Sneezing, Coughing, Green Snot

[emilypaonia]

Hi Everyone,

My whole herd seems to be coming down with "cold" symptoms. Some of them have runny noses with green snot, some are coughing, some are sneezing a lot. I have lambs in the barn too (separate from my goats, but they can sneeze on each other through the fence) that are also having similar symptoms.

Don't know what triggered it or what it could be or what could treat it. I want to fix it. I tend to want to lean more toward natural/herbal remedies rather than zapping everyone with chemical treatments.

My goats have access to great pasture and scrubland, they are fed kelp, hoegger's minerals, salt licks, a good grain ration for the milkers, good hay or fresh cut grass at feeding times. There are LOADS of flies in the barn right now (don't know if flies could give them cold symptoms). Nothing in their diet has changed.

I have added 3 new 2 month old wethers from my friends farm a week ago. I seemed to notice the symptoms more after they arrived, so maybe they brought something, but these new boys don't seem to have the symptoms as bad.

I also bought lambs in June from another friends farm. He has had clostridium on his farm but he vaccinated the lambs for it. I know goats can get clostridium too, and both sheeps and goats can die from it. I don't know the symptoms very well, but I am afraid of it and want to make sure this is not beginning signs.

Thanks, in advance, for your help!

 

[emilypaonia]

And, I don't have a good goat vet in town - sigh.

 

[emilypaonia]

anyone?

 

[Beekissed]

Could they have nasal fly bots? Last year about this time my sheep came down with these symptoms and all my reading led me to believe they had the bots....the right time of the year, hot weather, lots of flies bothering them.

I bolused mine with a strong mix of garlic, unpastuerized ACV and raw honey....my usual mix for parasites. I also cleaned out their noses well and applied Vicks Vaporub with a long Q-tip. I know this sounds crazy but the symptoms were gone the next day and didn't return.

 

[Emmetts Dairy]

I would check temps. Could be pneumonia or parasites. I would tend to think the two new young ones brought something like pneumonia which is not that uncommon for little ones to get. I would HIGHLY recomend getting CD&T vaccinations into all of them if that was not done when by the former owner. But if its pneumonia I would treat all with Nuflor (vet rx)
Good luck.

PS I wanna add dont give the vaccinations till all are over their illness. You should'nt give a sick goat vaccines.

 

[emilypaonia]

thank you! what is normal goat temp? and do you do rectal temps? does pneumonia generally come with fever?

 

[Pearce Pastures]

I believe normal rectal temps are around 102-103, but that can vary too especially given the hot weather. If it is over 103.5, I'd be concerned, given our recent run of illness here. Pneumonia can cause a fever, though it is more common for adult goats to have this as a symptom.

If you do go the Rx route, I agree that Nuflor is the way to go-our were given Baytril at first but ended up having to go back when it didn't work.

Good luck

 

[emilypaonia]

is there any way to be sure it is pneumonia without a vet consultation? i don't wanna go ahead dosing everyone if it is not. i tried a rectal temp this morning, but looks like thermometer was not working, i am off to the drug store for a working thermometer.

symptoms are relatively mild, so i am wondering/hoping if it is something related to flies/hot weather.... i am also going to clean out the barn to give the flies fewer places to love and i have started to catch many flies. some of the young goats seems to cough more right after letting go of the teat... ??? seems strange. but definitely one of my adult goats has snot around her nose. and i hear everyone kind of coughing down there...

thanks for all the help, we'll see what the temps are!

 

[elevan]

is there any way to be sure it is pneumonia without a vet consultation? i don't wanna go ahead dosing everyone if it is not. i tried a rectal temp this morning, but looks like thermometer was not working, i am off to the drug store for a working thermometer.

symptoms are relatively mild, so i am wondering/hoping if it is something related to flies/hot weather.... i am also going to clean out the barn to give the flies fewer places to love and i have started to catch many flies. some of the young goats seems to cough more right after letting go of the teat... ??? seems strange. but definitely one of my adult goats has snot around her nose. and i hear everyone kind of coughing down there...

thanks for all the help, we'll see what the temps are!

You could try listening to their lungs with a stethoscope...pneumonia often sounds like they are trying to breathe through water (watery sounding breaths)....listen to your own lungs first to get a feel for normal breath sounds.

A vet is your best best for diagnosis...but sometimes you got to do what you can on your own.

It does sound like pneumonia to me too. You said some of the young goats cough more after being on the teat...sounds classic for pneumonia in nursing kids.

 

[Caprice_Acres]

Widespread pneumonia is going to be hard to treat with natural remedies. Herbal treatments often involve huge doses every hour. That's way more work than what I'd want to do, which is why I don't do many herbal treatments. If you're not using the right combination of herbs, it's also a waste of time. I've seen people swear by herbal treatments but their animals GENERALLY take 2x as long to heal and often are unthrifty for longer periods of time. I use both, and HONESTLY with serious things I use chemicals/antibiotics, though only as needed. Herbal preventions are less costly but honestly, healthy quality goats should not need a bunch of crap shoveled into them daily to stay healthy. I feed balenced rations, free choice alfalfa/grass hay, free choice minerals, and call it good. I just use antibiotics as sparingly and only as NEEDED.

Pneumonia is severely damaging to lungs and can cause shortened lifespans, general unthriftiness even if they are treated, stunted kids that don't reach breeding size their first year (or ever), and since the scar tissue can prevent the death of the bacteria, it can be recurring. They need regular (daily) doseages of Oxytetracycline or maybe Penicillin. Though the bottle of oxytetracycline says every other day, it needs to be used DAILY in goats because of their fast metabolism. I'm not sure what a doseage would be for sheep. I'd use it for 10 days. When I see green snot, if it's breeding stock or sale stock I hit them hard/quick with antibiotics. If it's butchering stock, I often will just dress them out.

DRY coughing can be a parasite - lungworm. That's treated with Ivermectin Plus. This is not accompanied with hacking or nasal discharge, however. Green snot is VERY indicative of bacterial pneumonia.

I use penicillin sub-q at 1cc per 25lbs. I use oxytetracycline at the same rate if I remember correctly. I've been told that giving them sub-q to goats makes them last longer in their accellerated metabolisms, though I've used them sucessfully IM as well.