agalaxia symptoms?

Ok,maybe I'm a little paranoid... my two milking does have drastically decreased milk production and one of them has a fever, urinates very frequently and has a red vulva - vet said it might be cystitis and had me dose her with three doses of antibiotic but it does not seem to have worked. This goat also walks fairly stiffly but her feet look ok - she eats slowly and has lost a LOT of weight. I've read about contagious agalaxia but the books did not agree as to the symptoms - a few reminded me of my goat. Does anybody know? Anyway, would you say the sick goat is liable to spread whatever disease she has or not?
Thanks :baby04:

[LMonty]

Sorry to hear of your troubles, Clara.

I have to admit, you had me stumped. This is one disease I hadnt heard of that I can recall. I did a little research, this looks like a good general overview. http://vfu-www.vfu.cz/acta-vet/vol70/pdf/70_403.pdf

Not sure where you are... but its pretty rare in North America, from what I can see. There is a test for it, that your vet may be able to help you with. Are there other differential diagnoses that might fit the picture?

[Patty0315]

Have your goats been tested for cae ?

[Vicki McGaugh TX Nubians]

Not that your goat couldn't have mycoplasma, but in goats it is almost always in the forum of pinkeye, pnemonia, mastitis, or swollen knees like in CAE and most often is diagnosed in sick and dieing babies.

Always start with the normal worms and cocci. Do they look anemic? Pull up and pull down their eyelids are they healthy pink? Whats their temps? What are you feeding and have you made any changes....because chornic founder can be a doe who simply doesn't get enough to drink because she won't walk, and has legs that are sore so she walks deliberatly and like walking on egg shells. Anemia also causes sluggishness, poor milking and the red vulva can simpy be her first heat this year.

Theres an old saying in livestock that if you hear hoof beats it's rarely zerbras. Simply that sure you could have an exotic thing wrong with your goats, but it's rarely that, and it's usually something simple. vicki

Thank you everybody...Vicky, sound advice about zebras...yet I live in Italy and apparently agalaxia is one disease that is fairly common. Think you are right, though - shouldn't be THAT after all. My does have all been recently dewormed, no change in feed, enough water - must admit they haven't been tested for CAE, so that's something I want to do. The sick girl DOES walk on tiptoe in fact, and looks anaemic and dehydrated - only, the fact that she had just been dewormed and had enough to drink (and could get to the drinking trough, I checked on that) baffled me. We'll see.
Thanks again!

[Vicki McGaugh TX Nubians]

How do you know your wormer worked? Unless you fecal you are guessing. Is it the right wormer? Does it kill the numbers down with the dosage you gave? Does it even work for the worm you have that is causing the anemia? That is why I hate to guess, I want to know, because in the mean time you have an anemic goat who will not get bred, will not milk and if bred would have aborted. CAE doesn't cause lethargy or most of your other symptoms...a swollen knee or both, pnemonia, hard udder at freshening. Vicki