HoneyDreameMomma
True BYH Addict
Has anyone ever had their 3-4 month old baby goat simply stop growing? Sorry for the novel below, but I figured an accurate description would be the best way for people to give ideas/opinions on what might be happening.
Dobbi, one of our NG doelings that was born at the end of April started off great, but has literally stopped growing. She was born two weeks later than all the other kids, because mom didn't get pregnant on her first heat cycle. At first she kept up with the other kids and was healthy and spunky. After about 8-9 weeks, we noticed she just didn't seem to be growing as fast as the other kids. We had our vet do a fecal for our herd about this time, which came up clear, so we wrote it off, thinking she just might be smaller because her mom is the smallest doe we own. Shortly after that, we noticed her getting butted around by the kids and other does more than what seemed like typical 'herd order' butting. We watched her and supplemented her feed, because we worried that she might not be getting as much food as the other kids.
Then, we noticed she started to fatigue more easily when the herd would go out in the fields to graze. She never ran a fever, had diarrhea or any other symptoms; she would just come back to the shade of the loafing shed long before any of the other goats. A couple of weeks ago, it became obvious she definitely wasn't growing as she should, because she was almost the same exact size she was the month before, and she was only half as big as any of the other kids. We put her in a separate pen with her momma, so we could watch her and make sure she was getting a healthy diet. At first, she did well. She didn't really grow, but she was much more happy and energetic.
About a week or so ago, her back legs started to splay - see photo below - and she began to have difficulty walking (wobbly, frequent falls). The past few days, she has also started to exhibit signs of blindness (running into things; moving her head frantically toward sounds as if she can't see where they are coming from). The only vet that sees goats in our area specializes in cattle and horses and doesn't have as much goat experience. We dropped her off at the vet today anyway, but honestly, they seemed stumped. I'll see what more they have to say in an hour or two when I go back to pick her up, but I was hoping someone here might have some ideas.
I was reading up, and it sounds a whole lot like G-6-S, but my understanding is that G-6-S only exhibits in Nubians and Nubian crosses. (http://www.backyardherds.com/threads/anyone-test-for-g6s.22020/#post-295297). Is there something else that could cause this?
Dobbi, one of our NG doelings that was born at the end of April started off great, but has literally stopped growing. She was born two weeks later than all the other kids, because mom didn't get pregnant on her first heat cycle. At first she kept up with the other kids and was healthy and spunky. After about 8-9 weeks, we noticed she just didn't seem to be growing as fast as the other kids. We had our vet do a fecal for our herd about this time, which came up clear, so we wrote it off, thinking she just might be smaller because her mom is the smallest doe we own. Shortly after that, we noticed her getting butted around by the kids and other does more than what seemed like typical 'herd order' butting. We watched her and supplemented her feed, because we worried that she might not be getting as much food as the other kids.
Then, we noticed she started to fatigue more easily when the herd would go out in the fields to graze. She never ran a fever, had diarrhea or any other symptoms; she would just come back to the shade of the loafing shed long before any of the other goats. A couple of weeks ago, it became obvious she definitely wasn't growing as she should, because she was almost the same exact size she was the month before, and she was only half as big as any of the other kids. We put her in a separate pen with her momma, so we could watch her and make sure she was getting a healthy diet. At first, she did well. She didn't really grow, but she was much more happy and energetic.
About a week or so ago, her back legs started to splay - see photo below - and she began to have difficulty walking (wobbly, frequent falls). The past few days, she has also started to exhibit signs of blindness (running into things; moving her head frantically toward sounds as if she can't see where they are coming from). The only vet that sees goats in our area specializes in cattle and horses and doesn't have as much goat experience. We dropped her off at the vet today anyway, but honestly, they seemed stumped. I'll see what more they have to say in an hour or two when I go back to pick her up, but I was hoping someone here might have some ideas.
I was reading up, and it sounds a whole lot like G-6-S, but my understanding is that G-6-S only exhibits in Nubians and Nubian crosses. (http://www.backyardherds.com/threads/anyone-test-for-g6s.22020/#post-295297). Is there something else that could cause this?
sorry
