New Goat Owner just lost a young doe - question

[OneFineAcre]

The gurnsey's are so dog-like to me. I love the nubians but so far they've shown us more that they are screaming, eating machines. I still give them the same amount of love and care for them, but they are all about food. The gurnsey personality is really different.

We buy raw honey from a beekeeper up the street. She also makes goat cheese and told us about her friend nearby that breeds gurnsey goats. This past spring, we mentioned that we were building a goat house and would soon look to brings goats into our lives as pets. She said occasionally her breeder friend has a goat that cannot be registered and she would let us know if that happens. In May it happened twice. We got a call that she had two goats (one was polled but had sort of a skin tag on her teat - we call her hildy and another one that I'm not sure why she couldn't register. She raises all her gurnseys as bottle babies.) She wanted to place them as pets-only since she couldn't register them and we were lucky enough to be chosen to take them. We've had them since July 3 and we adore them. We lost a dog late last year and the darker gurnsey reminds us so much of her sweet personality (far more than our new naughty puppy-in-training does (shown.)) She greets us with a head cocked to the side and presses it against your leg when you're near.

They are lovely girls

 

[Jea]

@OneFineAcre said it best... it will never get easy.

Made me happy and sad seeing the video. It is just a horrible feeling to lose a goat. Beautiful! All of them!

I would ask your vet about some other options. Corid can cause thiamine deficiency.

Many goat breeders use Di-Methox or Toltrazuril (Baycox) as preventative. Some use medicated feed for young goats up to 6 months.

It is great you said the temp and it was taken in the heat of the day!
Best to take temp early morning or evening when you aren't battling heat and hot sun!
Keep an eye on Nubian wethers, take temp when they are in a cooler place. It could be like you said the time of day... but if not then that is fever range especially on young kids.

All temps today were 102.1-102.4. phew!

We're going to keep taking them each week so nothing creeps up. thanks!

 

[Fullhousefarm]

Did you hear back from the vet?

I had a Nigerian spike a 106.7 fever this week. Scared me to death. She was a little off that morning, but if she wasn't being milked I might not have noticed. She ate, didn't have a fever, just seemed slower than normal. We've been battling a horrible bacterial thing here on the farm, so honestly, I figured she was the next one to get it and separated her. Watched her in the afternoon and seemed the same. Went out that evening and she was VERY slow. Wouldn't eat. Brought her in the milk room and she layed down, so I immediately took her temp. It was 106.7. Checked healthy goats temp to make sure it wasn't the thermometer. It's hot here in FL, so I brought her in the laundry room and put a fan on her and gave her banamine. Fever was gone in 30 min and she was eating and perky. Talked to a goat mentor (because of coarse, vet was closed) and decided to go with a coarse of Pen G as long as fever didn't come back- and it didn't even when banamine wore off. I'm very glad I got the banamine to keep on hand from my vet. She's back to normal, but I finished the 5 days of PenG to be sure.

So, all that to say, it's hard to know with goats. But, banamine might be something good to talk to your vet about keeping on hand- even just 1-2 doses so you have some until the vet opens on a weekend.

 

[babsbag]

I also had an 8 week old doeling with a temp of 107.1 this week. She was just a little off, took her bottle but didn't scream for it and then went and laid down. I gave her a does of banamine and Noramycin and she seemed fine the next day. Did another dose of antibiotics and will do another tomorrow. It is long acting so I do it every 36 hours. My guess is pneumonia. Only one this year and when you kid out 50 kids that is pretty good. All my does get a pneumonia vaccine a few months before kidding and it has make a huge difference in the health of my herd and kids overall. But this little kid was not from one of my does.

 

[Jea]

No rabies. We're not going to learn what caused her death, but it wasn't rabies.

 

[babsbag]

Whew. Glad that is behind you.

 

[misfitmorgan]

We had one of our new doe kids we got turn up with pneumonia so we did a 5 day pen G course...she seems better no coughing and perkier. Never yet had one off our does with pneumonia we also dont vaccinate for it though.