# Persistent Cough in Yearling



## AdoptAPitBull (Feb 6, 2012)

Marge is a 1 year old LaMancha. She came from awesome bloodlines and is just an all around beautiful goat. Since her sister was a runt, Marge got all of mom's milk. Each time she nursed, she'd cough after she was done. She drank too fast and must have aspirated some each time. She stopped nursing about 4 months ago, but she still has a little cough. It's not constant, and she usually coughs 2-3 times and then she's done. My herd is closed, so I don't think any germs were ever introduced to her from another animal. I wormed her last week, think maybe it was lungworms. Nope, still there. She has no fever, no nasal discharge, and appears to be in great shape.

Do you think it could be the dust from the hay, or allergies?


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## elevan (Feb 6, 2012)

Never start with Lungworms as a prognosis.  Start with pneumonia and treat as if that is what it is.  If symptoms persist beyond that then treat for lungworms.  If symptoms were to persist beyond even that then you could try Benedryl if you suspect allergies.  But it could just be hay dust.

Here's some more info on lungworms for you to read:  http://www.backyardherds.com/web/viewblog.php?id=2607-lungworm-goat


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## AdoptAPitBull (Feb 6, 2012)

Since she has no other symptom and it's been going on since she was so young, I ruled out pneumonia a long time ago. I hadn't wormed her since she was a baby, so the lungworm was the most possible diagnosis that I could think of. She's never had any labored breathing, nasal discharge, never been off feed (Large Marge indeed) and still likes to run and romp around with her sister. It truly is just a cough.

What else could it be besides hay dust with no other symptoms?


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## neener92 (Feb 6, 2012)

I have a yearling the has a cough, it's been called a dry feed cough and a cud cough.

What kind of cough is it? Does she throw her head to the ground? Is it a dry cough?


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## redtailgal (Feb 6, 2012)

I have a wether that has a simliar cough, but only when he runs and plays hard.  Then he will cough a couple times, just a mild "ahem" type cough.  He will also cough while eating, if his hay comes from a particular field.

Since he is growing, playing, pooping \, peeing and never had fever....I just let it be.  Honestly, I think he has allergies.


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## elevan (Feb 6, 2012)

Regardless I would still start with a round of antibiotics.  Ever heard of walking pneumonia?  It is quite possible to have pneumonia with no other symptoms beyond a cough.

I would probably treat with Sulfadimethoxine (Albon or DiMethox) which would treat both pneumonia and coccidia (another potential cause of the cough).

Here is some info for coccidia:  http://www.backyardherds.com/web/viewblog.php?id=2607-coccidia-goat


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## 20kidsonhill (Feb 6, 2012)

I would do a good round of antibiotics, and see what happens from there.  

And lungworms take more than one treatment and the cough takes a while to clear up even after treatment. But I would start with the most common cause, respiratory infection.


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## Queen Mum (Feb 6, 2012)

Some animals tend to aspirate easily.  And if a round of antibiotics doesn't clear it up, this could be one of the causes.  Don't sweat it.  If she's otherwise healthy, growing, eating fine, etctera, if it ain't broke, ...


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## ksalvagno (Feb 7, 2012)

No one has mentioned Mycoplasma.  Here is a link with some good info on it:  http://www.goatwisdom.com/ch8diseases/mycoplasma.html


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## Queen Mum (Feb 7, 2012)

Mycoplasma is a very serious illness and is usually fatal, but it has pretty serious symptoms and a dry chronic cough is not the first sign.  At least according to the article sited.


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## AdoptAPitBull (Feb 9, 2012)

Yeah, and I think that if she had that, she'd be long dead and the other goats would be sick, too.

I'm thinking more and more it's the hay dust.


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## EggsForIHOP (Feb 9, 2012)

neener92 said:
			
		

> I have a yearling the has a cough, it's been called *a dry feed cough and a cud cough.*
> 
> What kind of cough is it? Does she throw her head to the ground? Is it a dry cough?


EVERY GOAT had this cough here this fall!  When the vet came for her annual CAE, rabies(dogs/horses) and coggins (horses) stuff in October I asked her about it and she laughed at me!  Then she taught me how to listen to their lungs (yes I am a nerd that owns a stethoscope...the horses...gotta be able to listen to gut sounds you know...)

Anyways...she taught me how to listen and take a temp...no icky raspy noises in there, no temp, no stresses....that was her first lesson...

Of course, we are experiencing MAJOR drought and therefor the WORST hay I have EVER seen!  She explained that would cause this "cud cough" as since they "cough up cud to rechew it...well...imagine coughing THIS up - as she held a handful of the coarse thick hay - compared to last years hay"....

Made sense...harsh hay makes for harsh cud to cough back up...she also taught me to WATCH as they coughed...9 out of 10 times they would hack up something and start chewing...only a few coughs were just coughs....most were followed by chewing...made sense...I hadn't been paying attention to the POST cough action...JUSt the cough itself!  I was MISSING part of the picture in my fret and worry!

So try WATCHING as your goat coughs - does it LOOK like there is then chewing action?  If so, I'd put my bets on no worries...just saying...sharing what I learned a while back.  I was thinking the same thing too...WORMS!  PNEUMONIA!  Nope...just crummy hay....THANKFULLY!  So maybe you have the same type thing going on


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## AdoptAPitBull (Feb 9, 2012)

Thanks, IHOP, that does make me feel better.

I don't want to give any animal antibiotics without knowing what I'm treating. It's just asking for the drugs to become more and more useless against resistant germs.

If anything changes, I'll take her in to the vet. I don't want to stress her out if it truly is just hay or allergy related.


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