One of my does is in heat today, so I left her and a buck alone outside while I did chores this morning.
When I put her back with the other girls, I saw that her vulva was COVERED in mud. There was also a bit of white discharge, so, knowing the buck did his job, I'm worried she may have some mud internally. If so, should I be worried about infection? Anything I should do for her as a precaution?
Thanks!
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Deborah Niemann-Boehle said:
Don't know if that's in your book, or if I've just seen it here, but I repeat that in my mind, too, when I start to get nervous about something. Thankfully, that's been happening less and less the longer I have goats.
Thanks, you two!
Thanks for sharing that, Michael! Reminds me of the vet professor 11-12 years ago who said, "I have a hard time getting excited if a goat is walking around, eating, drinking, and chewing its cud," when I rushed in a goat I thought I was dying at 9:00 at night. I have continued to hear her voice in my head many times over the past decade when I start to worry about a goat.
Years and years ago I was a paramedic. One of the really early rules I learned was "Treat the patient, not what you think" meaning more particularly, that one shouldn't medicate unnecessarily. I don't mean to be flippant, just that if one looks at how the patient (goat) is overall (healthy? very ill?) and how the patient (goat) responds (normally? poorly?), that is usually an indication of what one must then do. I suppose it is a variant on, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."
Having said that, my wife and I have spent countless restive hours fussing over our goats wondering, "What if...?" and have asked sufficient questions here, that we understand your concern well.
Hope she stays well AND has a healthy bunch of kids!
I was hoping not to use antibiotics as a precaution, and know most on this board wouldn't, but was wondering if there was anything one might give to boost immunity, or maybe feed some garlic for its antibiotic qualities.
She's acting like her normal queen self, and she'd more than likely being showing some symptoms of something being wrong by now.
Can't say I've ever experienced that exactly. We did once have a sow (pig) that gave birth, and a boar was trying to mate her a day or two later. I was really freaked out because there is an open wound where the placenta separated, so there's a great way for an infection to get started. That was a year and a half ago, though, and she has successfully gotten pregnant again. Infertility is the most common result of a uterine infection, so I guess she was ok. Our vet was actually here when it happened (castrating a llama), and she didn't seem concerned at all.
There are probably some people who'd use antibiotics prophylactically in this situation, but I'm personally opposed to that concept because of the problem with antibiotic resistance. Animals are really resilient.