# What is with the darn dry hacking cough???



## porkchop48 (Mar 26, 2013)

What is with this cough?

is it the weather?  I have a few goats that are doing the occasional dry hacking cough. No one has a temp, no one is acting off, no scours. Just a dry cough.

I am annoyed with it. Is it from being penned up? The funky warm one minute, cold the next weather?

Should I treat the whole herd?  But for what?

Not real snotty noses. I did see my fainter buck with a snotty nose this morning, it is now gone. He does tend to snort water and hay a bit so that may have been the cause. 

at my wits end with the cough. Help please.


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## Pearce Pastures (Mar 26, 2013)

I was worried to death that my goats had lungworms or pneumonia my first Spring with them because one of them had that dry cough.  My vet checked their lungs and reassured me that they were probably just reacting to the dust and stuff in the air this time of year.  He was right.  The cough went away and seems that this time of year, it comes back for awhile.

BUT I pay attention, take a temp, look for behavior changes and what not because pneumonia is bad news too and needs attention of course.  If they have snotty noses, you might want to think about a vet visit.


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## Bridgemoof (Mar 26, 2013)

This past week or so we've had coughing goats and coughing sheep. We were really concerned with some of the kids so we had the vet out to listen to their lungs. He did hear fluid in some, though they weren't running a fever. He diagnosed them with Mycoplasma Pneumonia. Due to this warm and cold weather, it has compromised their immune systems, combined with the fact that they have all been huddling close together in stalls. It is contagious. He gave them injections of Zactran and it knocked it right out. Regular antibiotics like LA200 won't do it. It needs to be something that targets the respiratory system. So we ended up buying a bottle of Zactran and have been administering it as we hear a cougher.

The vet also said they may or may NOT run a fever. 

Having said all that, the issue of lungworm also came up. That can also cause a cough. Worming with something like Ivermictin cor Safeguard possibly can get rid of it. In our case, the worming didn't help. It was the antibiotic that got rid of the cough. Really the only way to tell if it's respiratory is to have a vet listen to their lungs. The worms can't be detected in a fecal.

Hope this helps, good luck!


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## OneFineAcre (Mar 28, 2013)

I tend to not over react to coughing goats.  I have some coughers.

Some are more susceptible to irritation from dust in the barn, or even the hay they eat.

I have a family of coughers.  But, I've noticed it lessens after they freshen first time, they cough as juniors.

My experience.


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