Hi
I have a brother and sister Toggenburg cross (they were meant to be Pygmy) about 8 years old.
About a year ago the female developed an issue where she became very full with milk. This was checked by the vet and I was advised to keep her off the lush grass areas and cut back on her protein goat mix.
The size didn't seem to really change over the next few months but did eventually start to return to normal, but during that time she started squatting without peeing. The vets tried a few things, including checking for a phantom pregnancy, etc. She has never had kids and her brother is neutered. Before this problem occurred she would keep trying to get him interested and he would mount her.
During one of the vet visits she was checked over and stimulated to see if would help and it did, she produced the most amount of fluid in one go than she had done over the last few days but was still not back to normal. After scanning her and doing other tests it was decided that a prostaglandin (estrumate?) injection may help. This did seem to help her and she began to pee more freely and with better quantity, but still not as free-flowing as she used to be. The milk production issue also got better over time.
All seemed fine until a couple of weeks ago when she began struggling to pee again. She would be straining and either producing very little or no pee. She also seemed to be struggling to produce droppings. She also became quite vocal when straining so the vets were called.
It was decided the hormonal issue had returned and she needed another prostaglandin injection. She also had metacam to help with the discomfort.
She seemed to settle over the next couple of days but then the straining became worse and she managed to push out part of her uterus. An emergency vet visit did a number of things including pain relief injections and pushing the uterus back in.
While the vet was there she pushed it back out a number of times. It was eventually decided to give her an epidural. This combined with a sedative calmed her down and allowed the vet to try again to correct the uterus. Unfortunately it could only be corrected a certain amount and over the next few days it happened again, particularly overnight.
It was corrected each time but the vets explained it was difficult to fully correct because of the restrictive space in which to work. But, after a little perseverance and with the help of a small plastic tube the vet seemed happy that it was corrected, which certainly seemed to be the case as she hasn't had the issue since.
Over the next few days she did seem more relaxed but was still squatting, more frequently than before but the severity of the straining had decreased.
I also noticed she seemed to be worse in the morning as if that was when she was the most uncomfortable and it would get better as the morning progressed. Maybe because she was moving around more rather than lying in one place during the night in the pen?
During the last couple of days she has had her metacam injections increased to daily and she has also been put on another course of antibiotics. This is because I managed to get a small pee sample (and droppings) to the vet. They said they was a raised white cell count so it was precautionary to catch an infection early if there was one.
Overall I am concerned that she still seems to be struggling with this whole issue but considering what she's been through over the last week or so there must be a lot of swelling, etc., that needs to settle back down, as well as the underlying hormonal issue that needs time to dissipate.
The broader discussion with the vet has been about stopping this happening in the future either with monthly hormone injections during a certain part of the year, through to spaying her so the issue simply cannot happen again.
In the meantime I want to do as much as I can to help her through this phase and get her back to normal as quickly as possible. I hate to see her in discomfort.
If there is any advice that anyone could give it would be very much appreciated.
Regards
Julian
I have a brother and sister Toggenburg cross (they were meant to be Pygmy) about 8 years old.
About a year ago the female developed an issue where she became very full with milk. This was checked by the vet and I was advised to keep her off the lush grass areas and cut back on her protein goat mix.
The size didn't seem to really change over the next few months but did eventually start to return to normal, but during that time she started squatting without peeing. The vets tried a few things, including checking for a phantom pregnancy, etc. She has never had kids and her brother is neutered. Before this problem occurred she would keep trying to get him interested and he would mount her.
During one of the vet visits she was checked over and stimulated to see if would help and it did, she produced the most amount of fluid in one go than she had done over the last few days but was still not back to normal. After scanning her and doing other tests it was decided that a prostaglandin (estrumate?) injection may help. This did seem to help her and she began to pee more freely and with better quantity, but still not as free-flowing as she used to be. The milk production issue also got better over time.
All seemed fine until a couple of weeks ago when she began struggling to pee again. She would be straining and either producing very little or no pee. She also seemed to be struggling to produce droppings. She also became quite vocal when straining so the vets were called.
It was decided the hormonal issue had returned and she needed another prostaglandin injection. She also had metacam to help with the discomfort.
She seemed to settle over the next couple of days but then the straining became worse and she managed to push out part of her uterus. An emergency vet visit did a number of things including pain relief injections and pushing the uterus back in.
While the vet was there she pushed it back out a number of times. It was eventually decided to give her an epidural. This combined with a sedative calmed her down and allowed the vet to try again to correct the uterus. Unfortunately it could only be corrected a certain amount and over the next few days it happened again, particularly overnight.
It was corrected each time but the vets explained it was difficult to fully correct because of the restrictive space in which to work. But, after a little perseverance and with the help of a small plastic tube the vet seemed happy that it was corrected, which certainly seemed to be the case as she hasn't had the issue since.
Over the next few days she did seem more relaxed but was still squatting, more frequently than before but the severity of the straining had decreased.
I also noticed she seemed to be worse in the morning as if that was when she was the most uncomfortable and it would get better as the morning progressed. Maybe because she was moving around more rather than lying in one place during the night in the pen?
During the last couple of days she has had her metacam injections increased to daily and she has also been put on another course of antibiotics. This is because I managed to get a small pee sample (and droppings) to the vet. They said they was a raised white cell count so it was precautionary to catch an infection early if there was one.
Overall I am concerned that she still seems to be struggling with this whole issue but considering what she's been through over the last week or so there must be a lot of swelling, etc., that needs to settle back down, as well as the underlying hormonal issue that needs time to dissipate.
The broader discussion with the vet has been about stopping this happening in the future either with monthly hormone injections during a certain part of the year, through to spaying her so the issue simply cannot happen again.
In the meantime I want to do as much as I can to help her through this phase and get her back to normal as quickly as possible. I hate to see her in discomfort.
If there is any advice that anyone could give it would be very much appreciated.
Regards
Julian
