# Goat with cold symptoms???



## ThornyRidge (Jan 22, 2011)

So as if I am not still mourning the loss of Tink, I now have a wether who seems like maybe he has a cold. The weather here in NE Ohio has been ridiculous!  Last night;s temp was -1 and in my barn it is hovering around 18-20 degrees.  OUtside temp is a whopping 7 but gee the sun is out.  Anyway his symptoms only include the following:  clear runny nose (but hard to tell if it is actually runny because of cold all have some clear snot) eyes seem clear and no discharge.  I  have heard him cough a couple times ( not all the time) he is off/depressed.  ate hay last night, not much appetite this morning. Seems to have some congested breathing. no fever at this time.. will monitor this.. but anyway I gave him a couple chewable vitamin c tablets, some probios paste and some vit a,d,e, b12 gel.  I went to drug store to check out children's cold medicines and found these and bought.. I have not yet given them to him because I don't know if I should and if so how much.. he is at least 85-95 lbs.  I bought Children's Dimetapp Cold and Cough liquid.. it contains Brompheniramine maleate 1 mg (antihistimine), dextromethorphan HBr 5 mg (Cough Suppressent); and Phenlyephrine HCl 2.5 mg (Nasal Decongestant) all this included ina  5 ml tsp.  The other stuff I bought was Children's Plus Multi Symptom Cold which includes the following: Acetaminophin 160 mg (pain reliever/fever reducer), chorphneiramine maleate, 1 mg antihistimine, dextromethorphan HBr 5 mg cough suppressant and Phenlyphrine Hcl 2.5 mg nasal decongestant.. again all in a 5 ml tsp.  anyone have any suggestions for him.. all the goats look so miserable because of cold.. all are shivering and fluffed out.. he is the one I am most concerned with.. as far as antibiotics all I have on hand is penic procaine g..left over from Tink.  oh and I did smear some generic vicks vaporub on his nose.. now it seems his breathing is louder and more noticeable.. not sure because of that odor around his nose i can hear him breathing after doing that..


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## ksalvagno (Jan 22, 2011)

I haven't used the children's medicine before so I would be more apt to use the Penicllin for animals. I hope your guy is ok.


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## DonnaBelle (Jan 22, 2011)

I can sure sympathize with you.  My little spotted Nubian Annie has pneumonia, I'm sure because she was diagnosed up at OSU large animal hospital.  I took her up there last fall for 10 days, no I won't tell you how enormous the bill was, DH thought I was CRAZY.

I got Nuflor from my local vet and gave it to her for several days in a row.  Nothing, zip, nada.  She still has the pneumona, her nose is always runny and she snots and snorts all the time.

I keep "vicks" on her nose all the time.  She is very well conditioned, no other symptoms except she does have that snotty nose all the time.

I had to accept that I had a goat with pneumonia.  I am hoping she's bred, she's been exposed to a buck.  

My vet said I just have to accept that she's a "lunger" and keep her comfortable and well fed, in a good barn and live with the situation.  

None of my other goats have it.  I think Annie got it the summer after she was born (she's 2 now) because the weather here was really damp and rainy all that year.

You can have blood test run, but it is expensive.  You can try the Nuflor and see if it helps your goat.

I hope this info helps.  

DonnaBelle


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## helmstead (Jan 22, 2011)

Please don't use the human cold meds.  Nuflor or Naxcel are choice respiratory meds, but Pen G would work in a pinch...better than nothing.

I'd also try some children's benadryl...

Donna - that's not so uncommon in Nubians, from what my vet says.  Has to do with the roman nose and smaller nostrils.  My Loira doe is more sensitive to cold and wet weather than the others, but has luckily never developed a URI...just gets a little nasal congestion with weather changes.


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## DonnaBelle (Jan 22, 2011)

A fellow with about 25-30 goats down the road from us got rid of his Nubians because he couldn't keep them alive here he said.

He moved up here from hotter, and much dryer West Texas.

He now has the Kiko's which seems to be the meat goat of choice around here.  

I'm not raising goats to make money or to sell. I just want to have them, they're my retirement hobby, and besides I've fallen in love with them all.  

DonnaBelle


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## julieq (Jan 22, 2011)

DonnaBelle said:
			
		

> A fellow with about 25-30 goats down the road from us got rid of his Nubians because he couldn't keep them alive here he said.  He moved up here from hotter, and much dryer West Texas. DonnaBelle


We have had just the opposite experience.  We purchased a group of mature Nubian does from southern Texas years back and brought them to Southern Idaho.  Our large dairy barn gets below freezing at night through most of the winter, but they did fine.  Same with the Kastdemur bottle babies we picked up in California.  No problem at all with the change in climate.


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## ThornyRidge (Jan 22, 2011)

any specific children's benadryl?  like to treat what specifically?  there seem to be like 5 of each brand with different symptoms and such.. anyway will get ahold of my vet but won't be able to get any of the prescription stuff until monday.. this always happens on weekends..


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## helmstead (Jan 22, 2011)

Just regular old liquid benadryl...will help with congestion (swelling of nasal passages) and, if it's allergies, will obviously help that too.  The clear snot makes me think it might be dust, etc.

Of COURSE it happens on the weekend!  :/


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## ThornyRidge (Jan 22, 2011)

got call into my vet.. not sure I can get him or anything cause I think I am dealing with pneumonia or something more significant than cold.. has a fever now and while messing around with him got him on a coughing spell that sounded like a fluidy type cough.. from chest area.. plus not sure this means anything but his breath smells awful.. like almost how when we are really sick our breath smells.. I am gonna go get some benedryl.. guess it won't hurt and also I did sq him with some penicillin.  he is nibbling grain and eats cookies.. outside of that I am not mentally prepared for this.. got him separate in stall he is not happy about that and put the fleece coat on ( a little small but covers his back and fastens around his neck.  guess I will keep up with the penicillin until I can figure something out or Monday rolls around and I can get a different antibiotic.. I don't have any on hand but what about biomycin?   I hate to use la 200 because of sting,, if it is better than pen I guess I could go sock 20 bux in a bottle from tsc but I know it is a real stinger.. and because of this goats size and strength I can only manage sq shots withhim.. I have no helper at this time to restrain..what about some children's ibuprofen?  would that help at all.. I think I still have some banamine down stairs in fridge I could do some of that..


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## ksalvagno (Jan 22, 2011)

1cc per 100lbs for the banamine. SQ is fine for banamine and penG.


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## ThornyRidge (Jan 22, 2011)

gave him the shot of banamine and also a drenching of the benadryl.  also sqirted a bit of the vetrx for goats in each of his nostrils tonight.. left him separate and when I was leaving he was nibbling his hay and had nibbled some grain.  he is not happy with me because the fleece coat is freakin him out... and now he thinks I am gonna stick him with a needle every time I come near him.. poor guy.. anyway vet never called back so I will keep up in the morning with the pen, maybe some more benadryl and the vetrx stuff..  another shot of banamine later tomorrow then too  if still has fever.. I also picked up some baby aspirin..hope fever breaks and I don't have to worry much about getting him to take them.  I did get the orange flavor so maybe


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## cmjust0 (Jan 24, 2011)

Fever = infection, so this isn't just a cold...clinically speaking, he *has* pneumonia.  Almost any vet would come to that conclusion and treat accordingly based on congested breathing and fever alone.

I dunno what dosage you're using for PenG, but if he's in the 90lb range, you should be giving 6ml of PenG *TWICE* a day through an 18ga needle..  A 20ga will work if you can't stomach an 18ga -- but no smaller than that.  

Do try to get some better meds than PenG, though.  Naxcel or Excenel would be good, and any vet should have that.  It's not cheap, but it's good stuff.


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## SDGsoap&dairy (Jan 24, 2011)

I'm with CM about the 18 gauge, but I wouldn't compromise and use a 20 gauge.  I've had the needle fly off a luer lock using a 20 with pen G and they tend to squirm even worse because it takes forever.


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## cmjust0 (Jan 24, 2011)

n.smithurmond said:
			
		

> I'm with CM about the 18 gauge, but I wouldn't compromise and use a 20 gauge.  I've had the needle fly off a luer lock using a 20 with pen G and they tend to squirm even worse because it takes forever.


Yikes!  Did the needle pop out of the hub, or did the whole hub fly off the syringe?!?  

For me, it's not about squirming or needles popping off anyway...I have no sympathy for squirmers and I use luer locks for a reason:  If they want to squirm, I just promise that a bent needle's gonna hurt more and leave it up to them to decide!   

The real issue is that the particles of PenG medication are suspended in liquid carrier, and some -- many, in my experience -- are just too big to fit through anything smaller than a 20ga needle..  Some won't even pass through a 20ga, but it's *usually* OK..  Either way, using smaller needles with PenG leads to clogs when drawing up the medication, which leads ot puffing med back into the bottle and drawing again...and puffing, and drawing...puff, draw...puff, draw...until you get a syringe full of _something white_ that looks like PenG.  Unfortunately, what you really have is a syringe full of too much liquid carrier and not enough actual medication, along with a bottle full of too much med and not enough carrier..  Weakly-dosed syringes; over-dosed bottle..  Do it enough times out of the same bottle and real-world dosages can get *really* wacky.

If you read the back of a PenG bottle, I think most actually call for *16* gauge needles -- but even I'm not that much of a b@stard.  

Not at this point, anyway.


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