eye rupture

[OneFineAcre]

I've found that the easiest place to give a SQ injection is somewhere over the rib cage. It's easy to use the hair to pull up a 'tent' of skin and just slip the needle in. Of course, I didn't really factor in the 'angora' part of this goat, lol. All that fiber might make it a bit more difficult to see what you're doing, but after you've done it a few times you can literally do it with your eyes closed...just watch out for your fingers! Good luck!

X2
We give most of ours there

 

[Shepherd Moon]

I've found that the easiest place to give a SQ injection is somewhere over the rib cage. It's easy to use the hair to pull up a 'tent' of skin and just slip the needle in. Of course, I didn't really factor in the 'angora' part of this goat, lol. All that fiber might make it a bit more difficult to see what you're doing, but after you've done it a few times you can literally do it with your eyes closed...just watch out for your fingers! Good luck!

Thanks - headed out to try this right now... Yes, all the hair is a challenge - can't see what I'm doing! I even went all the way through the "tent" and out the other side with one injection. Poor Peaches is my lab buddy as I learn to give goat shots. Neither of us are enjoying the anxiety of giving and receiving penicillin. She used to be excited to see me come out to the barn.

 

[RN2Cowgirl]

I have a 15-yr old angora goat who has had worsening problems. (I suspect she has CAE; over the past year she's developed

A few things: sounds like Listeriosis, she needs prompt IM of penicillin, also thiamin. The eye socket since it has a lot of puss, if you have the biomyocin use a cc to rinse the sole area. I have had ever issues with my alpacas. Hydration is important. If you can tube her for force fluids do so. If not use a 60 cc syringe and slowly squeeze in the cheek so she can swallow.

This site has also the of helpful info
Godspeed!!
http://www.tennesseemeatgoats.com/articles2/listeriosis.html

 

[Latestarter]

A few things: sounds like Listeriosis, she needs prompt IM of penicillin, also thiamin. The eye socket since it has a lot of puss, if you have the biomyocin use a cc to rinse the sole area. I have had ever issues with my alpacas. Hydration is important. If you can tube her for force fluids do so. If not use a 60 cc syringe and slowly squeeze in the cheek so she can swallow.

This site has also the of helpful info
Godspeed!!
http://www.tennesseemeatgoats.com/articles2/listeriosis.html

Greetings @RN2Cowgirl from the front range in Colorado ! Glad you joined us!

 

[Shepherd Moon]

Thanks for the suggestions! Let me run down the list:

1. The injectable thiamine (vitamin B1) certainly won't hurt her, but I'll need to order it online (my feed store doesn't carry it). I'll also see if I can find an B complex pills at the "human store" tonight since it will be next week before I receive an online order. Pumping up her vitamin B isn't a bad idea.
2. I'm already doing 2cc's of penicillin twice a day (4cc's total, whereas the treatment for Listeriosis for a 60lb goat is 3.6cc's) so I've got that one covered. (I'm going in subcutaneously instead of IM because she doesn't have much meat on her bones, I can't find a good spot through all her hair, and I'm really scared of hitting a vein, which I read causes "instant death".)
3. I'm rinsing the eye daily with penicillin, rather than biomycin for two reasons: first and foremost, my feed store only had penicillin, and second, because I read (somewhere) not to use both penicillin and biomycin at the same time.
4. More hydration. Always a good thing! It's cold (for Los Angeles) and right now nobody in the barn is drinking as much as they normally do because they aren't hot and thirsty. I'll go offer her some luke warm water in a minute, and I suspect she'll like it.

Listeriosis? I'm guessing not because she's been on a timothy pellet diet all her life, plus a bag of alfalfa available as free feed wherever she wants it. It's dry, clean, covered and off the ground, but both goats prefer their timothy pellets, which they get fresh twice a day. The only other foods she eats are bananas, apples or raspberries as "pill pockets" for her daily aspirin (325mg) and MSM with glucosamine.

Whether Listeriosis, CAE, or a stroke (which was my initial guess when all this started), with the addition of some vitamin B1, I can cover all the bases.

I'll keep you updated on my progress!

 

[Latestarter]

Maybe a little sugar, honey, maple syrup, molasses, karo syrup in some warm water? might make it even more palatable?

 

[Latestarter]

Now that I think about it, real/raw honey is a very good anti-bacterial... maybe some applied to that busted horn root and around the eye socket?

 

[Shepherd Moon]

Maybe a little sugar, honey, maple syrup, molasses, karo syrup in some warm water? might make it even more palatable?

A splash of apple juice did the trick! I didn't even need the syringe - both goats downed a half bucket "warm apple cider" (95% water/5% juice). Later tonight I'll put away my healthy goat and focus on hydrating just the sick one.
:/

 

[Shepherd Moon]

Now that I think about it, real/raw honey is a very good anti-bacterial... maybe some applied to that busted horn root and around the eye socket?

BOY that sounds sticky - and it would never come out of mohair! (And might attract bugs?!?) The horn is dry and scabby, so unless someone tells me I'm wrong (?), I figured we are fighting bacteria and infection with the penicillin injections, and I'd leave the clean, dry scab alone. (?)

Another thought... Sunflower seeds? I supplement them to my chickens over the winter for extra protein and fat, so I've got 50-lbs of them in the barn right now. Turns out they are very high in thiamine too! If I'm doing my math correctly, I'd have to feed her 13 lbs of sunflower seeds to equal one 100mg injection of thiamine, so it won't replace ordering Fortified Vitamin B Complex online, but maybe a cup a day would be overall beneficial to her health? (I've always kept my goats on the plainest of plain diets because my boy-goat had a urinary blockage in his youth. I was told there's one philosophy to grow goats fast and meaty which includes lots of yummy stuff, and a completely different diet for pets that you want to keep around for the long haul, so I'm not sure where sunflower seeds sit on that spectrum?)

 

[Shepherd Moon]

3 and a half weeks later... to finish the journal.

Peaches is doing pretty well!

1. Her eye has made an amazing recovery! I originally thought the entire eye was punctured or missing. Later I thought I could still see a rounded orb inside, but solid white. Now I'm still pretty sure she's permanently blind in that eye, but it looks almost like a normal eye again (except it used to be pale blue and looks more brown now?). Here's what I did for 5 (and a half) days:
a. 2mL injections of Penicillin G Procaine (300,000 units per mL) (from my feed store) subcutaneously in the neck or shoulders twice a day.
b. plus once a day I rinsed the eye with buffered sterile saline (from the drug store) and then squirted about 1mL more Penicillin into the eye using a syringe (without a needle attached).

2. I was able to remove her broken horn with heavy duty garden shears. (It was 80% broken off already. There was a little bleeding and I put Multi+Care Liquid Wound Care on it.)

3. She still has arthritis and needs help to stand, which I do twice a day, while I'm out feeding, but then she spends several hours walking slowly around the barn. She gets a daily dose of one 325mg aspirin (from the drug store), one glucosamine HCI 1500mg with MSM 1500mg (from costco). I give her the pills inside fruit slices (banana, apple, strawberry), sort of like "pill pockets" and she loves the treats and attention.

4. I also started giving her one B-Complex 50 supplement (grocery store) in a pill pocket just for a little boost every day.

I'm hoping to get her back to being able to stand on her own again, and I think that's a reasonable goal as long as she doesn't have another major incident. She's never going to be a spring kid again, but she's doing okay!