# Adult goat down



## dragon18

Waiting for a call back from my vet but I'm not sure how much time I really have here.  Have a goat (3 year old female) that has fallen over and won't stand up.  She was getting skinny over the last week or so (and all of my other goats are fat) so I had started jacketing her to keep her warm and feeding her separately thinking the other goats were maybe keeping her from getting the good food.  Now I found her today and she suddenly can't stand up at all.  She has not gone off of feed or water at all (and is really eating like she has never seen food before from a kneeling position on the ground so I am giving her the best hay I can find and she's getting some yoghurt).  She has a normal temp.  She is pooping (soft feces so not goat pebbles, but rather a big clump of feces that comes out - not at all liquid though).  She is peeing.  She is bright, alert, responsive.  I gave her a spoonful of molasses and she was trying to crawl over to me on her knees to get more.  She was dewormed with Ivomec a month ago and is up-to-date on her CD+T vaccine.  She has no swelling in her knees, but her legs are stiff and she has her front legs curled under her so she won't stand on them even if I pick her up.  No snot, no drool, no tears or eye moisture.  What on earth can cause this?  All of the other goats are healthy and doing well.  Any ideas?  What can I do until the vet gets back to me?  Goat kidded in March, so that shouldn't be the problem and she hasn't been bred yet this year.


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## bonbean01

I have no clue...but hope the vet gets back to you asap and your patient gets better!!!!


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## babsbag

The only thing that comes to my mind is founder, but that is truly a shot in the dark. Here is an article you can read and see if any of it fits your doe. Hope she recovers for you.

http://www.tennesseemeatgoats.com/articles2/founderingoats.html


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## SheepGirl

Maybe an internal parasite infestation. Is she anemic? Maybe that is whats causing her weakness...

Since she doesnt have a temp its def not bacterial or viral so dont bother giving her antibiotics.


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## dragon18

Thanks for all of the advice...  Vet finally came out and was...  well, not really as helpful as I had hoped, but he did an exam and is going to make some calls and took some samples and hopefully will get back to me with some useful advice.  He basically said to keep doing what I'm doing for now.  We are shifting her position every few hours and we are propping her up so she can be close to her hay.  She falls on her side every few hours so we check on her often.  She is still eating, drinking and pooping and still won't get up.  Hooves and lower limbs are not hot, so it does not appear to be founder, but she is in really poor body condition and very weak despite eating and drinking normally.  I thought I saw her have a slight convulsion last night after the vet left (neck stiffened up and went to the left and she stopped eating for a sec...  then she kind of wobbled her head and snapped out of it and went back to eating her hay) so I just don't know if she'll make it but she seems stable at least now.  Ugh, just wish there was something I could do for her.  She does not seem to be suffering (well except when she falls on her side as that makes her very unhappy) and is still bright and alert and curious with a normal temp and she really wants molasses, but if I knew this would continue to progress I would put her down now to save her from suffering.  Guess I'm still hoping for some good news.  Can CAE express itself in this way?  She just doesn't seem to have the classical symptoms for anything so it's hard to figure out the right course of action here.  Hoping she gets better.


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## ksalvagno

Make sure when he does a fecal that coccidia is included. A heavy wormload that has been going on for a while can cause this.


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## SheepGirl

Now that I think about it, maybe meningeal worms? We had a ewe with that with almost the same symptoms.


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## dragon18

Well he found some coccidia in the fecal culture, but not huge numbers and I think it might be a secondary thing...  We are treating her with dimethox (day 2) but so far no improvement.  

But this meningeal worm...  That just might be along the right lines and wouldn't show up in a fecal test.  There are whitetail deer everywhere around us and the symptoms match (although I haven't seen her itching, but that might just be next step).  She is still alert and pooping and eating and drinking and not getting up.  I've had goats get sick, but never ones that don't lose their appetite like this one.  No new tremors, and aside from not using her legs, she looks normal and certainly tells me what she wants with her head.  I'm guessing she's too far along as she won't use her legs at all, even if I pick her up now, but I think we're going to get some ivermectin plus for her as soon as the store opens tomorrow (I guess regular ivermectin won't do here?) and we'll treat the whole herd just to be safe and do what we can to keep her comfortable.  I kind of feel like we're treating blindly here, but nothing else seems to make sense.  This is definitely the worst part about raising goats


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## bonbean01

Hope that helps her tomorrow...so stressful when a critter is not doing well...really hope she gets better


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## porkchop48

This is my Mengineal worm story - Sorry about the copy from another post where I posted it... Just a little busy to type it out right now. 


The difference I can see is with Kreature it was her back legs ( which I have heard is how it starts) and looking a Kreature the day before you never would have known she was sick. She is a little on the hefty side. No signs of weight loss at all in her. 


Here comes my back leg dragging story... If it helps any.

Kreature if my 3 yaer old boer doe. Sweetheart of a doe.   About 2 weeks ago I went into the pasture to hold the gate so Dh could get the tractor through the maze of goats.   he pointed out that Kreature looked like she had a hard time getting up. After she got up she tried to pee and had a hard time. I thought ok maybe a UTI....  I ended up watching her for a little while that morning before work and noticed a bit of weakness in the hind end. 

I immediately started her on Safe guard at 1 CC per 7 lbs, a shot of banamine and a shot of Ivormec Plus.  I went to work. Came home 10 hours later and found her at the lower barn unable to stand at all. Called Dh who came home from work. Drove the truck down and we loaded her into the back of the truck with the help of a heavy blanket. ( we picked up part of her and slide it under then kinda rolled her). 

She recieved 5 days of the safeguard, 3 days of the banamine and Vitamin B-12 complex shots daily for 5 days.  No real improvement for the first 5 days. She continued to eat and drink. By day 6 she would get up enough to turn around ( with no real grace) and by day 8 she surprised us all by walking out of the barn to lay in the sun. Now she looked like a goat who had already drank a 12 pack or so but she was up and I had some home.   12 days into it she now walks like a 6 packer but is still improving daily. 

My vet mentioned menengial worm and was not optimistic in the outcome but suggested we might have caught it early enough.


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## bonbean01

Not sure why I didn't think of this before...I have sheep, not goats, but they share many health problems.

Our youngest lamb Dixie hadn't lost weight, and was eating and drinking fine...but noticed a weakness on her back legs and hips...thought she might have injured herself and we checked her carefully and no bones broken or breaks in her skin...thought it might be a pulled muscle, and no temp...so did the wait and see.

She got worse the next day and worse the day after...took her temp again and it was HIGH!!!!  Had read about bacterial arthritis and started shots of antibiotics right away...taught me that even though there is no fever one day, take it everyday when something is not right.

By the second day of antibiotic shots, there was a huge improvement and fever was gone...continued for 5 days of penicillin shots and she just got better and better...you would never know she had that now...back to her impy ways and totally fine.

Just something to consider...I would check her temp everyday just in case...learned my lesson on that!

We got Dixie before she was totally down...had her temp not gone way up, or if I didn't recheck her temp...not sure what the outcome would have been?

Porkchop...thank you for posting that...helps us all look for those symptoms.  Porkchop..was the temp ever high?   

I save all these things in a sheep problem file on my computer...thank you Porkchop for posting that...your post will go in my folder...in an emergency I don't want to go scrolling around trying to find a post 

Let us know how it's going Dragon! Hoping for a happy recovery


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## Goatlover200

i cant find out anything, but all i hope is she recovers well, i am a newbie and i haven't ever owned goats before.  but my username tells what i am


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## dragon18

Porkchop, I'm so happy that it turned out well for your goat.  We're going to have to euthanize our girl today.  Poor baby.  She can no longer use her neck as of this morning, the muscles have stiffened completely and she can't get to her food now at all.  Still no fever, normal temp.  Wish I knew what caused this, as I still feel lost.  Maybe meningeal worms, but it could be something else, I just don't know.  We'll be watching the rest of the herd closely, but so far they all seem healthy, just hope whatever it is won't spread.  Sorry for the sad ending everyone, but thanks for all of your suggestions and help.


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## bonbean01

So sorry


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## OneFineAcre

bonbean01 said:
			
		

> So sorry


I'm sorry to hear that.

But, if you have option to get a necropsy done, I would.

To just have a 3 year old goat go down like that, I would want to know the cause.


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## porkchop48

So sorry to hear that you are going to have to put her down. 

And to answer the question about Kreature - She never had a temp.   She just got done with another 5 day dosage of the Safeguard and the vet suggested it be repeated monthly for 4 months. 

I will start another post so I do not interrupt this one and post the few pics I have of her during her treatment ( day 2 and day 5) and a pic of her now.


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## Goatlover200

oh maan!! i am so ssd! so sorry! please post her pics here so we ccan alll keep her in our memmory.


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## SkyWarrior

Sorry to hear this.


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## Ellie-May

dragon18 said:


> Waiting for a call back from my vet but I'm not sure how much time I really have here.  Have a goat (3 year old female) that has fallen over and won't stand up.  She was getting skinny over the last week or so (and all of my other goats are fat) so I had started jacketing her to keep her warm and feeding her separately thinking the other goats were maybe keeping her from getting the good food.  Now I found her today and she suddenly can't stand up at all.  She has not gone off of feed or water at all (and is really eating like she has never seen food before from a kneeling position on the ground so I am giving her the best hay I can find and she's getting some yoghurt).  She has a normal temp.  She is pooping (soft feces so not goat pebbles, but rather a big clump of feces that comes out - not at all liquid though).  She is peeing.  She is bright, alert, responsive.  I gave her a spoonful of molasses and she was trying to crawl over to me on her knees to get more.  She was dewormed with Ivomec a month ago and is up-to-date on her CD+T vaccine.  She has no swelling in her knees, but her legs are stiff and she has her front legs curled under her so she won't stand on them even if I pick her up.  No snot, no drool, no tears or eye moisture.  What on earth can cause this?  All of the other goats are healthy and doing well.  Any ideas?  What can I do until the vet gets back to me?  Goat kidded in March, so that shouldn't be the problem and she hasn't been bred yet this year


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## Ellie-May

_Hi Dragon 18, Herd Lurker!   I'm just wondering if you ever figured out what happened to your goat?  _


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