Coughing, runny nose, diarrhea, lowered production?

[Ariel301]

A friend of mine has 15 does that have come down sick yesterday. They have diarrhea, some are coughing and have a runny nose, and their milk production dropped suddenly. She says they don't have fevers, but some do seem to have a bit of a vaginal discharge as though they were in heat, which they are not.

She got some new alfalfa this week and has been feeding it to them, and was wondering if it could be something in the hay (hopefully it's an easy thing like that!) but I got a load of the same hay and my does are fine. We're stumped. I'm going to look at them this morning and see if I can figure anything out.

Any ideas/suggestions? We don't have a vet who knows the first thing about goats.

 

[aggieterpkatie]

A friend of mine has 15 does that have come down sick yesterday. They have diarrhea, some are coughing and have a runny nose, and their milk production dropped suddenly. She says they don't have fevers, but some do seem to have a bit of a vaginal discharge as though they were in heat, which they are not.

She got some new alfalfa this week and has been feeding it to them, and was wondering if it could be something in the hay (hopefully it's an easy thing like that!) but I got a load of the same hay and my does are fine. We're stumped. I'm going to look at them this morning and see if I can figure anything out.

Any ideas/suggestions? We don't have a vet who knows the first thing about goats.

Were these goats on alfalfa before? My thoughts are the diarrhea may be caused by the increase in protein if they've not been on alfalfa before. Runny nose and cough *may* be from hay if it's dusty or perhaps it's the small pieces of leaf matter in the hay (alfalfa leaves tend to shatter easily). This wouldn't really account for the drop in production, unless the goats just arent' feeling well in general.

When is the last time they were dewormed? Are they acting normal otherwise?

 

[aggieterpkatie]

Has it been really hot where you are?

 

[Ariel301]

The goats have always been on alfalfa, and yes, it has been hotter the last two days. 110 yesterday and today. The alfalfa doesn't seem dusty and is not moldy. It is very leafy. I checked the does' lungs with a stethoscope and they sound clear, not like pneumonia. Temperatures still normal. I could tell a few of them were feeling really miserable, they did not want even grain. Others were back to normal by the time I saw them this morning. The diarrhea was letting up and it was just sort of soft or clumpy by this morning at 8-ish.

Maybe just a quick bug like those 24 hour stomach viruses people sometimes get?

I went through a bout of chlamydiosis this winter and had does aborting right and left with none of the usual 'pinkeye' symptoms. That couldn't be what she has, could it?

 

[aggieterpkatie]

Well, it's hard to diagnose over the 'net, but sounds like heat stress to me. That most definitely explains the loss of production and diarrhea.