Goat acting off, fell over.

[Pearce Pastures]

The woman I sold two doelings to called very upset an hour ago. Neither would take a bottle today but the one is acting ill and she fell over today. The owner said she thought she had died and quickly scooped her up and the doeling let out a yelp. She is up and walking, ate some hay but is kind of stiff in her stance. Normal poop too.

I gave her my vets cell and told her to get a temp before calling. She thinks maybe bloat but I am not sure what it could be. Would bloat cause the falling over? Any thoughts?

Sorry for typos--writing this on my cell while I wait to get a haircut.

 

[autumnprairie]

I hope she will be ok, I have no idea though I hope someone answers soon

 

[Pearce Pastures]

Now that I am home, more details. I called the owner back and got some more info. I believe it is either polio or listeriosis. The goat is having a hard time walking straight, is starting to circle and is tipping back her head and spasming before falling. She is also shaking like she is cold and has a little bit of drool (not much but it is there).

The owner was very upset and said she thinks maybe it is the polio because she isn't so sure her feeding program is giving them all they need. I feel awful for them-this is their first time owning goats and I hate for anyone to have a bad first experience. My vet has agreed to meet with them after he finished surgery today and I sure hope they can treat whatever it is.

 

[SkyWarrior]

I suspect you recommended a B-vitamin injection?

I also thought about tetanus. Could it be that?

 

[Roll farms]

Thiamine shots ASAP, B vitamin multi if that's not available, and Pen G every 6 hrs for the next 4 days....1cc per 20#. Then 2x a day for 10 days minimum. B shots daily.

FWIW, our vet wouldn't 'believe' me about goats needing that dosage of Pen G until one he was treating for Listo didn't improve and he tried 'my' dosages....and it did improve.

I've treated 2 for Listo and helped many others w/ it. Using B and Pen G in conjunction covers both bases, since it's hard to KNOW which it is and fast treatment is critical.

Getting 'something' in their gut is critical also, probios daily and some form of fiber if they can't eat on their own....I like a chopped slurry of oats, alf. pellets, syrup, sweet feed and gatoraide through a 60cc syringe w/ the tip cut off so the slurry will go through. I usually give 2-3 syringes full then 2 syringes full of just gatoraide every 8 hrs until they're eating on their own...that's full-sized adult goats, so w/ mini goats / kids you could do less.

Good luck to them!

 

[TGreenhut]

Now I don't know much about this, so don't hold me to it, but have you heard of "floppy kid syndrome"? Are the babies being bottle fed milk replacer? I've heard FKS can be caused by feeding milk replacer. Since I don't know very much about FKS, if you haven't heard of it, you might want to look it up to see if symptoms match.
Sorry, I'm not much help, I just wanted to throw that out there in case you hadn't thought about it. Good luck and I hope she gets better fast!

 

[Pearce Pastures]

I hope the vet gave the injections. I did talk to her before she went and we both agreed it was most likely polio. I have since read more on it and am almost positive because of the age of the kid (weaning age) and that the doe has been eating a molasses sweet feed (did not know sweet feeds could do that-learn something knew everyday!). She was going to make sure she told the vet what we thought and I really relaly hope he treated for that but I will find out later when i talk to her after work. If he didn't I think that I might go on a hunt for it.

 

[Pearce Pastures]

YAY! (sort of). He did treat for polio and also for pneumonia. (The does temp was 104.4 when he took it and her lungs sounding junky). He gave did several injections of antibiotic and thiamine and also gave them a bottle of vitamin B to continue treatment. She is improving so it sure sounds like they got it right, even though she is still not acting 100%.


NEW QUESTION: When I spoke with the owner today, she said the vet thought the polio might be because of the pneumonia and that doesn't sound right to me. I mean pneumonia is caused by a bacteria or virus while polio is caused by a thiamine deficiency due to diet related issues, right? Like eating too much grain/feed,or too much sulfur or iron, molasses or not enough roughage, or eating moldy hay or having too much CoRid?

 

[Roll farms]

Goat Polio is a thiamine deficiency...I would suspect that if that's the problem, that left her w/ a weakened immune system and pneumonia (or the cause - bacteria) took advantage.

In essence, I'm saying I think it's the other way around....and that one did not necessarily 'cause' the other, but a possible contributing / aggravating factor.

I'd def. make sure this goat's diet was *pristine* for a while. Proper amount of roughage vs. grain, fresh food, probiotics, B shots, etc.

 

[CTChick]

I dealt with this a few months ago ... polio. First doeling was stiff legged, very quickly walking in circles and within 24 hours was blind. I was at vet within 24 hours, vitamiin B/thiamine shots twice a day for 12 days. You must get her to eat and NO MORE SWEET FEED (Meatmaker) for us! Yes, that was the cause. Why do we feed them this ... it was recommended to me, but it's bad for bucks and apparently bad for does too ... I have dairy goats, so - NO.

Laura