Plugged Wether 2 y o

Thanks Beth - I still think I need to continue as everyone says with the ac - I do see the crystals on him. He still is straining a little and keeping off to himself. He has been miserable before and has done it again (my fault!). I think I have solved the grain issue (with feist I am probably only thinking I have solved the grain issue!!)

Thanks so much for all the support to everyone on here. I was so sure I was going to go down to find the little guy dead one of these mornings. If I had to I would have let the vet do surgery but not as a beginning thing. THey had operated on a different wether we had for another problem and we had no success. So I was worried. I have learned a great deal here and even educated a few vets this past week. Thanks, Laurie

If you want to treat him I'd give him some alfalfa instead of grain at least for now.

Glad to hear he's improving.

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"Do you believe in the devil? You know, a supreme evil being dedicated to the temptation, corruption, and destruction of man?" Hobbs
"I'm not sure that man needs the help." Calvin

I am working on the alfalfa. Supposed to have some tomorrow. He has actually only eaten about 1/2 to 3/4 of a cup since Friday with the ac on it. Thanks Fishhead

Feist was up with the rest of the crew this morning checking out the remnants of "Ike" that blew through last night and still this morning. He was standing proud as day in the middle of the barnyard peeing up a storm. Just the slightest hint of straining. He is getting back to being himself. Thought you would like to know. I'm off to give him his ac... he's not off the hook yet.

<happy dance of joy>

So glad to read that he's doing so well! Good job!

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Je ne suis pas Alice

http://homesteadingfamilies.proboards.com/

That's good news! It could have turned out really bad.

Last winter I gave my wethers BOSS coated with a small amount corn oil and sprinkled with AC each morning. That worked most of the winter but by spring they started to balk at it. This winter I'll try cracked corn or ground corn instead of BOSS to give them the AC.

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"Do you believe in the devil? You know, a supreme evil being dedicated to the temptation, corruption, and destruction of man?" Hobbs
"I'm not sure that man needs the help." Calvin

I hope he recovers completely - you've certainly made a herculean effort. Wethers should never be on grain and yes, I agree he should be on AC from now on.

Good job!!! I am so happy he is doing better

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Teach only Love...for that is what You are

He actually loves cracked corn - more than any grain, but like most goats they are sneaky little buggers and go where they want to really. I swear he could get into any enclosed area (chick enclosures, turkey poult pen, piglets :1pig when he was little - hence the name. We actually only give a small amount of grain to our turkeys and chickens and that is scattered way down the hill and he is occupied thinking he is getting something up on top of the hill. The birds hustle to their stuff and the goats trip me. The rest they have to find on their own.

Thanks again everyone. He is still laying back but coming around...
Soon he will be chewing my boots and grabbing visitors by the buttons.

Laurie (vtfarma)

Woohoo! Good work!

My wethers are so goofy that they'll actually lick the dry AC that sifts through their alfalfa pellets. Go figure

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Beth ~ Old Church, VA
3 Nigerian Dwarf goats, 4 cats, 3 Pekin ducks and 7 chickens. One very patient husband~

Laurie, it will take a couple of weeks for you to give him the AC in water right in his mouth every day to get all of the crystals, etc. from his system. I would not do ringers SQ. If you give him the AC everyday that will clear it up unless you didn't get to him in time which it sounds like he's doing better. Mine took a good couple weeks but is great now. I put the AC on a little alfafa pellets drizzled with some molasses to make it stick & a tiny bit of grain(really not much at all, a LITTLE sprinkle). I tryed different things that folks here said to do, my vet, etc. & found this works for us & keeps him healthy & NO urinary problems.
So glad to here yours is doing so much better. Keep up the good work & he'll get better. After about a week my buck didn't even mind me shooting it in his mouth every morning.
I also had the vet cut my buck's pizzle off & there was a stone lodged in the end but he was still not completely blocked. That is also called a surgical procedure so maybe that's what some of the HT here are talking about when they say surgery. Not the real invasive kind.
You've done a great job & Feist is a lucky guy to have you.

Feist is doing very well. He is chasing chickens and tormenting the turkeys so it appears that he is well on his way to recovery. I have been watching him much more closely when the feeding is done and have discovered a couple of sources of grain that he gets into. He is a resourceful little bugger! I think I have fixed these issues.

He is still getting ac even though there is no straining. I don't dare back off quite yet. Probably by midweek I would think I could go to more of an every other day approach with the syringe full and sprinkle on his grain.

I wish he was goofy enough to lick it off things. Go figure.

Thanks for the support - nice that we have our little pest back up and running. Now I just have to get all the hooves trimmed . There are just too many of those things out there.

Laurie

Some doctors recommend beer for human kidney stones. Not getting drunk, mind you, but like a (12 oz) can or two a day when trying to pass a kidney stone. Very good diuretic and it is relaxing. I have never heard of it being used for goats so be sure I am not recommending it. Just mentioning it and wondering if anyone has ever heard of it used for animals for this reason? If it has, it might be a good emergency trick to use a few ounces until AC could be located.