# Limping Goat



## kahara (Aug 23, 2012)

Hello all! I am in need of some advice from experienced goat owners who may have come across this before. I searched the internet a lot yesterday, but didn't come up with something that quite fits the situation.

*Current problem:*
My parents have a white La Mancha/Spanish Meat Goat cross who is now a little over five years old. She was given to me as a day old kid from a local ranch, and the mother rejected her. I bottle raised her and she became a healthy, grown up goat, though she did have a pretty bad umbilical hernia as a youngster that I wrapped every day. Eventually it healed up where it was supposed to be and it has not been visible since. 

When I moved from my old house over three years ago, I gave "Annie" to my parents. Our current property isn't fenced suitably for goats, and they had one left that needed a buddy anyway. Now, my dad loves to spoil the animals and gives them treats and straight alfalfa. They have ten acres of pasture to run on as well, so as you can imagine Annie is very obese right now. I've asked him numerous times to feed grass hay, but he's still stuck in the old 80's way of thinking alfalfa is the way to go. I am working on him to realize what is happening to the animals when he allows them to gain weight like this (the horses too...that's a different story).

Yesterday my mother told me Annie is limping on her rear legs, like her hips/hocks are hurting her and she doesn't want to move around much. They didn't see any evidence of injury, etc. I asked if they tested her actual joint mobility, if she has a fever, any swelling, any heat, has he been trimming her hooves like I showed him, does she spend time on her knees, etc. but I don't have those answers yet. I can almost guarantee I know the answers though, and this is why.....

*Past problems:*
This is not the first goat of theirs this has happened to. All but one has occurred since I moved away, and that one had severe arthritis in her hind end as she got older...she died about 16 or 18 years old. She was geriatric and had a full life.

Since this is not the first one, I'm inclined to say it has something to do with environment, such as dietary, health care, soil, foliage, etc. For this to be the fourth goat in a span of nine years is too much, and Annie and another were about the same age (five/six). I'm pretty sure he hasn't been trimming her hooves like he needs to, which isn't usually a problem because the goats of my past have worn them down properly with the terrain, but Annie is so fat she doesn't move around like she used to. Even so, when we visited a couple weeks back (we live over an hour away) her hooves were longer than I like but not scary or curling or anything like that. In the case of soil/environmental issues, we live in Northern California foothills near the Tahoe region, if that helps. 

*Symptoms:*
On each goat, it has been either gradual or like Annie, just one day they don't want to walk right. She hadn't been out of the pasture to get into anything out of the ordinary to eat and such. It's the hind-end that is the issue, and they walk sort of stiff with a hitch in their gait, sometimes lifting one leg and not really putting it down when they walk. I'm not sure how Annie is walking at the moment because I haven't seen her yet, but I am basing this off of the last one I saw. The goats prior to Annie weren't as overweight as she is, either. There never seems to be heat or swelling, or evidence of injury. They don't run a temperature. One of them, an older one, used to walk with her spine sort of humped up towards her front and was reluctant to use one leg at all. She simply didn't put it down, and the other leg started breaking down from doing all the work. She seemed to generally have stiff mobility in it if you manually moved her leg(s). She also started losing weight and had a rough coat (probably due to age/nourishment) because she simply couldn't contend with the other goats any longer for food. I read that was symptoms of one of the diseases, but I don't know if it applies to this. 

It worries me there have been four goats now with this same problem. There's something going on. She's pastured with horses, but they get along well. The horses have known her since she was a tiny kid. I doubt it's a kick. What I was leaning towards was laminitis and founder, which is something I'm very familiar with in my gelding. Surprise, I'm dealing with the after-affects of that now with him after staying at my parent's house for a time (now we have suitable horse pasture at our house, so I brought my gelding home and am still getting the weight off of him). Especially considering Annie's weight, BUT that usually occurs in the FRONT, rarely the rear first.

If any of you have experience with something similar, I am all ears. Thank you in advance for your time and for reading this exceptionally long post.


----------



## kahara (Aug 23, 2012)

Oops, forgot to say that our vets around my parent's aren't exactly the best for goats. So, I don't think that's going to help much unless they need antibiotics or something.

My parents put a goat down awhile back because the vet said she didn't know how to help him or what was wrong...when he explained the symptoms to me it was almost certainly bloat. What a shame.


----------



## ksalvagno (Aug 23, 2012)

Are there white tail deer in the area?


----------



## babsbag (Aug 23, 2012)

If you are thinking menegial worms they would have to be ingesting snails or slugs as well. An hour from tahoe in any direction is probably pretty hot and dry so unless they have a pond or irrigated pasture that wouldn't be my first guess. But I have a friend that swears that her goats got lung worm from the alfalfa hay she bought so I wouldn't intirely discount the worm idea.

Have you tested the goats for CAE? 

Is it always the hind legs?

Do the goats eventually die or are they put down? Any mastitis?


----------



## ksalvagno (Aug 24, 2012)

If deer are walking through their pastures or even along the fenceline, then there would be a very good possibility of Meningeal Worm. The symptoms just really scream Meningeal Worm to me.


----------



## 20kidsonhill (Aug 24, 2012)

ksalvagno said:
			
		

> If deer are walking through their pastures or even along the fenceline, then there would be a very good possibility of Meningeal Worm. The symptoms just really scream Meningeal Worm to me.


I was thinking the same thing.  

Weakness starts in the back end and then slowly works its way towards the front, eventually causing the animal to go down.


----------



## kahara (Aug 24, 2012)

Thank you for your help so far everyone!

I'll try to answer the questions in order.

ksalvagno - no, just black tailed deer.

babsbag - They do have a pond with a spring and a mineshaft that always has water. The alfalfa information is interesting, especially consider that's what all the goats have been eating. Annie is the only goat left now. Do you think hitting her with a dose of Ivermectin will help in the case of a parasite infection enough to help her out right now?

Have you tested the goats for CAE? 
No.

Is it always the hind legs?
Yes.

Do the goats eventually die or are they put down? Any mastitis?
Two were old (one of them was the one I mentioned prior who was sixteenish), one was euthanized, another was killed by a coyote, and I'm not sure about the fourth. No mastitis (two were neutered males, the females were never bred).

20kidsonhill & ksalvagno - That sounds like what happens. How does the vet test for Meningeal Worm? Is it treatable?


----------



## 20kidsonhill (Aug 24, 2012)

Read through this thread. http://www.backyardherds.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=15225&p=1


----------



## babsbag (Aug 24, 2012)

I believe that black tailed deer can be hosts as well. But it is still my understanding from what I have read that the goat has to ingest the snail, just like lung worm. Is this incorrect information?

But since you have a pond you could very easily have snails/slugs in the grass. And always hind legs makes me agree with ksalvagno. CAE would probably not present in hind legs only. 

It is a hard road, I hope the best for your goat, and you.


----------



## kahara (Sep 6, 2012)

I thought I'd update all of you...

Thank you for all of your help! It has definitely been informative. I advised my parents on medication and they said she is better. They said they did find something across her back sort of like small welts, and I said maybe she was itchy and rubbing against something? If it really was injury, at least she is recovering...and if it was the worms, at least we have a somewhat solution for her. I told them to keep up with the Ivermectin every thirty days through the wet seasons. 

But the good news is she is walking better now. Thank you again!


----------

