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Senior goat has fever and cough - lungworms

8K views 137 replies 13 participants last post by  21goaties 
#1 ·
Our 12 year old wether George has had some random bouts of coughing over the last couple of days. He is not coughing constantly but when he does it sounds dry.
We took his temp last night and it was 105 F, so we started him on Tylan 200. Used the 1cc per 25 lbs dosage and gave 8 ccs since per the weight tape he is about 190 lbs.
At about noon today took his temp again and it was 105.7 F. Should we give banamine? If the Tylan is going to help when should we see improvement?
He is eating and drinking. He is acting very slightly wobbly (I assume due to fever). And his appetite is decreased some. Usually his evening mush is gone by morning. But about half of it is still there (he is still slowly eating it).
He also has oak branches available and was eating those last night and ate some more just now.
We counted his respirations per minute and it was normal, 12 breaths a minute.
We tried listening to his lungs with a stethoscope and didn't hear any loud crackling but don't know exactly what to listen for.
He has been getting 1000mg of vit C per day for months. I gave him another 1000mg (two 500mg chewables) just now but he had them last night too.
He had a clean standard fecal on Oct 10th 2020 and his FAMACHA is pink.
I am going to send in a fecal to check for lungworms but need to get enough pellets from him first. He has had lungworm show up on a fecal in the past but didn't have symptoms then.
Any advice?
 
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#97 ·
Well guys......George still has lungworm. We gave him the ivermectin injectable orally 3x 10 days apart and then again in 30 days.
We sent another fecal to meadowmist lab service 2 weeks after the last ivermectin was given and it still showed lungworm as did the fecal of another goat we treated. Thankfully George is not acting sick at all.

We do live in the perfect place for lungworm and there are always multiple marshes/springs/standing water in all of the goat pastures/pens unless we are having a drought....and we have a TON of slugs...

The lady from meadowmist said that the reason the ivermectin didn't work is because it needed to be injected instead of given orally. Is this true?

I'm guessing all the others we treated probably still have them too...

Here's the original fecal that was done on George on 11/21/20

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The next round of samples that was done on 12/1/2020
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The next round done on 12/17/2020
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Next round done on 12/18/2020
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And then here's the one we just got on George and Roger to see if the treatment worked:

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All of the goats we got fecals on were treated 3x 10 days apart with injectable ivermectin or ivermectin plus given orally except Uncle, Wilbur, and Henry as their numbers were low. However we were planning on treating them and the rest of the herd who wasn't tested as meadowmist recommended...provided the ivermectin worked on the first ones we treated. It looks like it hasn't. We did 1cc/22lbs for the ivermectin and 1cc/33lbs for the ivermectin plus. Did we do something wrong with dosing (should we have fasted them before giving it?) or should we try injecting it?
 
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#101 ·
Frances, Thelma, Stretch, Iris, Phronsie, Henry, Roger, and Told-You-So were on it but haven't gotten any since the end of November. I need to start everyone on it again. However George hates it and it is a pain to drench him.
 
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#102 ·
The vet didn't have any experience with lungworm or advice for treatment when she came out to see George. She didn't know about the baermann test for it, we found out by sending a fecal to meadowmist.

I guess we will give George the ivermectin injected. But then there's all the others we tested. They are due for their 30 day dose of oral ivermectin and I'm not sure what to do since that protocol wasn't 100% successful on George.
Since these things can cause lung damage, I guess just start everyone on the ivermectin shots?
Or did we dose the oral wrong?
 
#103 · (Edited)
I have treated lungworm with a combination of Land of Havilah dewormer and Dr. Christopher's Resp-Free (you can buy that through Land of Havilah's web store, too). You can use those products in conjunction with a chemical dewormer, too. I like to add fresh garlic, mullein leaf, fresh oregano, sage, and thyme to that mix. I treated one doe using only the herbs. I dosed her 3x a day for I think a week, and then 2x a day for another week or so. She had lungworm, per a fecal, and a very persistent cough. That was in the summer. She has been great since. A bit of a cough here or there, but nothing nasty.
I just treated my buckling, too. I didn't do a fecal on him, but I'm 99% sure it was lungworm, as he sounded just like my doe did, and we've had a weird, warm, wet winter. I gave him Ivermectin (1.87% oral paste, at 3x the normal dose for horses), too, so will do a follow-up dose of that in 10 days, and then I'll run a fecal to be sure I got everything. Since his cough was so bad, I didn't want to wait to get fecal results before I treated him.
The nice thing is that the herbal mix is good for the lungs, regardless if you're dealing with lungworm or something else. If I see a snotty nose or hear coughing, I'll just give that goat the mix for a couple days, and that usually clears up the problem.
 
#104 ·
I should add: I got busy after I treated my doe and never did a follow-up fecal on her. My guess is she still has some lungworm, as I'm assuming the majority of my goats do, but the intensive treatment plan, followed by twice weekly deworming with the LOH dewormer, plus the lung worm regimen when I felt she might be as risk, as well as good food and minerals to boost her immune system, have kept the lung worm in check, and I haven't had further issues with her to this point. I'll probably send in fecals for several of my goats when I do the buckling, so I'll see what her lungworm numbers are at that point.
 
#108 ·
Yes, because orally is stronger in goats. Unless, you gave it on a full stomach. If so some of the medication might have stuck to the food particles.

To be honest I would just do a dose of Quest plus to put an end to repeated wormings for now. Then do a fecal a month later.
When worming they should go into their clean pasture 3 days later.
I actually use a worming pen because the contaminated manure is not good for your ground or water shed. This way it can be collected and burned yearly.
 
#109 ·
Yes, because orally is stronger in goats. Unless, you gave it on a full stomach. If so some of the medication might have stuck to the food particles.

To be honest I would just do a dose of Quest plus to put an end to repeated wormings for now. Then do a fecal a month later.
When worming they should go into their clean pasture 3 days later.
I actually use a worming pen because the contaminated manure is not good for your ground or water shed. This way it can be collected and burned yearly.
Thanks! :)
Yeah I wanted to give it on an empty stomach but it didn't work out for some of them. We didn't really fast anyone and gave it right before we fed them a few times....would that have made a significant difference in how well it worked?

For the quest plus, would that be for the ones who are due for their 30 day dose of ivermectin or just George (the one who already got all 4 doses)?
 
#113 ·
@goathiker or anyone who knows, about the quest plus, would that be for the goats who are due for their 30 day dose of ivermectin or just George (the one who already got all 4 doses)?
And does quest plus work on lungworm?
 
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#121 ·
Update:
We got another fecal done on George and Roger. They have not been treated with anything else (they are still getting garlic though)
Their lungworm results were 74 and 51. Versus their lungworm results on Jan 29th which were 745 and 125!
So it does look like they were still shedding dead worms in January like @goathiker said.

Meadowmist did say in the email that there were still quite a few lungworms seen.
But those numbers are much improved.
Shouldn't the results be zero? I know that it's fine if they have a low level of stomach worms, but I hate imagining lungworms living in their lungs.

So basically what I'm asking is should I treat again? If I do I should use Valbazen or LOH herbal right? Since it's pointless to repeat ivermectin?
When we got fecals done initially we found out that most of the goats had at least some lungworm. We treated all the ones that had a significant amount with ivermectin/ivermectin plus 3x 10 days apart. However we only did the dose in 30 days on George and Roger.

When we sent the samples for George and Roger we also got one done on Frances, one of the ones we didn't give the 30 day dose to. When we first got fecals in December she had a lungworm "level" of 156. The results we just got say she has a level of 135.
Would it make sense to retreat any of the ones that we didn't give the 30 day dose to (and that still have lungworm per fecal) with ivermectin/ivermectin plus? Or would we switch to a different dewormer for them too?

Thanks
 
#123 ·
George is 13 and Roger is 8. Roger had the second highest initial lungworm results after George so I guess it's basically like he's a senior. Frances is about to turn 10 but had much lower levels, better immune system I guess. We did hear her coughing some initially.

So if we retreat George and Roger we should use Valbazen or herbal right?

Would it make sense to retreat any of the ones that we didn't give the 30 day ivermectin dose to (and that still have lungworm per fecal) with ivermectin/ivermectin plus? Or would we switch to a different dewormer for them too?
 
#126 ·
Thank you!!

Sorry if I confused you, I started this thread 5 months ago, I just replied to it again (see the most recent reply) to give an update on the lungworm situation. George has been better for a while thankfully.
 
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#130 ·
Update, I've started Roger on the treatment dose of LOH parasite formula to get the remaining lungworms.

George hates the herbs so I was going to use Valbazen on him. I know the dosage is 1 cc per 10 lbs, but how many times do I give it?

And how long after treatment with Valbazen should I get another Baermann fecal?
 
#131 ·
Give one dose and retest in 10 days.
 
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