Doe Having Diarrhea, Mucus But No Signs of Distress

[RunsWithColors]

I posted yesterday about our 8mo doeling we lost earlier this week. I suspected either polio or a toxin. Please see this thread for more info: Lost our Fiona...

I posted this in that thread as well because I would appreciate some thoughts. I have never seen any goat exhibiting the symptoms our doe is (Fiona's mother) like this without obvious signs of distress, fever, or nuerological symptoms. I have seen and treated many common diseases in goats while I worked for the vet but this isn't making sense. I am stumped. I could use your thoughts.

Our doe has started with diarrhea again. Its nearly projectile, and has mucus coming out of the vulva, rectum, and nasal passages. She is upbeat, eating, walking around, showing no nuerological signs, no fever, eye lids/gums look great, she is hydrated... so its something intestinal, but no distress. I'm starting her on a heavy course of B complex, and pro-bios, and also some pen. but I'm hesitant to use the pen. if it is intestinal but I don't want to take any chances either. I have never seen this before.

Also her bag is huge! She was exposed to our buck in early April but it didn't seem to take. She would never stands for him and he never managed to get the job done all the way. I am fairly certain he never penetrated her. After two days failed attempts we just gave up until the fall.

When she had the first bout of this diarrhea her bag seemed full but not heavy. Fiona was well passed weaned as well so I thought it peculiar, though I have seen mamary tissue swell in response to an immune reaction in rare cases. No mastitis however. After she got over the diarrhea in a couple of days her bag was fine. But today it is huge, teats are swollen and potining forward and I can get milk out of both... She does not appear to be pregnant from my observations, but if Juan did breed her she wouldn't be due until late Aug or Sept. She does not appear to be aborting. I have seen no muscle spasms, straining, or signs of discomfort, no attention being payed to her flanks or belly. This stumps me.

Also she has been wormed. I had wormed her prior to her first bout a few weeks ago, and wormed her again when she started a few weeks ago as a precaution. I have done a fecal and it is clean. So this is not parasites.

[Minelson]

I am no expert...but some kind of protozoan parasite like coccidia comes to mind. Does it stink real bad?

[RunsWithColors]

Minelson: I'm not ruling it out at all but when I did the fecal float & microscopic there were not enough oocytes to warrant that as the primary concern. It would make sense as this occured 3 weeks ago which would coincide with a life cycle... We have also had an unsually wet spring, and good rains so far this summer season and it has been consistently warm. All the right ingredients for a coccidiosis outbreak, and the symptoms are close but no blood, no weight loss, no foul smelling feces, no decrease in appetite. I going to be testing today, and tomorrow as well just to make certain that an influx of oocytes do not appear, sometimes they will take 2-4 days after an initial onset. Its still possible but I would expect a heavy load visible with the severity of diarrhea. There is only trace amounts of blood in the stool, no more than one would find in any mild gastoenteritis event. Both in the fecal test, and the strip it's all occult findings. The stool honestly does not have much of an odor, and what it does have is not foul or sour smelling which I also find odd.

I don't have any Albon on hand, but will likely pick some up Monday and go ahead an proactively treat a course. I'm hoping additional labs will provide answers too. I hate guessing, especially when I am testing what I can and not finding answers. But I think treating with Albon would be appropriate. I gave her the following lastnight:

I treated her yesterday with 4 1/2 cc of procaine penicillin
3cc of B12 (I thought I had complex with thiamine but I did not, it is on order as of lastnight)
I administered this mixture of pen and B12 IM to facilitate faster absorption.
I also gave her 15gm of oral Probios gel suspension.

This morning her stool although still very soft, is formimg. There is still some mucus discharge from the rectum, but the vulva, and nasal passages are clear. I'll be repeating fecal tests again today. She is once again bright, alert, vocal, and trotting around with a full appetite. No fever, lung sounds are great, lids and gums still plump and pink.

[Minelson]

The mucus sounds like some kind of irritation in her intestines. The probios should help get things in order...sounds like you are really on top of it! I'm glad she is getting better...very mysterious

[DairyGoatSlave]

baking soda, settle her stomach, if you dont have that, tums

[hoofinitnorth]

Probiotics aren't going to hurt, but it isn't going to help much either. As we learned not long ago, research has shown the probiotic mixes available commercially in the US don't have the right types of live cultures in them that we find in rumens, except acidophilus, IIRC.

I second the baking soda, even if you have to drench it, but rather than tums, I'd offer some MFO, in small oral doses. For whatever reason I don't yet understand, this stuff does a great job in rebalancing their rumen after an upset.