Sick goat

[nigerianbreeder]

My neighbor's goat has been acting sick since yesterday morning. Last night I went over and checked it's temp. and it was 104.2. He wasn't walking much and just kind of layed there. He also was breathing a lot. This morning I went over to check on him and his temp. was 102.8 and he was walking a bit more than last night. Now the issue is he has really, really bad diarrhea. It is pure liquid. I noticed that he takes a minute to sit down too, kind of like he's in pain. His breathing appears to still be kind of heavy. I gave him bloat meds last night just in case. They have been pretty much feeding them 24/7 and they are young as they have just recently been banded. Any suggestions?

 

[elevan]

You're naming off symptoms that could be a case of plant poisoning ...

Call a vet
Isolate the goat
Give the goat plenty of fresh water
Be ready to give activated charcoal under vet direction.

 

[nigerianbreeder]

I'll go tell them that that is what it sounds like. Is a vet 100% necessary or are there other options just in case they can't/don't want to? The other goat that used to live over there never had issues with this:/

 

[elevan]

If they have a good relationship with their vet then he should be willing to give them some instructions over the phone.

Here's some dosing based on which type of activated charcoal they get:
http://www.drugs.com/vet/goats-a.html

 

[nigerianbreeder]

They have known their vet for 14 years they said so I would imagine they have a good patient vet relationship.

 

[20kidsonhill]

Hard to tell, but could be bacterial or a parasite problem causing all those issues as well as a poisoning. The high temp makes me wonder if the temp was just taken wrong or not accurate, it the goats got hot from being in the sun or if the goat has a bacterial infection.
Enteroxemia will run a high fever and then after the animal is dehydrated the temp will go down. Was the goat vaccinated with CD&T and if so when?

Could easily be a parasite problem as well or coccidiosis, he is the right age for several possible problems.

You can just do the kitchen sink, but by the time you buy all the medicines you would almost be better off for the vet to diagnose him.
Antibiotic shots
wormer
C&D antitoxin
coccidiosis treatment

Several things you can give him but it would all be guessing, with out a fecal.

The bloat the the temp and the loose poop, are all symptoms of enteroxemia(over eating disease)

 

[elevan]

Very good points 20kids. I had plant poisoning on the mind without thinking of other issues. Point being this could be a number of things - vet evaluation and diagnosis is very important here or else you're just throwing things at them and guessing.

 

[nigerianbreeder]

I don't think the temp. was just high from the sun as it was like 10:00 p.m. when I took it. I haven't checked on it in a few days but he was outside walking around yesterday. My goats have been being butts lately. My one goat is a little over two years old and I got her in late December. I jus t started trying to train her to lead/ use the show collar and she HATES it! The whole time she fights me. She jumps, won't budge, falls down, or runs. I made some progress today because after 20 minutes of fighting she finally decided to walk some. I also had to bust out the treats. Then since I had the treats in my pocket the other goat smelled them when I tried walking her. So she wouldn't leave me alone and wouldn't walking properly. Back to the other goat. When I last checked on it the scours appeared to of cleared up at least. They also cut back the feed to them only getting some in the morning and somebody suggested electrolytes so I gave them something for that.