Tetany, MOF and my doeling

[Jillis]

I posted a few days ago about one of my ND triplet doelings, who are dam raised, that was twitching and very hyper.
I got some very good info that it was a condition called tetony, which is caused by low magnesium, and to get MFO or CMPK for her.
I looked at her yesterday and she seemed fine. Then last night my son said, no, he saw her twitching. I hadn't given her the MFO yet and I thought that the problem had resolved itself.
But this morning, although I only saw a couple of twitches, I noticed that she was trembling, or tremoring slightly, all over. Also, her respirations are very rapid.

So I followed the dosage and gave her 1 cc MFO for each lb. of body wieght, amounting in her case to between 5 and 6 lbs.

My question is, how long does it take to help? Do I repeat the dose, and if so, how often? I don't want to give her too much either!

TIA!

[Jillis]

I am bumping this.
I gave her the MFO. Her respirations are now normal, and the tremoring has stopped, but she still is twitching her head and her legs occasionally. Also saw her skin shudder on her side...the way a horse's does when a fly lands on them, but there are no bugs on her...

Do I give some more MFO tonight, or should I wait and give her some in the morning?

TIA!

[mygoat]

Hmm, I dont' even know what MFO is...
I found lately that my goats haven't been twiching at all since I put out quality goat minerals, Purina goat minerals. Make sure your minerals don't have too much salt in it so your goats will actually touch them. That was my problem. I was using regular stock salt/minerals, and they NEVER touched them because there was too much salt in the mix. WAY to much. They eat Purina like candy. Since then, no twitching that I've noticed.

[goatladie]

JIllis, sorry I can't help you either, but can you tell me the sites wher you found this info - I would like to learn more about it... thanks, and I hope your goatie gets better soon....

[Blue Oak Ranch]

http://www.jefferslivestock.com/ssc/...C8DRJ24G404KUD

I would give more like 10ml MFO orally for a baby of that size....I had a twitchy kid earlier this spring and he only needed the one treatment - stopped the next day.

You can give more than one treatment, but I'd limit to the 10ml per day. It might take a few days, depending on how severe the deficiency is.

Cheers!

Katherine

Blue Oak Ranch
www.blueoakranchsb.com

[Jillis]

Thanks all!
Mygoat, my goats have Sweetlix and kelp free choice. This is a 6 week old dam raised-baby. I do give the mama and babies their own dish of minerals and kelp but I don't know how much she is consuming...she is one of three very healthy triplets...and she is not thin or anything else.
From what I read about the condition, it can be triggered even by stress...

I did notice that she became very "skittish" right after we took them to be disbudded...and it surprised me. When we put the babies outside in a little pen for the first time, this one became so stressed she was actually panting and breathing very heavy---so I put them back with mama. After this, I put mama out with them.

Even my kids were saying how hard it was to catch her and how nervous she was. The funny thing is, she was the smallest of the litter, and yet always the sweetest and friendliest. I didn't realize the reason she had changed was possibly this low level magnesium deficiency, brought on, I am sure, by stress. I don't disbud my own kids (yet!) and had to take them on a 45 minute drive, then the disbudduing, and then 45 minutes back. Perhaps the stress of this even drained the magnesium from her system and began this condition which upon the next stress just depleted her to the point of developing the tetany?

goatladie, I just googled "tetany in goats" and got a lot of sites. I didn't save them so maybe you could try the same thing. MFO is a mineral supplement which I never heard of either, before this.

Thanks, Katherine! I will observe her carefully tomorrow morning, and if I see any symptoms, I will give her 10 mgs. and then check again the next day.

Since they hit the 6 1/2 week mark, one of them (not the one with twitching)had some diarrhea which turned out to be coccidia which I am treating. I am treating all three with Sulmet. She didn't mind the taste of the MFO, but of course none of them liked the Sulmet. I think I got it far back enough in their throats that they didn't get too much though, because they didn't do that "GACK!" thing that they sometimes do!