Mystery-Virus/Rickettsial Infection/Deficiencies?

[GoldenTreePackGoats]

It is with a broken heart I share that I laid Yukon to rest this afternoon.

His personality picked up yesterday, but his body did not. He became suddenly pale, or I should say white in his eye lids, unexplained acute anemia so I asked a favor and was able to get a CBC and a chemistry. 9 days ago his bw was mostly within normal limits but yesterday his CBC showed extreme anemia, and renal failure. We hooked him up to IV fluids right away and started pushing it through but after I was able to get a couple vets to review his bloodwork they said if by miracle he survived his kidneys wouldn't recover to full function and he would always need supportive care. I didn't want him to waste away to the point he lost his dignity and he had been fighting so hard for so many days.

At this point I've had 6 doctors review my case, 4 of them physically examined my goats and I still have no answers. I'm waiting for the results of the viral panel we sent out and we drew extra blood from Yukon this morning to do a vector panel. Idea's that were mentioned were anaplasmosis, leptospirosis, and some virus we may never identify. I'm trying to not feel guilt but it's possible that the Banamine may have sent Yukon's kidneys in a downward spiral. The vet thinks he had some underlying conditions that made him tolerate it less than the rest of the sick goats. It was also confirmed that for an unknown reason he had some abnormal lung fibrosis mostly on the right side. To back up the genetic predisposition and underlying conditions, his full sister who I was hoping to breed if I lost him also has an enlarged kidney that luckily isn't painful yet. 

I was able to get blood work done on all my yearlings and the 2 that never showed symptoms have mostly normal CBC and Chemistry's. Huck and Yukon who got the most sick have elevated kidney values, and are really acutely anemic. The two does that were ill are mostly within normal values except almost anemic. They were treated with the same exact drugs and frequency of the boys. When the results are in I will make sure to let you guys know. 

Yukon was so deeply special to me. I never mean to pick favorites but some are more compatible with me than others. We had a special bond, he chose me as his person as he wasn't a fan of humans as a whole and really wanted nothing to do with them. My heart aches without him, he was such a huge part of my life. I would visit him every night before bed and he would lean on me and wrap his head around me when I hugged him giving me a hug back, he was the first to greet me no matter what. When he saw me grab the halters or carrying the truck key he would pace and yell at me in excitement. Now I have an understanding of why he may have been my "slow-poke" goat, and honestly I lived in denial of his packgoating capabilities. He was my goat and I wanted to bring him everywhere but he didn't/couldn't keep up with the rest of us very well. I had no idea.

My best idea thus far is to have some of his ashes made into a piece of glass that I can bring with me on our adventures including thru-hiking the PCT. His body may be gone but his spirit can still hit the trail with us. The rest of his ashes can be set free at his favorite trail that he got to do. The pictures are at the beginning of this thread. 

Thank you for the support you have provided through this ongoing tragedy my herd has/is going through. 
He loved the powdered donuts.

[img]IMG_20170709_123656 by Kataya Uren, on Flickr[/img]