Coughing goat

[minifarmer]

2 weeks ago, I bought 5 goats. When they came home, two had hacking sounding coughs, one cleared up with no treatment, the other still coughs. I contacted the seller who said goats tend to get under the weather during transport (drive was an hour) She appears healthy otherwise, plays, eats, poops berries, and is very alert. Advise?

[ozark_jewels]

Could be lungworms. Use a wormer that kills lungworms and see if she improves.
How old is she?

[sgian]

does she also have mucous draining out the nose?

[minifarmer]

She does have a bit of snotty nose, she is 4 months old, Seller dewormed with safeguard and a tetnus shot when we picked her up. I have Safeguard drench and Ivomec dewormers on hand, should I get something else?

[Backfourty,MI.]

Safeguard won't work for lungworms but the ivermectin should take care of it. I might be concerned about the discharge & coughing if it keeps up since it also could be Phneumonia(SP?). I'd give a good dose of the ivermectin orally for sure.

[sgian]

running nose, coughing, and recent deworming, I would fear pneumonia. I would give 4 or 5 days of antibiotics. I use agricillin, 5 cc per 100 lbs (my vet says to use 5x the amount on directions for cattle because goats have a higher metabolism). More experienced people here might know of a better antibiotic to use, I just use what is available locally.

[Backfourty,MI.]

she might have been wormed but it was with safeguard which doesn't work on any worms except for tape worms. I hate to give antibiotics just for everything but myself if I thought she had phneumonia I would use Duramycin 72-200 or LA 200.
What is her temp.?

[minifarmer]

I took the buck to the vet b/c he had pink eye, and vet gave me oxytotracycline: 4cc injected intramuscularly in the whole herd. If she had Pneumonia, wouldn't that have helped it? When I took the buck, her cough seemed to be cleared up, and his was gone, so I didn't even bring it up, it seemed as the seller was right and it was just a non issue regarding transport. I've never taken the temp of a goat, nor do I have a special thermometer to do that, so I think I'll deworm with the ivomec and watch her and see if she gets better. Thanks for your advise.

[MisFitFarm]

MiniFarmer, you don't have to have a special thermometer for goats. We use the little digital kind you can pick up for a dollar at Dollar Store or SaveALot. The goats temperature should be between 102 and 104.5. It's very simple to do.

[MisFitFarm]

By the way, you can pick up a lot of your every day goat supplies at those same stores, and much cheaper than anywhere else.

[Vicki McGaugh TX Nubians]

New stock moved during the heat of summer, especially in the humid southern states should be protected before the sale with pasturella vaccines or put on tetracycline as soon as the haul is over. Nobody likes to use antibiotics but in cases like this an ounce of prevention.....


3.5cc of any 200 mg tetracycline, per 100 pounds, if you have the option not to buy LA200 do so. Give it daily subq. All over the counter antibiotics are give under the skin (per Goat Medicine our only vet text). Anyone who runs a fever or gets ill, run to the vet and get Banamine 1cc per 100 pounds to give them with this, it will stop the fever, make them feel better, and also stop scar tissue in the lungs which will ruin them.

I would also worm with Ivermectin, since it may be lungworm, but lungworm is not "a couple of goats" deal, it is coughed onto all goats by each other in the same pen so it's usually pen wide problems. It also gets lice, mites and nosebots so it's worth a go. 1cc per 30 pounds inject it out of the bottle but then take off the needle and give it orally. Repeat in 10 days repeat in 10 days.

Go to jefferspet.com or call 1800 jeffers and get their catalogs, equine, livestock and pet...order via them. Also get yourself a goat weigh tape so you can ball park how much they weigh and get yourself the Cydectin CAttle pour on 1cc per 22 pound given orally, for your wormer from this point forward.

*All goats carry pasturella in their lungs all the time, it takes a huge stress or the traveling in very humid conditions to make it 'activate'. Vicki