Why a single day of antibiotics?

[HappyFarmer]

I had a friend call me last night-yearling goat throwing up got into some mountain laurel. Told her the customary treatment activated charcoal & because of the violent vomiting told her to take her to the vet, goat had staggering also. The owner had no meds on hand. I'm still waiting on word this morning on how the goat is doing.

The vet did not give act. charcoal as she was afraid the goat would aspirate it, the vet told her aspiration was common. Vet gave the goat Banamine (2-day supply), B12, and a single shot of antibiotics unsure of what kind, IV fluids, and sent her home. Vet agreed it was from ingesting toxic plants.

My question is, why only 1 shot of antibiotics? Will 1 shot be effective to ward off aspiration pneumonia if it should present itself over the next day or so? I've always given a 5-day treatment & was quite surprised at the single shot.

Thanks,
HF

[Alice In TX/MO]

I'm with you. Waste of meds.

[DQ]

doesn't make a lick of sense to me. aspiration pnemonia damages from the actual substance aspirated. antibiotics could I suppose help head off a secondary infection? sounds to me like one more case of giving antibiotics just for the heck of it. not all antibiotics need to be given with the same regimen but one injection for a case of poisoning no less essentially seems pretty dumb.

[Cannon_Farms]

nuflor is often gaven in just one dose form

[fishhead]

You'd think the vet would have at least given oil to speed the poisonous plant material out of the gut.

Also it seems strange not to give charcoal because of the fear of aspiration. I don't see how that would be much worse than aspirating the vomit.

[KimM]

I would have insisted he stomach-tubed him with the charcoal and took my chances.

[HappyFarmer]

The yearling doeling seems to be coming out of it, she was still throwing up a little this morning, though the violence of the upchuck has subsided. She has diarhea, which is expected, but has held down water this afternoon. I suspect she'll need a day or two to recover. She did not get another shot of antibiotics today, so it was just the one.

I don't know for sure that it wasn't Nuflor, but I can say this same vet made the comment to me Nuflor was "the big guns" & didn't want to me using it on my sick buck, so I doubt it was Nuflor. Didn't make any sense since if you don't use "the big guns" as a dying goats last chance, I'm not sure where it would be more appropriate.

Thanks for the responses. I'm starting to think it was just a feel good shot for the owner. The goat is like her dog and considered close family, so I know she was a wreck.

HF
p.s. At least I convinced the owner to order some activated charcoal, maybe even some CD Antitoxin to have on hand. I keep these things on hand but she's about an hour away.

[Briza]

The animal has disrupted the function of the rumen. She needs some probiotics but cud from another goat would be a better boost back to normalcy. Another good restorative is to give a rennet tablet. She will need b vitamins while her rumen is rebuilding. She was not actually throwing up like we do- she was burping her cud and it tasted bad so she slung it out of her mouth. That was a very long duration of time to do that so she will need rebuilding. She will have completely destroyed the natural balance of organisms that digest.
B~

[KimM]

Glad to hear she's doing better, Keep us posted please.

[HappyFarmer]

Thanks. I did suggest probios (or in her case she'd have live culture yogurt as she keeps nothing on hand). I'm not sure if she gave it to her or not. She seems more likely to listen to her vet, who didn't offer the suggestion. She's going to call me again tonight and I'll follow up.

At any rate the important thing is the doeling is acting more normal every time I check in with them, reassuring though I've asked she monitor her temp for a few days.

HF