Waiting...

[MsDeb]

We still have 4 of our friend's goats staying with us until the end of October. They are all around 8 months old. He/we wormed them all about 6 weeks ago. Everyone was fine Monday. Honestly we didn't spend a lot of time with them on Tuesday but everyone was up eating when we checked on them. Then yesterday when we let them out to graze the smallest one (that our friend had to tube feed as a baby and spent hours and days and weeks just trying to keep her alive) kept laying down to eat. We checked her eyelids and gums and sure enough they were white. Talked to vet and got worm med and iron supplement into her really quick. She hasn't been showing signs of being sick as long as Dande and she's a lot older and stronger but it still feels awful and hopeless after experiencing such a similar loss. Why does this happen so fast? Do we need to check everyone's gums and eyes every day? Of course we were checking the rest of them yesterday and they all looked fine. In my heart I just know I'm going to go home this afternoon and find her dead. I don't know what else to do for her and I had to go to work today. I took days off to stay home with Dande and that didn't make any difference anyway.

 

[Goat Whisperer]

I'm sorry MsDeb!

Right now it is probably best to do a fecal on all the goats. The eyelid method (FAMACHA) was developed for the Barberpole worm. Not very effective for other types of worms, until they are very anemic. Southern By Choice has a great page on her website about it.

What type of parasite are you dealing with? What type of dewormer did your vet give you?

Also its not a good idea to worm UNLESS you now what type of parasites you are dealing with. It has caused so many dewormers to be ineffective.

You should check out @elevan 's goat notes, it may help you. It has lots of good info in it!
http://www.backyardherds.com/threads/goat-notes-e-book-now-available.24849/

I know you are new at raising goats, this is a hard way to start

 

[MsDeb]

Thank you. Life would be much simpler if we were just dealing with our own goats. The owner is coming this weekend and will take fecal samples to his vet. So far Dinky is pretty much the same. I know there is so much good info here. Its just easy to get overloaded (and very scared) by so much. I really appreciate all the help.

 

[elevan]

You can go from almost no worms to a lot in 4 days. So, a de-worming 6 weeks prior means nothing and why regular de-wormings are useless and build de-wormer resistance.

I'm really sorry you're having difficulties.

 

[Southern by choice]

Very sorry you are having to go through this.
Kind of you to care for another's goats. Hopefully they are separate and in a dry lot environment. If not they are dumping all these parasites on your land and infecting your goats.
Not trying to add more to your plate but it would be best if you have a dry lot area where they can stay. It is essentially a quarantine.

Any goat coming onto your property needs to be quarantined for a minimum of 30days. Monitoring fecals using McMasters EPG (eggs per gram) Count method as well as identifying type of parasite will allow you to target and get rid of the worms. Also you want to see 95% reduction in worm count/load after the de-wormer. This shows you if the dewormer type is working for the animal.

Biggest issues are not knowing the actual weight of the animal and UNDERdosing!

Many say fenbendazole does not work- On the rare occasion we have to deworm it has worked well for us because we dose accurately.
We have several vets and each gives different dosage and time length.
We personally use this dewormer on our dogs/cats/goats.
for goats we prefer the 9-10cc per 100lbs 3 consecutive days. 5 days if high load. Of course working with your vet is best and following their advice but also giving updates to your vet is important.
For really high loads 2 different classes should be used. I think @elevan 's Goat Notes is a very valuable resource and she has really poured herself into providing easy to understand language.
I believe she addresses many of these issues.

Hoping things turn round for you.

 

[MsDeb]

She didn't make it. My husband found her dead this morning. I think,if we didn't already have our own little herd we love this would have caused serious discussion on whether we want to do this or not. I am sad and more than a little bit angry. Our 9 year old grandson spent the night with us last night and naturally picked up on the fact this morning that Dinky didn't make it. He even said "Grandma, maybe this means you and Papa shouldn't have goats."
The support here is wonderful and I appreciate it all but....."regular de-wormings are useless"?...."eggs per gram"?...and what the **** does "dry lot" mean? And how often am I supposed to pack up fecal samples and deliver them to the vet?
I'll be getting elevan's Goat Notes tonight. And thank you to Emily for making all that info available and to everyone here for the great info and support. It's not your fault that its all so overwhelming.

 

[Sumi]

I'm so sorry to hear about the troubles

 

[SheepGirl]

People deworm every month -- it's useless as the animal may or may not need it or if they do need it you may or may not be giving the correct dewormer. Each dewormer kills different parasites at different life stages. It is best to deworm on an as-needed basis so you know which worm you are dealing with so you can accurately select the best dewormer needed for your situation.

Eggs per gram -- number of worm eggs per gram of feces. Gives you an idea of how many adult worms are in the goat to provide the amount of eggs found in the manure.

Dry lot -- a small dirt pen used to house animals. I've kept sheep on a dry lot. Basically you bring food to them, they do not harvest their own food.

 

[elevan]

And how often am I supposed to pack up fecal samples and deliver them to the vet?

There's really no easy and steadfast answer to that question...it's just as needed. The biggest thing you need to do is learn about your goat's individual health and if one seems off, then you take a sample in. What could be off? Their coat could be dull where it was shiny before...their eyelids or gums may have paled from what they have been previously (or at worst be white)...they could develop bottle jaw...they may start being less active or be less perky...a goat with upright ears may begin drooping them.

In short, observe your goats on a daily basis. Get to know each one, so that when something is different you can pick up on it right away. And when something seems "off" then you take a fecal sample to the vet and see what you're dealing with.

 

[MsDeb]

Thanks again all. I'm sharing all this with my husband and we both are just trying to process what we can. Grandson has taken over the laptop for the evening but tomorrow will get goat notes and probably print off hard copy for David. He wants to read it but isnt fond of electronic print. I checked with our county extension office today to see if they offered any sort of goat 101 classes (figured they might for 4Hers) but the response was pretty much "goat? what? " Might have better luck in one of our more rural counties. Sigh.