# Sick goat HELP



## GoatLover89 (Feb 17, 2010)

I have a 3 month old Nubian/Boar cross i bought her and her twin sister when they were 2 weeks old and bottle fed them. Up until 2 weeks ago my goat Jasmine and had some problems and i have read every book. and looked into every goat sickness their is and i cant find ANYTHING that matches her symptoms. She cant walk up my front steps without falling down. when she is walking on the ground she will just fall over. She eats and drinks just fine. but dosnt seem to be gaining any weight.  When she walks it looks like she has pulled a tendon in her front right leg. I cant figure out whats wrong with her when her sister is a picture of health.

If anyone knows what is wrong with her is their soemthing i can do at home? im to much in a financal bind and cant afford a vet At the moment.

If anyone can give me thier thoughts or information id be so greatful!

Thank you.


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## mnblonde (Feb 17, 2010)

Caprine Arthritis Encephalitis (CAE)  Virus. Infectious to others.
	Knees becomes enlarges, lameness, weight wasting, hard udder. Pneumonia, chronic cough. 	Isolate and remove animal from herd.

check this site:
http://www.jackmauldin.com/diseases.htm


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## ksalvagno (Feb 17, 2010)

Did she possibly have any type of accident that might have affected her spine?

Is it the front end or back end with walking problems? Meningeal worm comes to mind if you have deer in the area and the goats have been out and nibbling on grass. Usually you see weakness in the back end first.


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## goat lady (Feb 17, 2010)

I have a little doe that she just up and would fall down for no reason. She eats, drinks, and poops fine. She still comes right up to me. We got her when she was 3 weeks old and she is a bottle baby. She was born on July 4, 09. It seems to be something in her hind legs. Sometimes she walks like she had a drink or two.   She stopped growing, but other than that is fine.  We don't have a vet close to us that works on large animals. So the guy I got her from thought maybe she had parisites and suggested I take a sample to my dog vet. Which they run it for me and found nothing and checked for worms and she was fine there.   Since she acts fine and is eating okay. We just consider her our special goat.  With her being so little I don't want to breed her, so I just keep her in a separate pen by my main pen so she is not lonely.    Sorry I could not help and sorry this got long. But I understand how you feel. I wish we had vets in our area that work on large animals. Good luck.


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## mnblonde (Feb 17, 2010)

Another possibility                                                                           Floppy Kid Syndrome -Some people believe it is caused by too much rich milk and others believe that it is associated with e-coli.
	Newborn kids seem to do well for  a few days after birth then start to show depression and weakness of limbs that progress to flaccid paralysis. Drunken appearance. No signs of diarrhea or elevated temperature. Possible distension of the abdomen. 	Remove kid from source of Milk immediately for 24 to 36 hours. Dissolve a teaspoon of sodium bicarbonate in a glass of water. With a syringe administer between 20 and 50 cc of the solution orally. Do it slowly so the kid has time to swallow. Repeat the treatment at 1, 3, 6, 12 hours from initial treatment. Feed electrolytes as alternative until returned to milk. Also administer a wide spectrum antibiotic to prevent secondary bacterial infections.

ANOTHER POSSIBLE SOLUTION Treatment is one-half tsp baking soda, mixed with electrolytes and one-half teaspoon Pepto-Bismol.
 Repeat in 6-12 hours.  Not required to pull from mother's milk from this solution's perspective
Third Solution - If the kid can still walk but is wobbly then give  2cc long-acting penicillin orally and 500MG thiamin. The Thiamin is mixed with the penicillin, and is imperative to recovery This should work in 6 hours. If the kid is comatose, give 5CC %50 dextrose orally and keep warm. Give the pen and thiamin for 3 days once a day.


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## cmjust0 (Feb 17, 2010)

GoatLover89 said:
			
		

> I have a 3 month old Nubian/Boar cross i bought her and her twin sister when they were 2 weeks old and bottle fed them. Up until 2 weeks ago my goat Jasmine and had some problems and i have read every book. and looked into every goat sickness their is and i cant find ANYTHING that matches her symptoms.


I'm not sure I follow...

I've gathered that they were two weeks old when you got them, and that they're 3 months old now...roughly 12 weeks.  

That's were you lose me..  

Are you saying you bottle fed them up until about 2 weeks ago, at which point Jasmine began to have problems?  



> She cant walk up my front steps without falling down. when she is walking on the ground she will just fall over. She eats and drinks just fine. but dosnt seem to be gaining any weight.  When she walks it looks like she has pulled a tendon in her front right leg.


First of all, how does she fall?  Does she go down in her front legs first, or in the back?  Does she just stop and flop right over on here side??  Does it seem that she's seeming to fall over from general _weakness?_

As for the tendon thing...I literally have no idea what it would look like if a goat pulled a tendon in its right front leg, not to mention the fact that goats have MANY tendons in their legs and the straining of one might produce a different reaction than another..  As such, I'm not really getting much from the analogy.  

Can you tell us a bit more about what it looks like to watch her walk, with respect to the right front leg?  I mean, is she holding her leg up and not bearing weight on it?  Is her leg just sorta dangling or folding up under her as she walks?  Is the right front leg what's causing her to fall all the time, or is it just "something else" that's going on?

Be as descriptive as you can be.

If she's unable to walk and is pulling up a front leg, and if the front leg seems to be what's causing her to fall down....well, then I'd say it's a front leg injury.

My gut, though, says that if it were as simple as a front leg injury, you'd know it.  My gut's telling me that she's probably "off" in general, and just sorta seems to be weakly stumbling around.

If that's the case...and given that she's 3mo old, eating and drinking, but not gaining weight, probably the first thing I'd look at would be coccidiosis.  Not necessarily an acute case where they have a pretty sudden onset of watery diarrhea and all that, but a chronic case..

There's actually not a whole lot written about chronic coccidiosis..

So...does she just generally seem to be weak?


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## GoatLover89 (Feb 17, 2010)

Sadly Jasmine died today. i have no idea what could of been wrong with her. But i took her off their bottles 1 and a half months or more ago. But i thank ALL of you for your help.


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## cmjust0 (Feb 17, 2010)

Really sorry to hear that.


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## helmstead (Feb 17, 2010)

so sorry to hear this.  It could have been any number of things, and without a vet's help in diagnosing it you will never know.  CAE can produce neurological problems like this in kids.  FKS is generally a neonatal issue hitting very young animals.  Mycoplasma, menangeal worms, encephalitis from various causes...even a selenium deficiency.


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## goat lady (Feb 17, 2010)

Sorry to hear about your loss.


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## Lil Chickie Mama (Feb 17, 2010)

I'm so sorry


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## Roll farms (Feb 17, 2010)

Sorry for your loss.

I would take the remaining kid (or it's poop) in to a vet for a fecal / well baby check.

I'd also probably give her a selenium injection, just for grins.

Has she been vaccinated w/ CDT and boosted?

We lost kids our first year to cocci, and because they were our first, I didn't really know anything was wrong, since they ate, played, etc.   
Once I started treating them and saw how kids were supposed to act, the difference was amazing.


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## ()relics (Feb 18, 2010)

sorry about your loss but you need to concentrate on your living kid to prevent another loss...I would get the healthy kid started on a feed with some sort of coccidistat, decox,monensin, whatever you like....I tend to agree with RF a kid that overloads on cocci doesn't have much of a chance...besides even if it is something else the feed additive can only help th youngster and you will be able to take the cocci cause off your worry list...


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## Roll farms (Feb 18, 2010)

Keep in mind also that if they already have a heavy cocci load, the feed alone will not 'cure' them, they will need treated for several days with something to kill it off.

I use dimethox for 5-7 days to treat.

The medicated feeds will prevent cocci if they eat enough of it to keep the levels of medication high enough to do so...it will not KILL cocci already running rampant in their system.


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## lilhill (Feb 18, 2010)

So sorry you lost your baby.


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## ksalvagno (Feb 18, 2010)

sorry for your loss.


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