Goat emergency -- HELP!?!

willow_girl · #1 10/14/14, 09:44 PM

I have a 12-year-old Alpine doe who has always been in good health until now.

I came home from work today to find her in a very bad way. Chief symptom is labored breathing (panting with tongue out, moisture dripping from it). She seems to have some edema in her chest and belly.

She was fine yesterday. No recent changes to her diet. She has been getting 2nd cutting hay and Dumor sweet feed pellets. She's been eating a lot of acorns that fall from the tree above her pen, but she's done that every fall for the past 7 years we've been here without any problems. She in in good flesh; coat is thick and shiny. She has not been vaccinated. Was last wormed about 60 days ago with Ivermectin. She is not pregnant or lactating; has not been bred for many years. I did not have a thermometer to take her temp. Her extremities are warm, she is alert and oriented, her tongue and gums are cyanotic (bluish.) I palpated her throat and neck but could not find any evidence of an obstruction.

I called around but could not get a vet to come out; only one even returned my call and they did not have anyone available. Large animal vets are scarcer than hen's teeth in these parts and if you do get one to come out, often they seem to know less than you do. (Grrr.) I will try calling around again in the morning, but in the meantime, any suggestions are welcome! I shot her up with 1CC of Banamine.

I'm guessing, due to her age, that she might have had a stroke or heart attack? (Do goats have heart attacks?)

SJSFarm · #2 10/14/14, 09:49 PM

Ive no advice, sorry. But I'll keep my fingers crossed she pulls through or at least does not suffer.

Nancy_in_GA · #3 10/14/14, 10:47 PM

I would just assume she has a temp and give her antibiotics. Whatever you have on hand. Tonight if possible. Drooling and heavy breathing could be listeriosis. Antibiotics won't hurt her if that is not the problem, and time is of the essence if it is. If it is some sort of infection you should see some improvement in a few hours. Thiamine (vit B1) if you have it also never hurts in case its metabolic.

It could be an internal rupture of some sort. We had one with a cancerous tumor that caused a ruptured artery internally. Not much you can do about that if it's the case. Banamine will help with any pain.

cfuhrer · #4 10/14/14, 10:54 PM

My first thought in a doe that age isn't pretty.
Heart failure.
If that is the case there isn't much you can do and banamine is actually going to hurt, not help.

I have my fingers crossed for you. I hope antibiotics and B vitamins help and the worst case isn't what is happening.

msscamp · #5 10/15/14, 12:21 AM

Given your description of her symptoms, my first thought is pneumonia. Have you had wild temperature fluctuations in your weather? Is she off feed? Eyes dull? Separating from the herd? Head hanging? If yes to all or most of the above, that is classic signs of pneumonia. If she were mine, I would be giving her whatever antibiotic I had on hand until I could get to the vet in the morning and get some Draxxin. 1 cc/100 lbs, 2 shots spaced 7 days apart.

willow_girl · #6 10/15/14, 11:24 PM

Thanks, everyone, for your input.

Well, it took the vet clinic that advertises (on the radio, no less) "24 hour emergency services" nearly 24 hours to finally see my goat, and only then after we loaded her into the backseat of my truck and hauled her 40 miles (BLARRGH).

But when we got there, and waited another hour, we were rewarded with getting to see a very good and thorough vet. The upshot was that Xrays revealed her heart is enlarged and her lungs were full of fluid. She is being treated for pneumonia as a "just in case" measure, although it looks like the real culprit may be age-related heart failure.

The Lasix the vet prescribed seems to have greatly reduced her discomfort; she's resting comfortably now, even eating and drinking a bit. The clinic was out of Nuflor (BLARRGH again) so they sent us home with Naxcel instead.

Looking back now, I can see she's slowed down quite a bit over the past year. I had just chalked it up to getting older and becoming less active (I know the feeling,,,,,,ha).

I guess we'll see if the diuretic keeps her asymptomatic enough to keep going for a while longer. If she appears to be suffering, of course we'll have her euthanized.

Thanks again for your input.

msscamp · #7 10/16/14, 12:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by willow_girl

The clinic was out of Nuflor (BLARRGH again) so they sent us home with Naxcel instead.

Be advised that Naxcel given according the label dosage is totally useless in treating pneumonia. Naxcel has to be given at the rate of 5 to 6 cc's/100 lbs for 5 days in order to be effective. Personally, I won't use it anymore because I lost 2 goats to pneumonia while using it - 1 outright, and the other to permanent lung damage that resulted in having to euthanize her.

Nancy_in_GA · #8 10/16/14, 08:39 AM

Willow, I'm glad to hear you will be able to spend some more time with your doe. Things sure sounded dire the night you posted.

mzgarden · #9 10/16/14, 08:44 AM

No suggestions, just beaming prayers and good thoughts your way.

Bret · #10 10/16/14, 02:44 PM

Good work.

light rain · #11 10/16/14, 04:00 PM

I hope she responds even better to the meds than you expect. A lot of memories you must share with her...

motdaugrnds · #12 10/16/14, 05:22 PM

Sorry, Willow, for your situation. Having a goat that long means you probably care a great deal about her. Age is something that took my herd buck not long ago; so I understand the pain.

Still, you were able to find a vet to see her; and I know that helped some even if he/she didn't know that much about Nexel...grrrr we need a vet only for our forum goat herders.........I think we know more about our goats than local vets do (in most arreas)!

Enjoy her while you still can Willow.

badlander · #13 10/16/14, 06:38 PM

So sorry to hear what the vet found. When I read your OP I immediately though CHF. If you have a stethescope every now and then listen to her heart and lungs. If you hear a 'gallop' instead of a 'lub dub' and if you hear crackles pops and wheezes when she breathes those are distress signs for her and red alert signs for you.

It's also a sign that you need to enjoy every day you can spend with your old friend. She'll let you know when it's time to to say goodbye.

Bless both of you. Only those who have ever loved an animal can truly understand what you ate feeling right now.

Pony · #14 10/17/14, 08:28 PM

So sorry your gal is slowing down so hard.

Prayers that you can enjoy the time you have, and that it's good time. {hug}

willow_girl · #15 10/19/14, 07:47 AM

Thanks for all the kind words!

She is holding her own. We've been able to reduce the Lasix shots to 2x per day without any noticeable change in her condition. I figure the less I can get away with giving her, the longer the drug will keep working.

She doesn't seem to be eating much, although we're keeping her in our hay shed, so it's hard to tell how much hay she might be nibbling. Yesterday I picked her a bucket of acorns (her favorite food) from the ground beneath the big oak in the pasture. She will eat them as long as I hand-feed them to her, but once I stop, she loses interest. Finicky goat!

But otherwise she seems OK -- interested in her surroundings, not too happy with the injections (and who can blame her?). Numb has 2 goats here, whom she can see through the fence across the back of the shed, and also our cow Marianne (cows have been her herdmates for the past 7 years). Numb fenced off a little area in front of the shed, so she can go outdoors on nice days.

We'll see how long we can keep her going, I guess!

Alice In TX/MO · #16 10/20/14, 06:50 AM

Sounds good! Lasix will not lose effectiveness. Ask race horses and lots of folks with congestive heart failure.

willow_girl · #17 10/21/14, 11:19 PM

She continues to improve. Tonight she showed interest in her food for the first time since she's been sick! (We have been trying various things to tempt her appetite.)

Alice In TX/MO · #18 10/22/14, 10:11 AM

Excellent news!

willow_girl · #19 10/26/14, 12:34 AM

Hmm, she's still not eating like she should. We have been giving her everything we can think of -- acorns, daylilys, kale from the garden. She will pick and nibble a bit, but that's it.

Today I noticed she's definitely losing weight.

Her breathing seems OK now (not labored or raspy) and she seems comfortable and alert. Today she went outdoors and laid in the sunshine for awhile.

I think her body is just starting to naturally shut down? Old age? Now that I think about, she had been off her feed for a couple weeks before she got sick. I had assumed she was just eating so many acorns off the big tree that she had backed off on her grain.

She doesn't seem to be in any discomfort, so we'll keep going for awhile yet. She's been such a good girl for all these years, I sure hate to lose her.

GoatGirl123 · #20 10/26/14, 11:49 AM

That's so tough. I'm glad she isn't in discomfort, though.

I hope she gets better.