Goat doeling acts like she has founder.

[range]

My little pygmy doeling, born at the end of June 2006, is acting like she's foundered. However, I can't be sure and I don't know what steps to take now. The symptoms appeared rather suddenly. She's had no snots, no fever, and nothing in her feed regimen has changed.

One day, about a week ago, I noticed that she didn't want to eat standing up. She eats with on her front knees and doesn't want to move around. She stands with her hind legs braced under her and occassionally props each front foot up on something. I "booted" her with a sugardine paste on her feet the first couple of days and gave her a baby aspirin and that seemed to help. But, she's not getting any better. The "boots" I put on her last night didn't help.

There's no sign of foot rot. There's no sign of anything IN her feet. There's no heat in her feet. They are trimmed correctly. The soles are a little softer than I think they should be. There's no sign of swelling in her knees and no neurological signs.

What could this be and what should I do?

[mygoat]

It could be alot of things. Start of decribing the symptoms better. Take her temperature. Is she vaccinated? has she been tested for CL/CAE or have you had a history of either disease?

[range]

Her temperature has been normal, even at the onset. The herd has not been tested for CAE, but her mama was, according the paperwork I received, and she is negative.

She has no abcesses classic of CL and none of my goats has shown signs of that.

There is no swelling of the joints, no heat in the feet.

Except for the pain in her front feet, nothing is out of the ordinary at all.

ETA: Yes, she is fully vaccinated and wormed.

[Jcran]

Did you check BETWEEN her toes? In the winter, sometimes I've seen the goats get really sore skin between their toes-its been reddish and almost like a bit of pus under the flaky skin. I treated with betadine and kept them dry and they cleared up.

[Nancy_in_GA]

This is a long shot, but since you have ruled out a lot of things, could she be anemic, and simply not have much energy?

Check the lining of her eyes and see if they are bright pink like humans. If they are pale or white she might have a worm or coccidia overload.

Whoops! I didn't read your last line saying she was wormed. Sorry about that.

[Cygnet]

Goats CAN FOUNDER. And for the same reasons as horses.

I have a wether who's foundered on both back feet -- he has a partial amputation (one claw) and both feet in the back foundered during the recovery period. He's more-or-less sound, at least enough to comfortably get around. His feet grow weird and he goes lame as snot if I trim his toes back, though.

I'd get her to a vet -- at a minimum, banamine would help with the pain and inflammation.