Yesterday my wife and I had a most interesting experience. We belong to a local goat club, and for yesterday's meeting, which was at the farm of one of the members, an arrangement had been made with two veterinarians to give a presentation. One vet is the current head of the state agriculture diseases of ruminants department. The second one is the state department of agriculture vet who is responsible for diseases of goats.
The first vet spoke about the results of an ongoing study conducted by the department into the causes of death in goat kids here in Australia, in the state of Victoria. I found it interesting that over 25% of such deaths are caused by parasites.
The second vet performed an autopsy on a goat.
The owner of the farm has dairy goats (mostly Saanen and Toggenberg) as well as Boer goats. There was a 4 1/2 month old Boer kid which was in very poor condition. She was a single doe kid from an old dam which had not been in good condition but somehow got pregnant, and the kid was born small and had just failed to thrive. She had a huge rumen, but almost no fat or muscle along the spine and the spine protruded. The owner was on the verge of putting this kid down after she had been unable to bring the kid around having exhausted her bag of tricks. The owner offered this kid for the autopsy.
Having put the kid down, we (about 15 of us) huddled around the two vets under the shed roof and watched. It was all done on a stainless steel table.
It was fantastic! If anyone has not seen it done, it is extremely informative and can help so much in the understanding of what is happening in a goat.
The first thing the vet did was feel around the navel. She said that she could feel the cord still, which was an indication that something was wrong, that nothing should be felt after 3 or 4 days post birth usually. We were reminded that one of the causes of death in kids was infection of the navel. We all had a feel. Then the vet quickly skinned the abdomen and chest and pointed out different layers, etc. The abdominal cavity contents were removed. A few of the faecal pellets from the end of the intestine were saved for lab work. The "guts" were spread out on the stainless steel table and we were able to see the whole lot. The first stomach, the rumen, was huge. It was opened and was full of what looked like soggy lawn clippings. The empty stomach lining was shown and checked for parasites. Likewise the second and third stomachs. It was pointed out that, along the stomach and spread out intestines, was a series of small sausage shapes structures. These were part of the lymphatic system and that they were swollen was an indication of an infection and challenged immune system; they should not have looked like sausages. The liver was cut and the gall bladder removed. The vet said that one had to be careful of the gall bladder if one were butchering for consumption, because the gall would ruin any meat, including the liver, to which it was attached, should any of the gall leak. The gall bladder is also poisonous to cats! The two vets said that the gall is useful for cleaning their surgical knives if they are doing autopsies of animals that are very fatty, because it removes the fat. They also said that some people actually gather the gall bladders from abattoirs to use the gall for laundry!! The liver was discussed (no liver flukes found and a bottle of flukes in preservative was passed around) and then one vet used scissors to open the small intestine. Tapeworms! A tapeworm over 3 feet long was pulled out and on further examination, more were found. Then the contents of the fourth stomach (called the bible because its internal structure is like a lot of thin pages!) were emptied (more lawn clippings, looking sort of as though having been composted a while) and the lining examined, showing lots and lots of little wart like structures, about 1/32 inch diameter, which we were told were the former anchor points for another type of small worm. A sample of contents of each of the four stomachs was taken for examination in the lab, as well as tissue samples of the stomach linings, the liver, the gall bladder, the lymph nodes and the intestines. The vet said that clearly parasites were a major cause of the kid failing to thrive, that the parasite infection was also, perhaps, the result of early general poor condition in the uterus and at birth, a feedback loop. Additionally, the ongoing infection at the navel, and remnant internal part of the umbilicus, also were causes (and effects) of poor condition of the fetus and the subsequent kid.. It was also likely that there was a low level case of coccidiosis. It is coming into winter here, and the vets said that this kid would have died in the winter without successful intervention.
The autopsy continued to the heart and lungs. The lungs were shown and the colour noted. The vet said that had there been a lung infection, rather than the tannish colour, the lungs could look dark red or even almost brownish. A sample was taken, and interestingly, the vet said that if anyone were to examine a new born kid which was dead, and wondered if the kid had died after being born or had died before birth, a small bit of lung could be dropped in a glass of water. If it were to sink, the kid was dead before birth, and if it floated, the kid had breathed before death! The heart was examined for irregularities and infections and a sample taken. We were shown the heart valves, which might have appeared different had there been an infection (thicker and opaque, etc.) Heart and lungs were normal.
All in all, there was almost no internal fat, showing the animal was struggling against the load of parasites and infections, in spite of the full rumen.
Both vets said that we should not hesitate to do an exam like this ourselves, should we wish, but to be careful with a sharp knife! They also said that if we had any notion of trying it, we should consider getting inoculated against Q fever, we should wear surgical gloves, and not get any of the liquids, etc. on or in ourselves, "to just use common sense" and be curious but careful. One vet said that having goats, one might consider being inoculated against Q fever anyway, because it is nothing to mess around with. The vets said that if anyone wanted to do an autopsy on a goat found on his or her farm, that for the autopsy, the corpse should be placed in the position in which it was found because the blood and fluids would have settled, and one wouldn't want to open up the body wrong way up. Also, they advised us to check around the body before moving it to observe signs of bodily fluids at each end.
There was a discussion then about the farmer's worming regime and it was finally decided that there was a problem with resistance to the two different worm medicines that she gives. The message for the day for me was that there is parasite resistance to multiple worm medications and that testing is necessary to learn that. The farmer is a VERY careful and very diligent person, so it was absolutely NOT neglect or carelessness on her part that this kid had the problems it did, other than not knowing that parasite resistance to multiple medications was possible. (Even her own vet had not been able to help sort it out.) Her animals are lovely, especially the dairy herd which uses different sets of paddocks. She rotates her paddocks, to try and keep the parasite load down, and she drenches for parasites on a regular schedule, etc. It is just a clear case of immunity to the medications having developed.
In following discussions at the meeting, one really interesting subject came up. The two vets said that a vaccine against barber pole worm has been developed in Australia which will be released next year!
Other interesting bits: If one has guard dogs, do not feed the dogs in the same paddock as the goats because some dog foods can contain animal residue with Johnes disease, etc. and if a goat manages to eat a bit of the dog food, it could get the disease. They also advised us to be very careful about the handling and storage of dry foods (grains) and to watch that the feed supplier is also careful, so that grain for other animals which might contain diseases we wouldn't want in our goats or minerals we wouldn't want, does not contaminate our goat grains. "Even a very small amount of disease contaminated food can ruin a herd."
All in all, it was a fantastic experience, and I highly recommend it for any goat owner who wants to know more about what is going on in there under the fur. The vets from the state ag. dept. were extremely knowledgeable, friendly, patient, and answered so many questions, and all for a bottle of good wine and some cheeses each, plus gasoline money each!
I am hoping that the meeting after the next (the next one will feature some cheese makers) that we can get them back with their microscopes to help us to see what we should (or shouldn't) see in fecal samples.
I had meant to take some video and some photos, but was so interested in the proceedings that I forgot. Fortunately, a couple of other people have photos, and when I get copies, I will post them if there is any interest. I will also report on the results of the lab work when it comes back.
In conclusion, I want to add my wife's observation afterwards. She was surprised that there was so little blood and hadn't really thought about the fact that all the blood was contained in the circulatory system and not just sloshing around. She also noticed that there was very little odor.
-Michael
Replies
This is all very interesting! Thanks Michael, for sharing with us. How fortunate for you to have this group to learn with. :)
Thanks for sharing your experience! I had the good fortune to see a necropsy performed by a Michigan State veterinary pathologist in 2011, and it was very interesting, although not as interesting as your goat.
I also wanted to comment on the worm situation in this particular herd. If "she drenches for parasites on a regular schedule," THAT is why she has a dewormer resistance problem. If she is rotating pastures appropriately, she should not need to be using a dewormer that often, and dewormer resistance should not be occurring.
Also, in the US we only have three classes of dewormers, but in Australia, you have already approved Zolvix (monepantel), which is made by Novartis, and that is a fourth class of dewormer, so she should have been able to use that one with success. It is still very expensive because it is brand new, and no generics are available, but she should have been able to get a single dose for this one particular kid. For those reading this in the US, the FDA is currently reviewing the research on Zolvix. Just before my book (Raising Goats Naturally) went to press, I called Novartis to ask if they had any idea when or if the FDA would be approving it, and they had no clue, but since it has already been approved in other countries, hopefully it will be approved here fairly soon.