Lenora is CAE positive, I need advice.

[DonnaBelle]

Hello all,

Well, Dr. Glover just called. Lenora is CAE positive. She's my 4 yr. old pregnant doe.

I called the breeder and he said he would take her back and give me my $300.00 back.

I am not "in love" with her like I am Annie and Felecia.

I don't know what to do and I would sure appreciate some advice from some more experienced goat people.

DonnaBelle

 

[ksalvagno]

If you don't want to deal with the disease, I would take her back. it isn't worth the hassles and you can probably find another goat that is disease free.

You are looking at taking her kids away from her and heat treating her colostrum and pasteurize her milk for the kids. Definite bottle babies.

So I guess you will want to consider how much work you want to do. I don't believe the other goats will catch it from her but other experienced goat owners may know differently.

By the way, how is Annie doing?

 

[DonnaBelle]

Annie is doing much better. She still has a bit of a cough, and her nose is a little snotty, but her symptoms have modified some.

I have her on a regimin of 1.1 cc of Draxxen antibiotic once a week for 4 weeks. Then I have to call Dr. Simpson at OSU and she will decide if we should continue the Draxxen.

But she is definately much better.

We had rain all day yesterday, another inch. This place is so waterlogged. Today the sun is shining and DH is working on the new goat barn.

I really wish El Nino would just go away already.

DonnaBelle

 

[lupinfarm]

I *think* other goats can get CAE from a goat if they have an open wound, and blood gets mixed, etc etc. But I could be wrong. Good luck with whatever you choose to do!

 

[aggieterpkatie]

It's definitely a personal decision. Some people freak out about CAE, and some don't even test for it (because most likely they're heat treating everything anyway). My doe is positive, and I just pulled the babies right after they were born and am bottling them. I love my doe too much to get rid of her for something that isn't that much of a hassle for me to control. The milk is still fine to drink. It's fairly difficult for a goat to "catch it" because it's transmissible though colostrum/milk, so unless you have goats that nurse each other, I'd think you should be fine.

Are you going to or do you bottle all the babies anyways? If so, it might not be a hassle for you. You'd either need to find a source of colostrum or heat treat it. If you feed milk replacer, then it's no big deal. If you hate bottling babies and don't want the hassle of having to do that, then you might want to return her.

I had a small freak out when I found out my girl was positive, but after talking with several other goat breeders, I decided that for me, it wasn't a huge deal.

Good luck with your decision, and I'm sorry she's positive.

 

[lupinfarm]

The CAE virus is primarily transmitted to kids via colostrum in the first few feedings after birth. Blood (e.g., contaminated instruments such as needles, dehorners, etc, and open wounds) is regarded as the second most common way of spread.

From WADDL

It also says that transmission between adults is rare, but possible. If you like her, keep her. Bottle feeding isn't that big a deal

 

[DonnaBelle]

Thanks to all of you who posted about Lenora.

Yes, we really like Lenora, plus we are retired and do have time to bottle feed.

I talked with DH about it, he says we'll keep her and bottle feed the kid.

I also called the breeder I got Annie and Felicia from. She's a very dedicated goat person and told me to chill out and just be prepared and bottle feed the kid/kids. She is bottle feeding 15 of them right now. OMG. But she's had goats for about 15 years and is really knowlegable. She said she will give me all the advice/instruction I need via phone anytime.

She really made me feel better, and I can do this. In fact, she told me she really enjoys feeding the babies.

So, there's the decision, hope I've made the right one.

Lenora's knees are not nearly as swollen as they were the day after we brought her home. She doesn't have any symptoms now, the lady I spoke with yesterday said she may have been stressed from being moved. She gets around really well, and climbs goat mountain every day (concrete blocks stacked up 2 high, cemented in place too)

Thanks again everyone for your support.

DonnaBelle

 

[ksalvagno]

That is great that you decided to keep her. Everyone has to make their own decision about things and there are always plenty of options.

Good luck with Lenora and her kids. I'm sure you will truly enjoy them.

 

[cmjust0]

If one of ours came up positive, I'm sure we'd keep her. We're "weird" like that, though...would hate to think of one of ours going off to the butcher, or into someone else's herd where they may be neglected to the point that they became totally lame and in constant pain.

I'll tell you this, though.. If I got a positive CAE, the very next phone call I'd make would be to the vet to inquire about carprofen...generic Rimadyl. It's an NSAID, like banamine or ketofen, but it's designed specifically for long-term use. I wouldn't wait for the knees to get any worse, either, as inflammation is kinda how that happens...the earlier you stem the inflammation, the slower the damage occurs, and the longer the knees hold out.

I would think, anyway..

My vet actually has a client's goats on Rimadyl because they have, as he put it, "really bad arthritis in their knees." I'm sure it's CAE, though he didn't specifically mention it being CAE.. Point was, he indicated that they were doing well on it. Reason he mentioned it was that we were thinking of putting a UC buck on it for a while, though we ended up not having to do that.

Anyway, just a thought.. Might be worth a call, if you're going to keep her.

 

[DonnaBelle]

Thanks CM for the suggestion about the Rymadyl.

I have given that to my dogs as a pain killer after surgery.

I'll ask Dr. Glover if I should start her on it.

Funny thing is, right now she is jumping on and off "goat mountain" and her knees are not swollen.

I just put a call into Dr. Glover, the vet who did the CAE test. I asked his nurse to ask him about a regimen of Rymadyl.

We'll see what he says.

DonnaBelle