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Please help! Need advice .. Something is wrong with my goat!!!!

4K views 49 replies 12 participants last post by  happybleats 
#1 ·
Hi, I do not raise goats, or any other animals. We just have 2 Nigerian Dwarf goats as our pets and we love them with all of our hearts. They have basic backyard they share with our dogs and everyone gets along great. We've had them since they were 1 month old and they are now 4 1/2 years old.

One of of goats, his name is Andy, was limping, and noticeably, not putting any pressure on his back leg. He likes to try and reach a specific tree's leaves in our yard and they've eaten up so much of it that it is now a challenge for them to reach! He has been known to stand on his tippy toes, like a ballerina, and even, literally, balance on a barrel that we have, in order to reach these leaves. So, I figured he was pulling one of these stunts and injured his leg. I watched him, he rested a lot, but progressively started putting pressure on his leg again, until he was once again walking normal. This all happened over the course of about 4 days - 4 days being when he seemed to be walking normal again.

Then, this morning, maybe today is like day 6 or so-ish, I broke off some of his favorite leaves from that tree and he tried to eat it, but he actually didn't open his mouth. This was super odd since him and our other goat usually fight over who gets it first. He put his lips on it, but he appeared to be unable to open his mouth to eat it? Then his eyes looked off ... they arent red or anything, but they almost look to be rolling back a little, but they go back to a more normal look. They don't continue rolling. I'm hearing some grinding from his teeth too. I can't get a good look at his hoof that was limping, because it's just me and he is STRONG and bucking his back legs really aggressively. I can't hold on. I saw him urinate today, once. I haven't been watching constantly, but while outside with him, he did pee. I have not seen him drink or eat today.

I should note that he's been eating and, therefore I'm assuming, drinking, fine over the last week, even with the injured leg while he was limping. What I am confused about is if he has a wound on his hoof, that caused the limping, that may have caused tetanus (?) or something -- thinking of lockjaw? -- then wouldn't he still be limping? This is why I thought he was fine because he was limping, but eating and drinking fine, then stopped limping and was eating and drinking fine (as far as I noticed) but now .. he seems to be walking fine, but not eating or drinking. He's definitely not himself. His breathing even looks shallow by the in and out motions of his belly.

I have him booked with our vet at 330 today.

Does anyone have any suggestions or input on this? The other goat had urinary calculi years ago and the vet wanted to put him down .. long story short, through the help of previous posters on this forum, I was able to gather all the medications they recommended and SAVE my goat. He's doing fantastic and that was years ago. I am terrified of a vet telling me to put down our pet when there may be a way to save him.

Thank you in advance .. Carre.
 
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#3 ·
Im not sure what time it is where you are, and how long before your vet appointment but if its more then an hour away I would be proactive and give him Tetanus Antitoxin shot NOW and start him on Penicillin 1 cc per 20# Sub Q ( pull back and check for blood before injecting) Tetanus is nothing to mess with..if he has it..he needs treatment now. If he does not have tetanus, no harm done! Just finish 5 days of Penn. I would also give him fortified B complex for the thiamine. Be sure to tell your vet everything you gave him and how much so he can proceed from there.
 
#4 ·
Cathy .. thank you!! So, it's 1 pm here now and his appt. is at 330. Should I not wait? I can go buy those things but by the time I gather them and administer, it'll be getting close to 330, I'm assuming. I'll do though. So, forgive my ignorance here but what does 'pull back and check for blood before injecting first' mean?? Thank you!
 
#9 ·
'pull back and check for blood before injecting first' mean??
When you poke the needle in SUB Q...before you inject the Penicillin, pull the plunger back a little to see if any blood comes in the syringe. If it does..re adjust the needle and try again. Penicillin in the vein can kill a goat so we want to be sure its not going in the vein
Please keep us posted on what the vet finds
 
#13 ·
Hi Everyone. Thank you so much for your input.. really, it's great insight and help.

So, he is at the vet. We took him yesterday and decided to let them house him because he ran blood work on Andy and came out and said he was surprised he was even alive .. They said his blood work was very confusing. Sodium and potassium and calcium dangerously low. They wonder if he's losing fluid somewhere internally so they will do an ultrasound later today. He has been given his 2nd dose of antitoxin and penicillin, also some thiamine - as of today (he was admitted yesterday) and he is peeing and pooping. He is still eating too, not sure how much, though the interest was still somewhat there. The 'third eye' was sort of a thing yesterday, half way presenting itself form time to time, but the vet on duty today did not notice that today. He did not startle easily and they said that would be more indicative of tetanus. Temp yesterday was 103, and his lungs sounded fine. His heartbeat sounded okay too he said. He didn't hear a lot of noise in the gut, however. But they were able to do a stool sample and he wasn't concerned with that outcome.

I think that is everything. He is 4 years old. He's been hooked up to fluids of saline and bicarb.

Basically she'll do the ultrasound later and re-run his chemistry and let me know.

She suggested the possibility of rabies too?

Any further ideas? (thanks!!)
 
#15 ·
Any new symptoms or progression of symptoms?
Rabies, tetanus, polio, listeriosis..all can be confused for each other. I think I would be inclined to address Listeriosis with the added tetanus antitoxin since it would cover most all these issues..High doses of Penicillin, Dexamethasone, Fortified B complex (to equal 500mg thiamine)
I would make sure to give probiotics between medication doses ( at least a few hours apart)
There is no cure for Rabies sadly.
 
#16 ·
Hi All who've been so kind as to offer advice and warm wishes,

They did an ultrasound on Andy and nothing was amiss. All went well with that. The vets both said they expected to not find him alive this morning, yet he was still hanging in there. He said he does appear to be more stiff in the muscles, but that is it. They continue to give him the antitoxin and penicillin and hydrate etc. They re-ran his chemicals and said they look good, back to normal. He's leaning mostly towards tetanus and I asked that he please do everything they can to keep our boy alive. He said he doesn't seem any worse, at this point, so he agrees it makes sense to keep trying to help him try to get through this. Oh, and he's giving him muscle relaxers to help ease his discomfort.

I sure hope he will .. we love this damn goat, and his brother is being very vocal about his buddy being gone :(

I'll keep updating.
 
#18 ·
I have never had a goat with tetanus but I have had a baby donkey get tetanus. It was along road to recovery but he did fully recover. What I learned ( from Goat Hiker) was not to give too much antitoxin. I have a thread on here I will tag you in. Max is now guard over a huge flock of rams : )
 
#22 ·
Well .. Andy died. We are absolutely heartbroken. His brother is lost without him. He's just sitting in the backyard bleating at us, then he waits for our answers. It's so sad.

The vet said all his blood work, when he re-ran it, was back to normal except for one thing that he thought was expected since Andy was having signs of muscle stiffness. I forget what he called it on the blood work panel. That was on Wednesday. On Thursday morning he told me he died over night. He now says he thinks it must have been tetanus.

I'm a little confused, but maybe just in denial. When I first brought Andy to him he didn't even consider tetanus. He didn't think tetanus would make too much sense next to his bloodwork. He really thought he might be losing fluid inside someplace, causing the severe deficiencies he was seeing in the chemical readings, but after an ultrasound, all was fine inside. He also said with tetanus, goats will startle very easily and stiffen up, none of which Andy was doing. He was slapping his hands in front of his face, etc., and Andy was unphased. I mean, could he have stepped on something to cause tetanus, causing his initial limping (significant limping - I thought he may have just twisted or pulled something.) but then that cut healed enough to start walking around like nothing ever happened 3 days later? He was eating fine, drinking fine .. and then walking fine again, but then we noticed something was wrong with the third eye look and he wasn't wanting to open his mouth that much to eat, like normal. He *was* interested in food, but not really able to eat it like he normally does, and this caused me to take him in to the vet. He was drinking fine though. So, really, with his crazy balancing antics, we assumed he just injured his leg and as we saw him progressively putting more pressure on it, to full pressure back on it, within about a 3 days span, I was relieved and unconcerned. Again, eating and drinking normally.

I feel terrible because he was only 4. He wasn't boostered for tetanus so I feel responsible for this. He got all his necessary shots that were required in the beginning, from the lady we bought them from. I honestly didn't realize he needed a booster, until this happened and I started reading about tetanus. I know, save the comments, please.. I just had no idea, and I wish I would have. We aren't a farm, we're just a basic family, in a residential neighborhood, in a basic backyard. We lock them up in a 10ft by 10ft dog kennel every night so nothing gets to them, even though we're not in the country .. I thought treatments were really just meant for farms with many, various, animals and wilderness predators :( I wish to God I would have known better. assuming it was tetanus. I wondered, too, if the vet didn't want to have zero answers so he named it tetanus in the end. Between him, their other vet, and both of them consulting a specialist at UC Davis 5 hours south of us, no one could tell us what was going on and called it an 'unusual' case. But then all of a sudden, after he passed, they were saying it was tetanus.

On another note .. his brother, together since babies, here with us, is lost and confused. I'm already feeling his loneliness. Should I be getting him a friend, sooner, rather than later? Should I get a goat that is his own age for compatibility issues? Another male?

Thanks to everyone for your kind and helpful comments..
 
#23 ·
I'm truly sorry. There are 2 yearly vaccinations that I recommend for all goats. One is the CD&T. The other is Pneumonia. If you haven't vaccinated the brother yet, I do urge this.

Also, yes. Please do try to find him a buddy. About the same size/temperament that he is. Don't expect instant friendship, it won't be like that. However, even disliking one another at first will be a distraction from the grief.

Get him a companion that he can't bully or be bullied by, and that you also like, because every pet needs to be loved by his owner... Provide plenty of feeding room so one goat can't keep the other from eating.

I'm so happy to see you looking forward to the future for your other boy. His life can go on and need not be a misery.

Well done. Thank you for the update. Hugs.
 
#26 ·
Im so sorry. the only other thing I can think of off hand with the muscle issue is White muscle Disease which is selenium deficiency. That would not explain the lock jaw. Tetanus seems more likely. Once a goat shows signs it's very hard to beat. If he punctured his foot..even a small but deep puncture can allow tetanus to enter and can take about 3 weeks from time of infection to show signs . You mentioned something up with his eye? Got me thinking...found this list of signs of tetanus.

Signs of tetanus Tetanus toxin affects the brain and nervous system producing the following clinical signs:
• stiff limbs and tail
• jaws clamped together (lockjaw)
• saliva drooling from mouth
• pricked ears
third eyelid prolapsed across the eye
• eventually rigid paralysis and death in about 2 days. The signs appear from a week up to 3 weeks from the time of infection. Kids showing tetanus from a difficult kidding develop signs at 7 to 10 days of age.

Again, Im very sorry. Please do not blame yourself. From what it sounds like he got well and nothing to worry about. You could not have known what was brewing until you saw symptoms. You gain knowledge through this pain, not just about vaccinations ( not all of us vaccinate) but about signs to watch for if, God forbid, this happens again you know what to do ASAP. Keep Tetanus antitoxin on hand at all times. Any time of injury where there is deep punctures, cuts, any blood drawn injury or broken bone..I would give tetanus antitoxin preventively.
 
#27 ·
Im so sorry. the only other thing I can think of off hand with the muscle issue is White muscle Disease which is selenium deficiency. That would not explain the lock jaw. Tetanus seems more likely. Once a goat shows signs it's very hard to beat. If he punctured his foot..even a small but deep puncture can allow tetanus to enter and can take about 3 weeks from time of infection to show signs . You mentioned something up with his eye? Got me thinking...found this list of signs of tetanus.

Signs of tetanus Tetanus toxin affects the brain and nervous system producing the following clinical signs:
• stiff limbs and tail
• jaws clamped together (lockjaw)
• saliva drooling from mouth
• pricked ears
third eyelid prolapsed across the eye
• eventually rigid paralysis and death in about 2 days. The signs appear from a week up to 3 weeks from the time of infection. Kids showing tetanus from a difficult kidding develop signs at 7 to 10 days of age.

Again, Im very sorry. Please do not blame yourself. From what it sounds like he got well and nothing to worry about. You could not have known what was brewing until you saw symptoms. You gain knowledge through this pain, not just about vaccinations ( not all of us vaccinate) but about signs to watch for if, God forbid, this happens again you know what to do ASAP. Keep Tetanus antitoxin on hand at all times. Any time of injury where there is deep punctures, cuts, any blood drawn injury or broken bone..I would give tetanus antitoxin preventively.
Thank you *so* much for you kind words, and the provided information..truly, it means a lot <3
 
#28 ·
So sorry for your loss. Unfortunately, most of us have lost a goat and we all do the "if onlys" and "what ifs"? All we can do is learn from that and go on. You did all you could. Don't blame yourself for what you didn't know.

I was not aware that tetanus can result from a difficult birthing. (Would the mom being up to date on her shots prevent that?).
 
#29 ·
I was not aware that tetanus can result from a difficult birthing. (Would the mom being up to date on her shots prevent that?).
this was new to me as well...I would think mom being vaccinated at least 30 days prior can offer passive immunity.
 
#31 ·
So, that was Andy, bewared in joyful memory! Yes, we all have experienced all those If-I-Had-Only-s... They are painful, and lead to nothing. Love his companion, and learn for the future!

Concerning a buddy for the "widower", I am not so sure it is a haste, I think you can comfort him yourself in the beginning. He knows you.
 
#32 ·
Thank you .. so much <3

Jerry, his buddy, keeps helping himself to the house .. we keep finding him walking inside, on top of the kitchen counter, and heading up the stairs to my daughters room :) I think at first he is looking for Andy, and maybe now, more so, just looking to be with us. I don't like shutting our back door on him because we don't want him to feel shut out, by himself, but I had to shut it today. He came in and jumped up on the stove so ... we just keep loving on him. (and he seems to be enjoying all this one on one lovin'. )
 
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