Sick Goat Shakey

[mrstillery09]

Our little Berta is drinking water very well today, but we noticed this afternoon is shakey. She is kind of trembling. I had also noticed yesterday her gums looked a bit paler, and her coat is rougher than it was. We are giving her electrolytes but I wondered if maybe she could be anemic? I know this could also be just her feeling returning, but thought I'd check with you experts!

Scratch all of that, I thought her temp was normal but the thermometer wasn't working. Went back out to check and she is at 105.6 What should I do?

[Alice In TX/MO]

Take her temperature?

[mrstillery09]

Originally Posted by Alice In TX/MO

Take her temperature?

Thermometer wasn't working, her temperature is 105.6

[Alice In TX/MO]

That's a fever. Why do these things happen on a Friday afternoon? ARGH.

Antibiotic, banamine, vet call?

[wintrrwolf]

Originally Posted by Alice In TX/MO

That's a fever. Why do these things happen on a Friday afternoon? ARGH.

Antibiotic, banamine, vet call?

ditto
Though in a pinch you can give aspirin to help bring the fever down. I have heard childrens motrin 1 cc per 50 pounds (generic is fine) or 1 baby aspirin up to 3 times a day for little ones. Getting her fever down and she should stop shaking some and feel a bit better until the fever starts going back up. The aspirin is a bandaid until hopefully the antibiotics kick in and/or the vet can arrive.

[mrstillery09]

She is actually on high doses of penicillin for what we think is listeriosis. She had a fever last week when she got sick, but has been ok until today. The only change is its been a little cooler yesterday and today.

[Alice In TX/MO]

May need to change antibiotics. Call the vet.

[mrstillery09]

Our vet actually only told us to give a vitamin b shot twice a day for treatment. I think he would probably help us with an antibiotic but is there a particular type that I should ask for?

[Backfourty,MI.]

My 1st choice would be for Nuflor but the others here may know of 1 that might be a better all around antibiotic.

[mygoat]

First, with a finicky thermometer, take the temp of your healthy goat as well. If she is also running a 'fever', I'd think broken thermometer. One time I was getting wonky readings on my goats (including the sick one) and turns out, I had 3 faulty thermometers and had to go buy a new one. You can also try it on yourself to see, but then you have to get over the fact that you use that thermometer rectally (I always put new covers on my thermometers before use, but it's still gross... )

[Awnry Abe]

If she is anemic (iron deficient) she will have a difficult time regulating body temp. When this is the case in the summer, you will find them up in the 105s in the PM, but a nice 101 the following morning, with no other forms of intervention. It will continue like that until the anemia is solved, or they die. A shot of iron will stop the pattern in its tracks, but you still need to find the cause of the anemia and nip it in the bud pronto.

I just noticed your location. It wasn't crazy hot here yesterday, but the sun was in full monte. Is she in the shade?

All that being said, there are plenty of reasons for a sick goat to run a temp and you should troubleshoot all of that first. Just be aware that not all fevers are the body's immune system warding off bugs.

For the record, I'm about as nube as it gets when it comes to livestock and im no pro. I'm just parroting what my vet told me on a recent go-around with barber pole worm-induced anemia. (Deworm to stop the root cause, Iron to stop the "fevers", and several weeks of B-12 to increase red blood cell production.) I strongly recommend that you keep you vet in the loop with any new symptom that her/she didn't know before, or worse, is in conflict with what was understood previously. Whatever the cause, your vet should be able to help, so long as they can spell "small ruminant".