Aspiration Pneumonia - Hope?

[Nanno]

Seven weeks is definitely very early to wean, but keep your options open. Our first goat, Cuzco, was weaned at eight weeks because that's what age the breeder sold him to us and we didn't know better. He never got milk replacer pellets or calf manna or anything but pasture grass and a little horse sweet feed. He stayed healthy, grew wonderfully, and just turned fifteen years old after a long working life. Goats can be very resilient.

[GoldenTreePackGoats]

Interesting.. Cuzco turned out great all around!
I wish that I could fix the mystery of 'why' he aspirates while bottle feeding. He eats pellets, hay, and chews cud (real fast and cute like). The vet said that young kids can develop pharyngeal dysfunction, but usually grow out of it later on, which is why pan feeding was suggested. He refuses to recognize the pan in general, I even let the other kid drink milk from a pan as an example and Rafiki walks up to it, smells it, and walks away.

All of you have been so supportive, thank you for sending Rafiki some love, I think it's helping! Keeping fingers crossed. Sorry if my rambles are jumbled, I may be slightly sleep deprived.

[GoldenTreePackGoats]

Fingers crossed I think we are on the upswing! Rafiki has had a normal temp for 72 hours, and he's bright and alert but tires easily. A newer bubbly cough has developed, but it seems more like the consolidation breaking up (Hopefully).  I can hear air whooshing throughout his entire lungs now! A huge improvement from the silence in his right lung and dull lower left lung. He really seems to enjoy the nebulizer, which makes it easy.
The poor guy is a pincushion after I had to switch to Penicillin every 12 hours. He's a bit of a wimp but I'd be the same way honestly.

[HunterImagery]

Great news!  He's a cutie and he's lucky to have a human who loves him.

[Nanno]

Aw, so happy that your baby is showing signs of improvement! I don't usually like the no-ears thing, but this guy is adorable! What a sweet little smile. I hope he makes a full recovery for you.

[Taffy]

Wonderful news!  I hope he makes a complete recovery!

[GoldenTreePackGoats]

Rafiki did make nearly a full recovery, the only thing left over is some weird rumble when he exhales through his nose (not snorting). Maybe its the defect that caused the whole aspiration in the first place who knows! Besides that and some shoulder scarring from the penicillin injections he's doing pretty good now-a-days.

I'm pretty confident his growth was stunted and now his size is a problem in my herd. Some of my bigger goats are real bullies and will cause serious injury or death to him. I'm considering getting him a friend his size and making a seperate pen but wanted to see what others had to say about how much he might or could grow.

He is full lamancha, 8 months old, 55lbs. His dam and sire were over 100lbs. No deficiencies, no parasites, no coccidosis, proper nutrition.

Have any of your guys been stunted and shot back up to normal? Or will he likely not reach 100?

[Nanno]

Aw, so glad he's doing well! We were pretty worried about that little guy I remember. I would not give up hope. Getting him a buddy his own size would be a good idea. Another idea (if you can bear to part with him) would be to find him a pet home where he could be with smaller goats than yours. A petting zoo might even be the perfect home for a little guy like this. But if you want to keep him he'll need a companion his size. He will definitely keep growing and I should think he will top 100 lbs. by next year unless his lungs are defective. 

Here's a story to give you hope. We bought a buckling, Pac-Man, who was only about 65 lbs. at nine months. He was perfectly healthy, but he was stunted from being kept with a bunch of older, bigger bucks who pushed him around. Pac-Man wasn't thin when we got him, but he was an intact buckling in full rut and had already been bred to quite a few does during the past 3-4 months. I believe his heavy breeding schedule at such a young age was another factor in his lack of growth. When we got Pac-Man, my six-month old doelings were much bigger and heavier than he was and I was worried that at his age he would never catch up. However, once he came to live with us his growth took off and within a month or two he was much bigger than my doelings. Now he's ENORMOUS! After he was wethered he got sold as a packgoat to some friends of Taffy's and she'll tell you he's one of the biggest goats she's ever laid eyes on. Pac-Man is the father of my goat, Sputnik, and I'm sure you've seen how big Sputnik is. 

Here's a photo of Pac-Man that Taffy sent me last summer. He's four years old in this photo. 
   

Depending on his health issues, Rafiki may not have the potential to get huge like Pac-Man did, but I'd definitely say there's hope that he'll at least be big enough to run with your does by next year. And as much as you love him, don't be too hasty to rule out rehoming him. If the right situation comes along, someone else with a different setup may be able to give him a more comfortable life than you can, and that's perfectly ok.

[GoldenTreePackGoats]

Wow, Pac-man is a giant! Thank you for sharing that. Seeing that photo I never would have guessed that was his story. 

I have considered re-homing Rafiki but for many reasons it's not an option. My closest friend is looking for a new house with more land and would love to have a herd of smaller goats, I would in-trust her with Rafiki. Nick my partner wouldn't have it any other way, he stays with us or stays with our close friend, he adores Rafiki. I guess Rafiki has kinda become our mascot too. 

Currently I have my does, Pluto, and Huck together. Then Kingsley, Rafiki and Bagheera. 
I want my pregnant does separate from my boys and also for my packers/potential packers to be housed together so they can form their pecking order for the trail. 

At this point I'm trying to decide whether the additional goat should be a lamancha or oberhasli kid to house with him, or if I should just do a Nigerian. I would like to consider a lamancha or oberhasli doe so that next year hopefully I can house Rafiki, and the new doe with our older does. 

So far its a scattered plan, but we are figuring logistics. Thank you for the input on his size. I can't even imagine him at 100 pounds but fingers crossed he gets to the triple digits.

[Perry]

“He is full lamancha, 8 months old, 55lbs. His dam and sire were over 100lbs. No deficiencies, no parasites, no coccidosis, proper nutrition.

Have any of your guys been stunted and shot back up to normal? Or will he likely not reach 100?”

Just my own curiosity, but you said  “His dam and sire were over 100lbs”, at what age?
 
The reason that I ask is that I’m used to thinking of mature pack goats as weighting around 175 lbs., to 200 lbs.