[Boerandgolden]

Hello

I’m so upset and worried about my wethers. My lovely two year old boer wether had 11 stones blocking his urethra. Our local vet said to put him down but we took him to the large farm hospital. They immediately operated on him and placed a catheter in. After two weeks by some miracle he passed the stones.

I’m really worried I’ve caused the stones. I’ve always been anxious about the urinary calculi therefore non of my boys are on grain, our hay is only grass not alfalfa. There water is changed daily (warmed up in winter cooled in summer). When I have been visiting him at the hospital the vets said he seemed down could I bring him so treats. I took him broccoli and lettuce everyday for 4 days. The vets even fed him some of this in the mornings when he wouldn’t eat:

I picked him up today to take him home and met a vet I’d never met before. She made a passing comment not to feed him any calcium rich foods such as broccoli. I’m now in a complete panic that because he’s had broccoli over the last few days I’ll have caused him to develop more stones. Do you think the few days will have caused damage ? Is there anything I can do to stop the stones reoccurring? We’re in the UK and have been told they were most likely calcium stones.

thank you

 

[MellonFriend]

@NigerianDwarfOwner707 is an expert on UC, I've called her for you. She has a great flow chart on what to feed wethers for preventing UC. Here's a link to her blog post about it too incase you'd like to do some more reading. https://thegivinggoat.home.blog/2020/08/18/diets-for-male-goats-how-to-prevent-urinary-calculi/

Knowing if your water is hard or not is going to be important in figuring out what the best options are.

 

[happybleats]

were they able to test the stones they removed? Knowing what stones he has will help on diet. MOST times Calcium is needed to help balance the phosphorus. Did they sent him home with pain meds?

 

[GoofyGoat]

Welcome to the Goat Spot, we’re glad you’re here!
I hope you figure out the best diet for him. Do you add ammonium chloride (AC) to his feed regularly? Or drench him?
I recommend keeping some on hand also giving him vitamin c chewables or gummies a couple times a week.
It’s a juggling act sometimes.
Best of luck with him

 

[MadHouse]

Welcome to TGS!
I am glad to hear you were able to save your wether. I can totally understand your panic, especially after he just had the stones.
Hopefully you can find out what type of stones they were, and adjust his daily diet so it won’t happen again.
I don’t like when a professional makes such a statement without explaining more.

 

[NigerianDwarfOwner707]

Hello

I'm so upset and worried about my wethers. My lovely two year old boer wether had 11 stones blocking his urethra. Our local vet said to put him down but we took him to the large farm hospital. They immediately operated on him and placed a catheter in. After two weeks by some miracle he passed the stones.

I'm really worried I've caused the stones. I've always been anxious about the urinary calculi therefore non of my boys are on grain, our hay is only grass not alfalfa. There water is changed daily (warmed up in winter cooled in summer). When I have been visiting him at the hospital the vets said he seemed down could I bring him so treats. I took him broccoli and lettuce everyday for 4 days. The vets even fed him some of this in the mornings when he wouldn't eat:

I picked him up today to take him home and met a vet I'd never met before. She made a passing comment not to feed him any calcium rich foods such as broccoli. I'm now in a complete panic that because he's had broccoli over the last few days I'll have caused him to develop more stones. Do you think the few days will have caused damage ? Is there anything I can do to stop the stones reoccurring? We're in the UK and have been told they were most likely calcium stones.

thank you

Hi there! First of all, I wouldn't freak out about giving some broccoli the past few days, as stones take a while to build up. What I would do is give him 1/2 tsp of raw apple cider vinegar, and this will break down any calcium oxalates.

I do need to know your water source.

For example: well water, softened water, city water, spring water, rainwater, etc. Please describe the hardness level also. What is hard water? Hard water is more present in wells, but any source can be hard. You may notice white residue or deposits on dishes and sinks (this can indicate high calcium), a sulfur or "eggy" smell (indicates high sulfur), or orange staining on sinks and tubs (high iron).

 

[Motherof5]

Hello

I'm so upset and worried about my wethers. My lovely two year old boer wether had 11 stones blocking his urethra. Our local vet said to put him down but we took him to the large farm hospital. They immediately operated on him and placed a catheter in. After two weeks by some miracle he passed the stones.

I'm really worried I've caused the stones. I've always been anxious about the urinary calculi therefore non of my boys are on grain, our hay is only grass not alfalfa. There water is changed daily (warmed up in winter cooled in summer). When I have been visiting him at the hospital the vets said he seemed down could I bring him so treats. I took him broccoli and lettuce everyday for 4 days. The vets even fed him some of this in the mornings when he wouldn't eat:

I picked him up today to take him home and met a vet I'd never met before. She made a passing comment not to feed him any calcium rich foods such as broccoli. I'm now in a complete panic that because he's had broccoli over the last few days I'll have caused him to develop more stones. Do you think the few days will have caused damage ? Is there anything I can do to stop the stones reoccurring? We're in the UK and have been told they were most likely calcium stones.

thank you

We lost one our pet goats to a ruptured bladder. It broke my heart. If I was to do anything different I would have opted for the surgery that had him peeing like a girl. Not sure what it's called.
His brother ate all the exact same food and never has had a problem. I guess some goat are just prone to stones.
Good luck. It's heartbreaking when you see them in such pain.

 

[Boerandgolden]

Thank you so much for your replies I really appreciate it. I’m feeling so confused about all these minerals and petrified of doing something wrong and causing more stones. He passed the stones while up at the RVC and they said because he naturally passed them they couldn’t analysis them. They said they suspected they were calcium as they are the most common. Is apple cider vinegar and or ammonium chloride ok to give regardless of which stones they are ?

One issue we do have is that we live in an area of hard water the vet said you can buy specific softeners for drinking water but I’ve been unable to find this.

I’m constantly now worried the boys are developing stones.

 

[Boerandgolden]

We lost one our pet goats to a ruptured bladder. It broke my heart. If I was to do anything different I would have opted for the surgery that had him peeing like a girl. Not sure what it's called.
His brother ate all the exact same food and never has had a problem. I guess some goat are just prone to stones.
Good luck. It's heartbreaking when you see them in such pain.

I'm so so sorry to hear about your boy it is absolutely heartbreaking. I've got another couple of boys and I'm so scared they will get this too. I lost one boy to it last year as well. This time luckily he managed to pass the stones with the catheter in but I know and worry there is a chance they could come back again.

 

[happybleats]

They said they suspected they were calcium as they are the most common

Hum ...while calcium stones happen, they are not most common..phosphorus stones are.

 

[Goats Rock]

Do you get a lot of rain where you live? You could collect rainwater and give them that. My goats love rainwater.

 

[MadHouse]

This is a very informative thread by @NigerianDwarfOwner707
https://www.thegoatspot.net/threads/urinary-calculi-treatment-analysis-myths-and-tips.215929/