# Kate &  Keren to the Goat help desk Please!



## Griffin's Ark (Jun 24, 2009)

Got bottle jaw in a month old kid!  I am really hating the rain now!  He is to young to worm, but I will do it anyway.  B complex too, and some Nutri-drench.  Besides taking a fecal sample to the vet anything else I should do while waiting for a answer from the vet?

Chris

Edited to change title -  you can always count on one of them to help you in a pinch!


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## helmstead (Jun 24, 2009)

I just PMed you!

He's not too young to deworm, we start all of our kids on a montly deworming protocol at 4 weeks.


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## username taken (Jun 24, 2009)

Calm down for a few minutes and breathe ... 

Does it look like this? This is 'milk neck' ... perfectly normal for babies, its just a fat deposit from all that rich milk!

(Photos from Fiasco Farms)


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## Griffin's Ark (Jun 24, 2009)

Calm down?    you should see me when we kid!  Lambing is boring, but when the kids come    .  

OK Keren you were right on with the pictures! That is exactly what it looks like.  But I use the FAMACHA method to check for worms and anemia, due to the bad Barber Pole worm problem here.  The little guy was/is anemic so we are treating almost the whole herd.  Anyone that didn't have top color in the eyes got treated with cydectin, and anyone that had little color got Nutri-drench, B complex and Cydectin.  First thing in the morning we will check eyes and add iron supplement if we have to.

Thanks!!!!

Chris


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## username taken (Jun 25, 2009)

okay, well keep the milk neck in mind if it doesnt disappear after the worming ... dont worry too much about it. 

FWIW the FAMACHA hasnt worked real well for me ... according to that my goats are wormy but according to their faecals they are clean. Go figure


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## Griffin's Ark (Jun 25, 2009)

In the next day or so I should know if the FAMACHA method is working for us.  If it is not I will revert back to the microscope method.

Chris


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## helmstead (Jun 25, 2009)

I don't rely on the FAMANCHA method, either.  I don't feel it is an accurate measure of anything other than cap refill to look at the gums...and by the time you have pale eyelids you have seriously missed the boat.


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## Griffin's Ark (Jun 25, 2009)

We see the light at the end of the tunnel.  All of the goats are responding well.  We will treat again on Sunday for worms and continue daily with iron supplements and Nutri-drench.  I see color coming back into the gums and eyes (the best thing that I learned about though was milk neck and Red Cell).  Got a gallon of Red Cell and gonna take pictures of the milk neck.  The Nigerian pasture was doing so well up until a few days ago.  Now that all is drying out I hope to keep up with the parasites a little better.  The fly predators will be here this week!

Chris


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## Griffin's Ark (Jun 29, 2009)

Ok so bottle Jaw and Milk neck are now out.  It broke open this morning.  Very nasty!  So I shaved the little guys neck and it really smelled bad.  Tetanus antitoxin right off the bat.  Now lets look at it some more.  Two little holes in it.  Like some sort of snake bite or rat bite.  The good thing is he is eating and playing like the other kids and really made at me for cleaning out what I would have to call a sebaceous cyst.  I added Liquimyacin LA for the long haul, then let him relax for an hour and drenched him with red cell.  He is not running a temp and other than my reaction to the whole thing everything else is normal.  I suspect I will have to take him to the vet this week and get the cyst lanced and cleaned.  I am going to take pictures just in case anyone wants to see this thing.

Chris


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## Griffin's Ark (Jun 29, 2009)

Here are the pics. You can't see all that well, but it looked like milk neck and he had symptoms of worms...










I should have known through the replies that I got that this was not what it seemed.  If it would have been anywhere else on his body, it would have been a routine lancing and draining.  

Chris


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## username taken (Jun 29, 2009)

ookkkaaay, I did not see that one coming, I'll admit  I was pretty convinced it was milk neck lol

Glad to see its all working out okay ... if it has burst by itself, what I would do is use a bird feeding needle (blunt end) and simply flush it out with boiled water or saline twice a day. Give him a course of your antibiotic of choice and he should be fine. 

The holes you are seeing are not neccesarily bite marks ... they could just be multiple holes from where the abcess has come to a head and burst. 

The little guy doesnt look real happy, but honestly that wound looks really really good 

For what its worth, most of the time you are better leaving abcesses to burst naturally, then flushing them out. Lancing for the most part doesnt help it heal any quicker, and can sometimes cause more trouble. 

Thanks for the update (and btw, I love the changed title  )


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## Chaty (Jun 30, 2009)

Looks and sounds like a sebacious cyct to me especially since it smelled really bad. I have had 1 do this and we drained it and it was AWFULLL smelly also. CL dont smell and is like a thick paste.  If its broken open keep fly spray of some type on it and do give antibiotics to help clear it up. It does take a while to heal.


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## Griffin's Ark (Jun 30, 2009)

Oh he is going to hate me after a good flushing!  I just got him and his brother tamed down and I have the buyer who fell in love with them immediately that wants to see them.   He was supposed to travel this weekend for a visit, but he does not go to the buyer 'till the first of August.  He is doing real well today, went to pasture with mom and brother.  We have the cyst reduced by about half and he doesn't appear anemic anymore.  I am pretty sure he is out of the woods, now he just has to keep it clean.  I keep telling him he can't go out and head butt the other kids, but a kid just has to be a kid!


Chris


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## username taken (Jun 30, 2009)

oh I feel your pain! 

One of my permanent residents here - Chaplin my harness wether - had a retained testicle so I couldnt castrate him. He went to the vet, and they did it surgically - found the missing testicle up near his kidneys. He was only 12 wks old and came home to me with a zipper (incision) from the scrotum all the way to the pizzle because they just had to open him up and go searching. Well, I tried to do the right thing and separate him from his brother and two sisters (all bottle babies), that lasted overnight - by the next morning I put them back together because he was throwing himself at the fence trying to get out - he just wanted to bounce and play!


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