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+--- Thread: Help: Possible Anemic/Worm Problem with 5.5 year old Alpine (/showthread.php?tid=5004)
Help: Possible Anemic/Worm Problem with 5.5 year old Alpine - Rocky723 - 12-02-2022
My son has a 5.5 year old Alpine that suddenly became ill. He weighed about 190-200 pounds. Of note, we are working to get a vet involved. Due to many circumstances it has not worked out to have one to our location yet.
Details:
--Last Wednesday (day before Thanksgiving) the Alpine was acting and seemed well. He did seem a little light on weight but we had just had some recent snow and our goats were not very active or eating much for those few days with snow.
--Thursday (Thanksgiving) we noticed he was limping on one leg only (right front). Otherwise, he seemed fine that day. My son looked at his hooves and trimmed them a little.
--Friday morning I went out to water and feed the goats and our other four were out of their shed walking around and just being goats. The Alpine was still in the shed which seemed odd. As I went in he stood up, stumbled on his right foot a bit and then went outside to sit in the sun. Throughout Friday I noticed he was lethargic and very slow. He did eat and drink fine that day. Later that evening he seemed to be stumbling a bit more. He went into the shed and stayed there that night.
--Saturday morning I went to check on him and he would not stand up. I brought him food and water and he ate just fine. I then noticed his eyelids were very pale on the FAMACHA Scale (almost white). Saturday afternoon he was out of the shed on his own and sitting in a pile of leaves eating. We did have to encourage him to go back into the shed that evening. We did go to or local farm supply store and spoke with some friends with livestock and everyone pointed to worms and anemia. Which all made sense. We did purchase dewormer, b-complex, and red cell. We dewormed (6ml orally of the ivermectin) him that evening and started red cell (8 ml per day) and b complex (6ml twice daily) shots as well.
--Sunday morning he had not moved at all from his spot the previous evening. His stool all looked normal and often. He was urinated often as well. We did get him to stand and move to a new spot. We fed him throughout the day (fruits, vegetables, alfalfa pellets, other pellets, alfalfa grasses). He also drank all day. At this point he seemed to have lost a fair amount of weight. His spine and ribs were very pronounced. He was not vomiting or with diarrhea at all.
--Monday-Thursday of this week have been identical. He doesn't want to move. He did move himself one evening at some point in the shed. He does not like being assisted to his feet. He groans and wants to sit back down. Although, he seems totally fine mentally. He is very alert. He interacts with you when we sit with him and feed/water him. His pupils are normal. The pinkness of his inner eyelids has started to return (certainly not bright pink yet, but significantly more pink than last week). He had one or two sets of stool that did have a small amount of blood in it. Nothing excessive. Just some small streaks.
Other details:
--We have been feeding him a lot of food each day. He eats a lot. We also give him a lot of water. And Kid Milk mix at times. He certainly has an appetite.
--We give him 2 b-complex shots a day (about 6ml per shot), about 8 ml of red cell a day as well.
--He truly acts normal except for not wanting to stand.
--Unfortunately, I did not take his temperature early on and have not. Complete oversight on our part and a mistake.
He does not show any other signs of sickness or disease such as polio. Everything that we have been able to find out and with the assistance of friends it seems he may have had a very large worm infestation. We checked our other four goats and all of them did have pale eyelids on the FAMACHA scale (not the level of our alpine). We de-wormed them as well.
We are still learning and have probably made some mistakes. We acknowledge that. Any insight or assistance would be great.
Other questions we have:
--We have read that in some cases of severely anemic goats that it may take weeks for them to regain their strength. Is this acurate and can that cause them to not stand on their own for several days?
--Any suggestions for getting him to stand and gain strength? We have thought about making a "feeding" sling of some sort to support him in the shed for periods of time each day?
--Anything else?
Again, we are working with knowledgable people but have been able to have a vet out. Yes, we understand that would be the best option to get more details. Please understand we are truly caring and nursing this goat. We want him to gain his strength and get better. He is awesome.
Thank you for your insight and patience.
RE: Help: Possible Anemic/Worm Problem with 5.5 year old Alpine - Nanno - 12-02-2022
Poor fellow! Sounds like he did have a pretty heavy worm load and it might take some time for him to recover. However, I wonder if you have a dual problem going on. Is it possible that he was injured? If he were rammed or got his leg caught somewhere and wrenched it getting out, he could be quite lame, perhaps higher up in the shoulder area. This would make him very reluctant to get up or move around. I encourage you to feel that right front leg from shoulder to hoof and work all the joints. See if he resists or reacts to pressure or movement. I'm glad he has a good appetite and his bodily functions are normal. That's going in your favor! I hope you can figure out what's going on and that your fella makes a full recovery.
RE: Help: Possible Anemic/Worm Problem with 5.5 year old Alpine - Taffy - 12-02-2022
Where are you located?
NAPgA has a list of vets that were recommended for goats on their website under resources.
www.napga.org
RE: Help: Possible Anemic/Worm Problem with 5.5 year old Alpine - Rocky723 - 12-02-2022
I am in Idaho. We have a Vet recommended through a friend. It has just not worked out to have them out. We are working that as we speak.
We have throughly checked him out. He shows now signs of pain in any legs, joints, or hooves. We have pushed/rubbed everywhere on his body. He doesn't seem to be in pain anywhere.
Today we put him in a sling to get him off the ground for a while. He didn't complain one bit and seemed to enjoy being up for a bit. We plan on doing that once or twice a day for the next bit and see how he reacts. We took almost all of his weight off of his legs while I the sling and will plan on seeing how he does with some slight weight tomorrow. As previous days, he ate all day, drank a lot of fluids and seems very alert.
We will continue to keep up our current treatment and work to get the vet out.
I will keep you updated. Thanks for the info, reply and concern.
RE: Help: Possible Anemic/Worm Problem with 5.5 year old Alpine - Taffy - 12-03-2022
Could it be meningeal worm? It causes paralysis.
RE: Help: Possible Anemic/Worm Problem with 5.5 year old Alpine - Rocky723 - 12-04-2022
Meningeal Worm...
He has no signs of paralysis. We had him in the sling today again and he will move his legs and moves his head just fine. He does seem to be getting better overall. His eyelids are much more pink in color.
I'll keep you updated.
Thanks.
RE: Help: Possible Anemic/Worm Problem with 5.5 year old Alpine - Rocky723 - 12-06-2022
(12-02-2022, 11:38 AM)Nanno Wrote: Poor fellow! Sounds like he did have a pretty heavy worm load and it might take some time for him to recover. However, I wonder if you have a dual problem going on. Is it possible that he was injured? If he were rammed or got his leg caught somewhere and wrenched it getting out, he could be quite lame, perhaps higher up in the shoulder area. This would make him very reluctant to get up or move around. I encourage you to feel that right front leg from shoulder to hoof and work all the joints. See if he resists or reacts to pressure or movement. I'm glad he has a good appetite and his bodily functions are normal. That's going in your favor! I hope you can figure out what's going on and that your fella makes a full recovery.
We have felt up in that area and when he is in the sling he allows us to bend it and move it in any direction and he doesn't seem to have any pain, it isn't inflamed or warm/hot to the touch it feels like the rest of his body and he is the pasture leader/alpha of our goats so he doesn't get hit by any of the other guys often or really ever.
RE: Help: Possible Anemic/Worm Problem with 5.5 year old Alpine - Nanno - 12-06-2022
How's your fella doing? Is he showing any signs of improvement? It almost sounds a bit like polio except you said he didn't show any other symptoms. I hope he makes a full recovery!
RE: Help: Possible Anemic/Worm Problem with 5.5 year old Alpine - Rocky723 - 12-06-2022
(12-06-2022, 03:04 PM)Nanno Wrote: How's your fella doing? Is he showing any signs of improvement? It almost sounds a bit like polio except you said he didn't show any other symptoms. I hope he makes a full recovery!
Thanks for asking. The past two days he has been sitting much higher on his front legs. He has moved himself around in the shed a bit on his own as well. He continues to eat and drink very well. His eyes are significantly more pink. I would say between a solid 3 (almost 4) on the FAMACHA Scale. He was literally around a 1 that first day or so. His stool looks really good. Stool normal, no blood. It looked good before but now it is even better.
Today we got him in the sling for a while (about 15 minutes). We massaged his legs and moved them around for him. He pushed/hobbled around on his own a bit as well. When we brought some fresh bedding into the shed he lunged forward to try and get at it with the other goats. He also stood on his own for about a minute. We had to stabilize him slightly but he was holding up his own weight and not complaining. He struggled to get back down in the bed but made it without much complaint.
Overall, he truly seems to be recovering. It is slow. But we are hopeful and glad to see some progress. He really seems very alert. He interacts with us every time we come into the shed (many times a day). He even gets a bit feisty with the other goats when they try and take his food.
Thanks again.
RE: Help: Possible Anemic/Worm Problem with 5.5 year old Alpine - Nanno - 12-07-2022
I'm glad you're seeing improvement!