A goat friend needs help!!!

[kandmcockrell]

this is the email she sent me

"Good morning,
I hope you may be able to help me out since you have dealt with goats. I have a female Nigerian Dwarf goat 14 months old, approx 40 pounds that I purchased from KO. Friday May 30 she was acting very strange, by that evening she was showing all signs of Listeriosis and had a temperature of 105. I only had Pen-G so I gave her 4 cc through out the night (6 hrs). Saturday morning I started 2cc of Thiamine, 4cc Pen-G (every 6 hours) and 1 dose of LA200 (2cc). I continued this until Monday. At that time she was more vocal, still walking in circles at times, still blind, her temperature had gone down a little, but she was no where near lethargic as she was Friday and Saturday . Tuesday and Wednesday I gave her AM/PM dose of Thiamine, & LA200. She has also been receiving 500ml of IV fluid once a day since Saturday. Tuesday night and Wednesday she was very vocal and hungry!!!!!! I gave her some leaves Tuesday, and she was nibbling on some grain. Wednesday morning I ended up pulling everything out of her mouth, she CAN NOT swallow. What do I do now????? This morning she is out there screaming for food. HELP!!!!"

What else can she do?

[Alice In TX/MO]

Oh, dear. I'd be loading her and heading to the vet.

[kandmcockrell]

what should she tell he vet? no goat experienced vets around here.

[Mrs_Lewis]

The same she told you? IMO she should've taken it to a vet days ago, goat experience or not.

[notwyse]

Can she drink?

[kandmcockrell]

I have emailed her to take the goat to the vet. Have not heard anything. Hopefully that is because she was already on the way there. Thank you.

[mygoat]

Dexamethasone/banamine to relieve brain swelling. watch it CLOSE after the last dose of dex/banamine because pain/swelling often returns after you think they are on their way to recovery, causing them to lay down in pain, and can end up stuck outside on a cold night/rain etc etc (happened to me last time). Mouth paralysis is common in listeria, along with facial paralysis.

I suppose you *could* use a PVC pipe as a speculum and feed a flexible tube down to the gut, and pour a slurry of soaked alfalfa pellets/cubes into the gut or something. (using a funnel)

I'd continue with big doses of Penicillin every 6hrs. And hope. After symptoms of neuro listeria occur, prognosis is grim for recovery - they don't often survive.

[mrstillery09]

When Berta had listeriosis or polio she lost the ability to swallow as well. We tubed electrolytes and then I picked greens I knew she liked, but them in a blender with water and a bit of molasses and spoon fed her. I fed her this way for roughly a week until she could start doing it herself. It was a long week, but worth it!