# Sneezing, Coughing, Green Snot



## emilypaonia

Hi Everyone,

My whole herd seems to be coming down with "cold" symptoms.  Some of them have runny noses with green snot, some are coughing, some are sneezing a lot.  I have lambs in the barn too (separate from my goats, but they can sneeze on each other through the fence) that are also having similar symptoms.  

Don't know what triggered it or what it could be or what could treat it.  I want to fix it.  I tend to want to lean more toward natural/herbal remedies rather than zapping everyone with chemical treatments.

My goats have access to great pasture and scrubland, they are fed kelp, hoegger's minerals, salt licks, a good grain ration for the milkers, good hay or fresh cut grass at feeding times.  There are LOADS of flies in the barn right now (don't know if flies could give them cold symptoms).  Nothing in their diet has changed.

I have added 3 new 2 month old wethers from my friends farm a week ago.  I seemed to notice the symptoms more after they arrived, so maybe they brought something, but these new boys don't seem to have the symptoms as bad.

I also bought lambs in June from another friends farm.  He has had clostridium on his farm but he vaccinated the lambs for it.  I know goats can get clostridium too, and both sheeps and goats can die from it.  I don't know the symptoms very well, but I am afraid of it and want to make sure this is not beginning signs.

Thanks, in advance, for your help!


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## emilypaonia

And, I don't have a good goat vet in town  - sigh.


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## emilypaonia

anyone?


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## Beekissed

Could they have nasal fly bots?  Last year about this time my sheep came down with these symptoms and all my reading led me to believe they had the bots....the right time of the year, hot weather, lots of flies bothering them.

I bolused mine with a strong mix of garlic, unpastuerized ACV and raw honey....my usual mix for parasites.  I also cleaned out their noses well and applied Vicks Vaporub with a long Q-tip.  I know this sounds crazy but the symptoms were gone the next day and didn't return.


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## Emmetts Dairy

I would check temps. Could be pneumonia or parasites.  I would tend to think the two new young ones brought something like pneumonia which is not that uncommon for little ones to get.  I would HIGHLY recomend getting CD&T vaccinations into all of them if that was not done when by the former owner.  But if its pneumonia I would treat all with Nuflor (vet rx)  
Good luck.

PS I wanna add dont give the vaccinations till all are over their illness.  You should'nt give a sick goat vaccines.


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## emilypaonia

thank you!  what is normal goat temp? and do you do rectal temps?  does pneumonia generally come with fever?


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## Pearce Pastures

I believe normal rectal temps are around 102-103, but that can vary too especially given the hot weather.  If it is over 103.5, I'd be concerned, given our recent run of illness here.  Pneumonia can cause a fever, though it is more common for adult goats to have this as a symptom.  

If you do go the Rx route, I agree that Nuflor is the way to go-our were given Baytril at first but ended up having to go back when it didn't work.

Good luck


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## emilypaonia

is there any way to be sure it is pneumonia without a vet consultation?  i don't wanna go ahead dosing everyone if it is not.  i tried a rectal temp this morning, but looks like thermometer was not working, i am off to the drug store for a working thermometer.  

symptoms are relatively mild, so i am wondering/hoping if it is something related to flies/hot weather....  i am also going to clean out the barn to give the flies fewer places to love and i have started to catch many flies.  some of the young goats seems to cough more right after letting go of the teat... ??? seems strange.  but definitely one of my adult goats has snot around her nose. and i hear everyone kind of coughing down there...

thanks for all the help, we'll see what the temps are!


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## elevan

emilypaonia said:
			
		

> is there any way to be sure it is pneumonia without a vet consultation?  i don't wanna go ahead dosing everyone if it is not.  i tried a rectal temp this morning, but looks like thermometer was not working, i am off to the drug store for a working thermometer.
> 
> symptoms are relatively mild, so i am wondering/hoping if it is something related to flies/hot weather....  i am also going to clean out the barn to give the flies fewer places to love and i have started to catch many flies.  some of the young goats seems to cough more right after letting go of the teat... ??? seems strange.  but definitely one of my adult goats has snot around her nose. and i hear everyone kind of coughing down there...
> 
> thanks for all the help, we'll see what the temps are!


You could try listening to their lungs with a stethoscope...pneumonia often sounds like they are trying to breathe through water (watery sounding breaths)....listen to your own lungs first to get a feel for normal breath sounds.

A vet is your best best for diagnosis...but sometimes you got to do what you can on your own.

It does sound like pneumonia to me too.  You said some of the young goats cough more after being on the teat...sounds classic for pneumonia in nursing kids.


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## Caprice_Acres

Widespread pneumonia is going to be hard to treat with natural remedies. Herbal treatments often involve huge doses every hour. That's way more work than what I'd want to do, which is why I don't do many herbal treatments. If you're not using the right combination of herbs, it's also a waste of time. I've seen people swear by herbal treatments but their animals GENERALLY take 2x as long to heal and often are unthrifty for longer periods of time. I use both, and HONESTLY with serious things I use chemicals/antibiotics, though only as needed. Herbal preventions are less costly but honestly, healthy quality goats should not need a bunch of crap shoveled into them daily to stay healthy. I feed balenced rations, free choice alfalfa/grass hay, free choice minerals, and call it good. I just use antibiotics as sparingly and only as NEEDED. 

Pneumonia is severely damaging to lungs and can cause shortened lifespans, general unthriftiness even if they are treated,  stunted kids that don't reach breeding size their first year (or ever), and since the scar tissue can prevent the death of the bacteria, it can be recurring.  They need regular (daily) doseages of Oxytetracycline or maybe Penicillin. Though the bottle of oxytetracycline says every other day, it needs to be used DAILY in goats because of their fast metabolism.  I'm not sure what a doseage would be for sheep.  I'd use it for 10 days.  When I see green snot, if it's breeding stock or sale stock I hit them hard/quick with antibiotics.  If it's butchering stock, I often will just dress them out.  

DRY coughing can be a parasite - lungworm. That's treated with Ivermectin Plus. This is not accompanied with hacking or nasal discharge, however. Green snot is VERY indicative of bacterial pneumonia. 

I use penicillin sub-q at 1cc per 25lbs. I use oxytetracycline at the same rate if I remember correctly. I've been told that giving them sub-q to goats makes them last longer in their accellerated metabolisms, though I've used them sucessfully IM as well.


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## Emmetts Dairy

emilypaonia said:
			
		

> is there any way to be sure it is pneumonia without a vet consultation?  i don't wanna go ahead dosing everyone if it is not.  i tried a rectal temp this morning, but looks like thermometer was not working, i am off to the drug store for a working thermometer.
> 
> symptoms are relatively mild, so i am wondering/hoping if it is something related to flies/hot weather....  i am also going to clean out the barn to give the flies fewer places to love and i have started to catch many flies.  some of the young goats seems to cough more right after letting go of the teat... ??? seems strange.  but definitely one of my adult goats has snot around her nose. and i hear everyone kind of coughing down there...
> 
> thanks for all the help, we'll see what the temps are!


Not all will present fever. So dont disregard pneumonia just cuz there is no fever.  Green snot and cough is most likely pneumonia.  And as stated by another can cause alot of damage and death in the herd.  The Nuflor I recomended you will have to get from a vet.  Baytril dos'nt work well.  Heard that so many times before too.  Personally, If you cant get a vet out...listen to the lungs as elevan suggested and get some drugs into them.  Generally "green snot" indicates infection.  Heat alone will not produce green snot and lung worm is a dry hacking...no mucos t speak of.  

Hope it works out for you.  Good luck!


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## elevan

Here's a primer I was given regarding snot color:
Clear: Allergies
Yellow: Nasal Infection
Green: Respiratory Infection


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## Beekissed

> Green snot is VERY indicative of bacterial pneumonia.


My sheep had yellow/green snot and all the symptoms listed here.  When I treated them ONCE with my not so herbal, but certainly all natural, treatment those symptoms were gone the next day.  

Discoloration of mucus can be caused by white blood cells in the area and WBCs can be triggered and sent to a site by  the presence of allergens, a foreign body(such as a fly bot larva) or bacteria.  A cough can be triggered by increased drainage down the throat and into the trachea and not necessarily by fluid or bacterial infections inside the lungs.  

I've seen many a patient with green snot and even green expectorant that was not caused by pneumonia, viral or bacterial.


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## emilypaonia

Thank you all for your help, I really appreciate everyone's thoughts.  I am not discounting pneumonia, but I am hoping maybe not pneumonia.  Only one adult goat has greenish snot, but I noticed today that I think only in the morning - after being in the barn all night.  All day she is out on pasture and it seems to clear up.  Some goats are coughing, and some are doing the goat snort thing.  My guess is there are so many flies in the barn, the barn has not been cleaned in a while, there is a lot of dust in the barn, and perhaps nasal bots.  I am wondering if the snort/sneeze sound is to try to clear their nose of flies/bots and the coughing is from the dusty/dirty barn (I know, shame on me!).  I set out to shoveling manure all day today in the heat - phew.  The one goat with snot seems to have normal sounding lungs when I listened with a stethoscope, and her temp is normal.  I am going to keep doing my research, and keep a very close eye on the herd.  I want to try the garlic/ACV bolus, go crazy cleaning the barn, and see what happens.  

Is it possible the snot could come from lungworms?  The one goat with snot could be wormy, her coat is indicative of possible worms.  All the other goats have nice smooth shiny coats, hers does not look terrible, but just not as nice as the others.  I have been giving her molly's herbal wormer, but I know that does not treat lungworm.

Also, all the coughing I am hearing is dry coughing.

Thank you so much, this is all very informative!  I am learning lots.  I am cautious of the pneumonia, I have been reading a lot about it today, I am just not quite convinced yet...


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## Roll farms

It's been my experiece that a truly sick goat will go off feed, stand sort of humped up off to themselves, spike a fever, etc.  That is the only time I use antibiotics, when I see those signs....and it's been only 4-5 times over the course of many years of many goats.  
W/ those cases, I don't play around w/ pen g or tetracyclines, I use Nuflor and the recoveries have been amazingly fast and complete.

The rest of the time I tend to ignore snotty noses (unless it's a young kid), occasional coughs, etc.  I don't take antibiotics every time I get the sniffles.

My point is, if you really *needed* to use antibiotics to fix them....you probably already shoulda, or don't need to at all in this case.

I use Pen G for wounds, sick kids, rough kiddings, listeriosis, tetanus (thankfully not often, but I help a lot of goat people around here).

I have tetracycline injectable...I buy a new bottle every few yrs...but I rarely use it.

Nuflor for respiratory stuff or 'off' goats w/ a fever.  I keep it on hand b/c if they are truly sick enough to need it, waiting until the vet opens / you can go to town, etc. just might be too late.

I've only had one confirmed case of lungworm (others I suspected / treated for it, but that was the only vet-confirmed case) and she didn't have a snotty nose....but that doesn't mean yours couldn't.

I had a doe named "Allegra" who had hay allergies (I always thought that was funny-both the name and the allergy to her primary food source...).  
All fall / winter she'd have a snotty nose and look awful, but come spring she was right as rain again.

If you suspect your goat could be wormy, I'd have a fecal ran or just go ahead and deworm w/ ivo.  Also boost their copper intake if possible (in case it's a deficiency and b/c it can treat barberpole).  Lowered immune systems from deficiencies or worm overload will make it harder for them to fight off any little thing that comes along and could make an allergy / little bug turn into a bigger problem.

I truly believe that good preventative maintenance (ounce of prev) is truly more help than trying to guess what's wrong / fix a problem (pound of cure).  You can't prevent everything, but a healthy goat w/ a well functioning immune response is much better prepared to fight off what they encounter.


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## emilypaonia

Thank you roll farms, I appreciate your wisdom.  My goaties are all acting like normal goaties.  No one is off feed or acting out of character.  I cut grass for them with a scythe as their food source in the warmer months (when there is grass/alfalfa to cut) and they have free range access to pasture and scrubland.  Recently I have been coming up short finding enough grass on my property to cut as growth has slowed down around the yard, so I have been feeding sometimes these last few weeks some alfalfa hay from last year, which looks dusty, but they eat it right up - another suspect in the coughing/snot episode.

Lol about "Allegra"  - how peculiar, the name and the allergy!

I am going to keep a close eye, and maybe boosting their copper intake is something I should look into.  They get Hoegger's Golden Blend, which does have copper, but maybe they need more, as the soils around here are somewhat copper deficient.

Thanks so much everyone!  I sure do appreciate this forum!


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