I'm stunned :(

Mickey · #1 04/27/12, 09:46 PM

I can't believe it. When I got home this evening and checked my email I had one from the lab. The two kids I bought last spring have tested positive for CAE. The breeder and I are just crushed

She wants to replace the animals and is willing to have them tested before I take them, but I'm wondering if the test is reliable in young kids?
Does anyone have any experience with this?

Bambitski · #2 04/27/12, 09:52 PM

I thought I read somewhere that it was best to wait till they are 8 months old

CaliannG · #3 04/27/12, 10:04 PM

You can test at 6 months old.

Do get a second test from a different lab on your does, though, just to make sure. It is always best to make sure before making final decisions.

I am so sorry!

Mickey · #4 04/27/12, 10:15 PM

Thank you for your reply Calliann.
I'm wondering if there's really any point in getting a second opinion since my own older doe and her kid from last year were tested at the same time and they both came back negative?

Backfourty,MI. · #5 04/27/12, 10:17 PM

What a bummer! I am so sorry. I hope Caliann is right & maybe the lab screwed up. Wouldn't hurt to get another test done just to make sure there were no errors.

Mickey · #6 04/27/12, 10:44 PM

Is 6 months the youngest they will test a kid?

luvzmybabz · #7 04/27/12, 11:31 PM

They will test younger but it is not always right. I spoke with biotracking about this as I perviously had some + does but would catch the kids before she could even lick them and raised on prevention. 3 years later these grown babies are still negative, so it can be done. I wanted these kids tested as early as possble but Chuck at biotracking said itsometimes takes the 6 moths to show up correctly on the test if they are Negative. So sorry to hear about this it happens so often, I had a situation where I purchased a goat as long as she tested neg brought her home into quarenten and she was positive. I was out the 6 hour drive but I felt so bad for the breeder I was the one to tell her she had CAE in her herd, I helped her pull blood on all her goats to send in.

Creamers · #8 04/27/12, 11:55 PM

Has the breeder tested her herd?

If you can see neg. testing on a doe and take a kid, then test at 6 months, you should be okay.

I had this happen several years ago, and the breeder, who promised in writing, they would be negative or refund my money, refused to honor that agreement.

I would retest, to be sure, of course.

Mickey · #9 04/28/12, 12:28 AM

She has a commercial dairy and sells cheese at the farmers markets. She said she hasn't tested for quite a few years, but heat treats all the milk that gets fed to the kids and can't understand how they could have it. Like I said, she's very upset about this.
They're both such beautiful animals with wonderful temperaments I hate to think about having them put down. Is it only passed on thru the milk?

Oh and luvzmybabz, I wish I were only out a 6 hour drive. I've been raising these two for over a year now

KrisD · #10 04/28/12, 12:28 AM

Oh my gosh I'm so sorry! What a horrible way to end your day. I do hope the breeder refunds your money. But look at the bright side it's CAE not CL which could contaminate your whole place. This at least is controllable if for some reason you decide to keep them.

KrisD · #11 04/28/12, 12:31 AM

It is "supposed to" only be transferred by the milk but as this breeder just found out heat treating doesn't always work because it only take a small amount of birth goo to pass it on. This however is a rare way to transmit the virus.

Mickey · #12 04/28/12, 12:57 AM

You're right Kris, I'm grateful it's not something like CL, but still it's very discouraging news.
The breeder does admit it's possible that someone could have accidently grabbed the wrong bucket at feed time, or that the kids might have managed to grab some milk from mama before anyone found them.
I guess the big question for me is would I have to separate them from my goats now? The 3 kids have been raised together in the same pen all winter and my homebred doe is negative.
The breeder will replace them or refund my money, my choice, but gosh I hate to lose a whole year AND all I spent raising them. I'm thinking that I wouldn't mind bottle feeding a generation of kids if it would eliminate the problem.

Lizza · #13 04/28/12, 01:03 AM

I would re-test before you did anything. Test with one of the Universities (UC Davis or Washington State University are the two on my coast, I use WSU).

copperpennykids · #14 04/28/12, 01:06 AM

Don't panic yet.

If she correctly heat treated the milk, they should still be negative.

Call Chuck at Biotracking (or Dr. Everman at WSU) and talk it over. If your breeder has a doe that is testing positive for CAE (can be asymptomatic), her antibodies can transfer in the heat treated milk, giving you a false positive. As the kids get older, their titres should decrease (why Biotracking is nice, you can read those titres) and then they will test negative as adults.

Always retest - you have to wait 1 month, but lab error, something else going on (illness) can affect the test. I would suspect the scenario I have outlined above - they may very well be negative, so give them another chance and then when you have more data, make a decision.

Fingers crossed for you and for them.

PS Yes, I would quarantine them until you have another test back....for your peace of mind.

Mickey · #15 04/28/12, 01:32 AM

Thanks everyone for taking the time to respond.

where I want to · #16 04/28/12, 10:31 AM

I'm so sorry that this happened to you. It is hard in every way.

Oat Bucket Farm · #17 04/28/12, 11:24 AM

If you don't want to lose everything you put into them, watch for them to kid (you cannot miss the birth), pull the babies as soon as they come out and take them in the house or someplace completely separate. Make sure they get colostrum and milk from a negative doe. Then you can cull the positives and raise a batch of negatives. That allows you too keep the lines.

RedSonja · #18 04/28/12, 02:31 PM

I would re-test with a different lab before you make any decisions. I got + results back from one lab on two does and was heartbroken as well. People on this forum encouraged me to send blood to BioTracking where I would get titer numbers. When I did that I had one doe low marginal, the rest of the goats were all quite negative. Which reminds me I need to re-test the one marginal, one more thing on the to-do list.

-Sonja

The Tin Mom · #19 04/28/12, 08:35 PM

Which lab did you use? I can't find that.

chamoisee · #20 04/28/12, 08:50 PM

I am sorry. I had this happen to me also, except that the doe was milking when I found out, and had already infected several others....and the breeder was very nonchalant when I told her!

Since then, my recommendation is always to ask to see negative results for the entire herd. There are too many things that can happen, heat treating the milk is not enough in my opinion...there are several other ways that animals can get infected even if the bottles or lambars are full of treated milk.