Down doe, ideas?

[dbarjacres]

One of our fainter does is down. She's 2 y.o., we got her mid May from a bigger breeder, she had pretty good care, but not as good as here :-) . We dewormed her the day we brought her and the other 3 younger ones home w/ ivermectin, they'd not been done since fall. We did our whole herd deworming on Thursday late evening. Ivermectin again. We included the new ones to get all on the same schedule of every 8-10 weeks. Now that I think of it, Gypsy was a bit off on Friday, but the weather has been kind of wierd here, high 90's, down to 70 and cool, then humid again... so didn't think much of it. Saturday morn it was VERY apparent that Gypsy was bloated, as she is kind of thin, more dairy looking than meat type. We did lots of baking soda, massaging sides, etc. got "Therabloat" from the vet, still no better, so vet came out and tubed her, and she did shrink down bloat wise, but still bigger than norm. Very off and depressed, moaning. She isn't bloated much at all today, but very very depressed and moans constantly. She won't walk, gets up, moves 2 inches and drops down. We gave her some drenches today just to try anything, as we don't think she drank all nite either. Tried Sierra Mist soda, which she loved, but didn't know how much we can give her. Also gave plain water and water with Bounce Back electrolites, maybe 3-4 cups total all afternoon till now. We gave her 2 does of probiotics yesterday too. Any ideas? Every time we deworm since we've had goats, we always gave probios, except this time, it was late, and being in a hurry, never even thought of it. Nothing else has changed for her. THe other 9 goats are okay, knock on wood. We feel so bad for her. I don't want her to just die slowly, but if she's got a chance of getting better, don't want to finish her off either. She's a wonderful goat, the most friendly of course, too. Thanks for looking, Jenny

[billygoatridge]

Could possibly be pneumonia. It's ideal weather to get it with hot humid days and cooler nights. Even with good management it happens sometimes. You might try some pennicillin( my vet says 1 cc for 30 lbs) and also some banamine (1 cc/100lbs) which is prescription only. Banamine is a pain killer/anti-inflamitory. If she is not eating well try feeding her some willow leaves if you can find some or other non poisoness tree leaves. Leaves are the last things our goats go off of and the first they start back eating when they are sick. Willow especially acts similar to asprin. I hope your goat gets better.

[dbarjacres]

Well, my husband heard Gypsy bellering when he went up to bed a bit ago and by the time he got on shoes and shorts, she was dead. I hope this doesn't happen again. We just don't get what happened. There is nothing that could be feed related, as it's what she always ate, just the deworming and weather were different. Maybe there was something wrong with her on the inside. The more I think about it, the last week or maybe more, I don't remember her playing or anything like she did. Poor sweet Gypsy.

Oh, we had given her banamine both days too, but no antibiotics.

[Ellie5]

I'm sorry to hear about your doe. I can't help you with what was wrong, but did you get a fecal done so you know what worms you are dealing with?

Also, I'm not sure where the doe was from, but in my area Ivermectin won't get the worms from down south. Cydectin is what was recommended to me, due to resistance to the wormers.

[billygoatridge]

Sorry to hear about your loss. Unfortunately some deaths always remain a mystery. I've even had one or two examined after death that they couldn't figure out what the problem was.

[Vicki McGaugh TX Nubians]

Sorry about your doe..

There is another whole half to the treatment of bloat after you treat her. When the vet tubed her rumen full of oil, and the therabloat, it killed all the acid or the foam that was causing the bloat. It also smoothered all the bacteria in her rumen. She likely had a good case of diarrhea after it, which then emptied the contents of her rumen. The bloat was gone, but so was all the beneficial bacteria she needs to start her rumen working again. A goat without a functioining rumen is a dead goat. No vet would tube a cow without giving it and you probiotics and likely cud from another cow, to be given as a slurry for days after the tubing...Sadly this is simply the kind of care goats get. You didn't know, the vet did, the vet knows this is a ruminant, why didn't he inform you? I would want to know.

After your vet leaves, always go on the internet, research the vets diagnosis, research the vet meds they choose to give. Sadly because vets do not continue their education (which was limited in small ruminants to begin with) they don't even know that their are some drugs given to goats, fine in calves that will kill the goat. They also never seem to have much compassion for them, and after care like you didn't get is non-existant. You could ask any of my 4H kids about rumen health and they could have given you better information than this vet did. How sad. Vicki

[dbarjacres]

Vicki, thanks for the info. Actually, when he tubed her, he only tubed to get the air out. He said it's ridiculous to put mineral oil in (I WAS reading on the net!) to the stomach. So he just stuck a tube in, had Darrin squeeze her sides to get air out and he left. We did give her probiotics ourselves. We gave her some that morning, that evening, and again the following morning. Never heard about the cud part, but good idea. At least I'll be more knowledgeable the next time.

[Goat Freak]

I'm so sorry we've had two deaths at our place and trust me I know it' s not fun.