I had a doe kid get tetanus once, it was an experience.
I'm not sure the cause, I guess it could be anything but I always suspected and infected disbudding site since those can go deep. Another thought was I heated the colostrum too much.
The first sign I noticed was she fell down and thrashed a bit and yelled. I figured it was entero so I gave her some antitoxin and hit her up with a huge dose of penicillin.
She seemed ok the that evening, but when I got got up the next morning she was totally stiff, could barely breathe, and her tongue was hanging out. I figured she was going to die, but I thought what the heck I might as well try to save her.
Apparently the Penicillin had slowed the infection down but in the absence of any antitoxin she was still feeling the effects. So I went on the hunt for antitoxin.
OK so the only livestock vet is an hour away and not open on weekends. Checked every vet and feed store without success and turns out (at that time) the newly opened Tractor Supply had some.
I bought all they had.
Putting the antitoxin in her was like spraying WD40 in something. Loosened her up.
But she still was super stiff. I'm not sure how much antixox I used but it was a LOT over maybe even 2 weeks or more. I drove to the livestock vet and got more antitoxin which wasn't a lot and then TSC got more in for me.All the while hitting her with penicillin.
It affected her sucking reflex and she would choke and stutter on the bottle.
I moved her to a separate calf hutch. Because she was like a little rocking horse. Once knocked over I had to set her back up. I'd keep her propped during the day as best I could and had a neighbor who walks up the road try to right her if she had fallen in an uncomfortable position while we were at work. I'd find her upside down screaming and with her feet in the air stiff. Once she fell she couldn't really right herself.
In the evening I'd put her out and she would walk in tiny little steps because she was so stiff. A tiny pebble or uneven ground and she'd be down and you'd have to pick her up and set her back up.
Maybe the second week I took her to the livestock vet, which is near where I work and had them keep her till I went home and put her on IV valium to see if they could loosen her up. That cost me over 200. The vet was amazed and not bragging but he said it was a testament to our animal husbandry skills the she was not dead.
Over time she loosened up and became normal again. But it was I think close to a month. She freshened normally and milked and looked fine. She was huge pet from being handled too much. I wound up selling her because another goat milked as much and had a better fore. The lady who bought her then re sold her and then the lady who bought her bought some more goats off of me because she liked "Big T" so much. She sends me pics every now and then.
It was an interesting experience and a LOT of work. I sold her for WAY less than the amount of vet fees and esp Antitoxin I had in her. I thought for sure she was a goner but she had an incredible will to live, that and the river of antitoxin I gave her helped.
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ictures to come soon.
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