My goat’s leg

[Gabe1218]

It is picked up at birth but doesnt show signs until later in life so the time since nursing does not matter. There is no treatment and they will not get better if it is CAE. CAE will eventually cause death as they will at some point no longer be able to get up to get to food/water or ruminate properly.
https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/c...conditions-and-caprine-arthritis-encephalitis

There is a test to know for sure if they have CAE but without any vets I am not sure where you would send the blood sample to for the determination.

Oh no. That must be what they have. Unfortunately I won't be able to get them tested. If it is CAE will their kids be born with it or will will they have to get it from their mothers milk?

 

[Margali]

The adults can be kept comfortable but there's no cure.

Pulling the babies as soon as they are born and feeding pasturized colostrum and milk will greatly help in keeping them from getting CAE.

 

[misfitmorgan]

Oh no. That must be what they have. Unfortunately I won't be able to get them tested. If it is CAE will their kids be born with it or will will they have to get it from their mothers milk?

When things get advanced you can start giving them anti-inflammatory meds every 12hrs if you want to extent their quality of life. Usually aspirin is used. Be aware the meds will cause damage on the internal organs over time so it is not a long term thing. At some point the goats will need to be put down to end their suffering when quality of life is to poor.

Usually herds with CAE all kids are taken away from their moms and kept away, then as Margali said you feed them pasturized colostrum and milk. The kids are kept away from the parents and on seperate pasture that the parents are never put on. Eventually you can have a herd without CAE if you follow that practice as the older goats with CAE will die/be put down and the young goats will be free of CAE hopefully.

 

[Ridgetop]

There is a blood test that can be done Vet draws blood into a tube and you send it to whichever university does livestock testing for your area of the country. I am in southern CA and sent mine to Washington State University. The results can be emailed to you. A positive test means CAE. There is no cure.

We had a large herd of dairy goats and blood tested every year. All kids were immediately removed and fed heat treated colostrum. You can't pasteurize colostrum - it turns into cheese. We pasteurized all milk fed to the kids. To tell the different between pasteurized and fresh I added blue food coloring t the pasteurized milk. We showed all our goats at many shows and although they were all pasteurized we blood tested annually to make certain no CAE turned up. We had a clean herd. One year we did have an older doe who had tested clean fir several years turn positive. We taken her to a breeder. She had some positive animals although she told us she did not. Found out later that others had the same experience. The positive doe went to the auction immediately.

This is a serious disease. The fact that your young kids are already showing symptoms is a bad sign. CAE symptoms usually turn up at older ages. DO NOT BREED ANY OF THESE GOATS. Unless you can guarantee pulling these kids off immediately after birth without nursing, if they get any milk or colostrum from their mama they will develop CAE.

This is a painful disease. In the worst cases of the disease the animal will not be able to walk or stand.

I'm sorry to hear about this. However, before accepting this as CAE I recommend you do the blood test. We are not veterinarians, and can only advise as to possibilities.

 

[misfitmorgan]

There is a blood test that can be done Vet draws blood into a tube and you send it to whichever university does livestock testing for your area of the country. I am in southern CA and sent mine to Washington State University. The results can be emailed to you. A positive test means CAE. There is no cure.

We had a large herd of dairy goats and blood tested every year. All kids were immediately removed and fed heat treated colostrum. You can't pasteurize colostrum - it turns into cheese. We pasteurized all milk fed to the kids. To tell the different between pasteurized and fresh I added blue food coloring t the pasteurized milk. We showed all our goats at many shows and although they were all pasteurized we blood tested annually to make certain no CAE turned up. We had a clean herd. One year we did have an older doe who had tested clean fir several years turn positive. We taken her to a breeder. She had some positive animals although she told us she did not. Found out later that others had the same experience. The positive doe went to the auction immediately.

This is a serious disease. The fact that your young kids are already showing symptoms is a bad sign. CAE symptoms usually turn up at older ages. DO NOT BREED ANY OF THESE GOATS. Unless you can guarantee pulling these kids off immediately after birth without nursing, if they get any milk or colostrum from their mama they will develop CAE.

This is a painful disease. In the worst cases of the disease the animal will not be able to walk or stand.

I'm sorry to hear about this. However, before accepting this as CAE I recommend you do the blood test. We are not veterinarians, and can only advise as to possibilities.

.............They live in Chile...........

 

[Ridgetop]

No vets in Chile?

Gabe 1218 - before you freak out about this disease - I forgot to add that CAE is strictly a goat disease and will not transfer to humans. The milk of CAE positive goats is safe for you or your children to drink or cook with.

 

[misfitmorgan]

No vets in Chile?

Gabe 1218 - before you freak out about this disease - I forgot to add that CAE is strictly a goat disease and will not transfer to humans. The milk of CAE positive goats is safe for you or your children to drink or cook with.

According to the OP not where they live and not many people have goats.