Question on Anesthesia for goats forgot to ask vet????

[Emmetts Dairy]

My two bucklings are going under anesthesia for scur removal tomorrow and I forgot to ask the vets if I have to withold food in the am???? Their appts at 3pm. Anyone know??? I will hold off till they open tommorrow and call...but I usually feed them earlier than the open??? I would assume I wouldnt have to cuz the rumens always running anyway...cant really empty it????

 

[Goatherd]

I can answer this for you. Recently had an adult buck wethered at the vet's office. They told me to withhold grain, but allow hay and water. Everything went well. Good luck to you.

 

[Emmetts Dairy]

Thanks so much. I actually decided to call the vet cuz I didnt want to get it wrong and have to reschedule. Just got off the phone with him. He stated that it really is'ant necessary and we can hold off grain in the am if we want to and hay and water only, as you stated. But he said moreover holding off the grain is more for the stress of transport than the anesthesia. Makes sense to me. Said it actually takes 5 days for a rumen to empty so its kinda impossible to achieve unless their in a hospital setting getting supplimented and it still dos'nt work out great for them. Interesting anyway? I didnt think you could empty a rumen with any sort of great success.

Thanks for your help!

 

[Goatmasta]

Very interesting about with holding grain for transport. Any idea what my goats would look like if I did that when travelling to a show? Never had a problem there, and with the exception of 2 shows being only an hour away, the other 10 or so are over 2 hrs most of them are over 3 hrs.... Wondering what kind of transport issues he was talking about.

 

[Emmetts Dairy]

Goatmasta - Sorry I should of elabortated. They are dam raised and have not been away from their Moms ever and are not weaned yet. So he feels...and I agree...that they may get soooo stressed from the travel that may have issues with minor bloating. With the rumen being shut down for a bit during surgery and the high stress from travel he feels it would be best. Makes sense to me.

Its just not the travel itself..my older goats are fine with travel as well. Its the age, anesthesia etc.

I would imagine show people would have the skinniest goats on earth if that were true for traveling only!!

 

[SDGsoap&dairy]

The anesthesia meds often cause vomiting in non-ruminants which is why clinics ask owners to withhold food. We don't want them aspirating!