sick goat - I'm confused

[Solace Farm]

My goat kid (~6months) is acting strange.

Symptoms:
wobbly/twitchy head, always pulls to his left
staggering/drunken gait, wide-leg stance when standing still, again pulls to left - if he runs, he bounces off the wall to his left and ends up on his back.

Anti-symptoms:
no fever
no diarrhea - nice little berries
no distress (confusion since his feet don't work right, but not "distress")
no convulsions/seizures - can turn his head all around, it just bobbles the whole time
not off feed or lethargic
reasonably energetic, runs when being chased (trying to catch him)
no grain, so not over-eating it
no molasses feed, so no moldy feed
very little hay, and what's there was cut last week
moved to this pasture 2 weeks ago, not used by animals in decades, so shouldn't be a worm problem
came from very similar pasture, so not a jump to lush forage
pasture he came from has only had goats (or any livestock) for ~ 2 months
wormed 2 weeks ago with Hoegger's herbal wormer

I've looked up Enterotoxaemia, Polio, Listeriosis. All have the staggering, but the big problem with all of them is that he has had no changes in food, he gets no grain, what hay he has is fresh, cut last week, he's changed pastures recently, but it was only a few hundred yards away, very similar. They (the boys in the buck pen) get loose mineral, but they have been knocking it all onto the ground, so I suppose possibly he's deficient in something. The new pasture has a lot more trees on it, a lot of them pines - could pines be poisoning him somehow? Everything I've seen says pine is fine. Otherwise there's lots of poison ivy, small understory maples, privet, etc. If I were to give him B vitamins, would it hurt him if he didn't have Polio? Are there any other things to look for that could help narrow this down for me? It's been a couple of hourse since I first noticed it, I've isolated him, and I just checked him one more time before posting, he was standing up chewing his cud, and pooped fine, but he's really skittish so ran from me, but it involved lots of bouncing off the wall and falling on his back. His head still bobbles pretty strongly (several inches back and forth) but again, always to his left. Any advice? Thanks!

[KimM]

If he were mine I'd treat him aggressively for Listeriosis and get a fecal done too. I lost one to it and one side of his face was completely paralyzed and his eye lids wouldn't work at all on that side so while he was falling into walls and such, he abraded (sp) his eye lens horribly. I had to put antibiotic ointment in his eye, cover with gauze and wrap half his head up. You can check by give a light touch/tap with your fingertip in the corner right in front of the eye (not in it)and see if he has any reaction. If there's paralysis, it's probaly listeriosis. I don't know if meningeal worm can make them act that way or not. I sure hope you get it figured out.
Have you called your vet to see what he (she) thinks?

[nubiansinny]

you can give the vit b it won't hurt but if it is polio it won't help much either. you need the stronger perscription stuff form the vet ASAP. It won't hurt him either way. good luck it's good he's still chewing his cud.

[Solace Farm]

Well, after talking to several people, including Hoegger's helpline (I don't mean to be callous, but we're just going to eat this little guy this fall so it's not worth it to me to take him to a vet), I think he has an ear infection. My husband, who's a physician, leans strongly in favor of that. His (the goat's) ears are nice and clean, so not earmites or anything, but the lack of any other symptoms, with the pulling to the left only, and I noticed on the last check that he has pronounced eye nystagmus, tell me that he's simply severely dizzy! We'll continue to monitor for any changes or other symptoms, but at this point, after at least half a day, he's not changed at all, still no signs of distress, chews his cud, and most diseases include rapid progression and sudden death, which isn't happening. Thanks for the tips everyone!