga. PenG is a suspension, and it's often "extra chunky." Generally speaking, the actual medication particles are too big to pass through anything less than a 20ga, and sometimes not even then, which is why I *always* use an 18ga -- even on babies..

And, yes, I know that kinda makes me a b*stard.

Regardless, the point is that having to constantly push the plunger to blow the bigger chunks back into the bottle as you draw it up may not seem like a big deal at first, but what you'll eventually wind up with is a bottle containing all the bigger medication chunks and no carrier...which means you've effectively underdosed *every single shot* from the whole bottle by a factor of however much "leftover" med chunks remain once all the carrier's gone. Could be a little...could be a lot.

Either way, underdosing antibiotics is way not good.

So, that's what I'd so, and mostly because she's still a tiny baby and because it's winter, and because sick babies can go downhill **really fast** when it's cold out.

Keep'em peeled, and keep us posted.

 

[goodgirlmolly]

Thank you guys so much - it's a relief to know you're all there! I'm glad you told me about the needle gauge - I wasn't aware of that... which is kind of scary. We have a great vet but I'm trying to do as much of the goat care as i can myself. She nursed about 10 minutes ago.
Thanks again!

 

[helmstead]

I'd try the vetrx first...that stuff is awesome.

I'm not shy, per say, to use antibiotics...but if there's no temperature, and nothing more than a runny nose...well...

Our weather here has changed drastically a few times over the last few weeks...it's sniffles weather.