Chat
12-02-2022, 09:44 AM
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.
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.