I had an interesting experience on Monday... It scared me soo bad!!
Monday I woke up to nasty weather... little bit of snow blowing and freezing. I had gotten dressed and went out to feed and break all the ice on the waters. All animals were doing good!
When I got home from school it was about 4:30 and I dressed warm and went straight out to check on the animals. Well I was walking around checking everyone and my 3/4 nigerian dwarf 1/4 nubian buck was laying in his shelter on his right side with his head and two front feet sticking out and cryin to me. I climbed over the fence and ran to him... I didnt know really what to think or do so I ran to my dad and told him. My dad ran over to Dober's pen and said "oooh Kolt I dont know this doesnt look good" I started to cry. My dad pulled Dober out of the shelter and Dober was soo weak and couldnt stand. We thought at first he cast himself.
We put him in the back seat of the truck with the heat on to warm him because he was hypothermic. I sat back there with him calling goat breeders tryin to figure out what to do and what was wrong.
So we started out giving Dober a shot of penicillin. My mom ran to town to get some more stuff for him.We gave him 6 oz of milk magnesia and 5g of probios. We thought at first he had something wrong with his stomach but he would randomly arch his neck down and fall over with his eyes rolled in the back of his head and bulging. The first time he did that we thought for sure we were losing him. I sat in the truck with him for 5 hours keeping him on his feet.
We had to keep him warm but couldnt keep him in the truck all night. For one we dont want the truck running all night with the heat on and two he stunk the truck up pretty bad. LOL good thing it has like rubber flooring. So anyways we ended up making him a spot in the chicken coop. The chickens were not too happy to be locked up in cages with a goat in there coop!! haha
So after we had gotten him in there I offered him some warm water and he wouldnt take it so I used a suringe and gave him about half a cup. Then we gave him 6 oz of milk magnesia again and 5g probios before we left. I was scared to leave him because he continued to tip over ad have those weird muscle spaz attachs and eyes rolling and bulging.
We went out and checked on him early in the morning and he was the same...not doing any better. So we gave him a shot of penicillin again and 5g of probios. And I had to leave for school.
When I had gotten back my mom told me that she talked to the vet again and that they figured out what was wrong... He got Goat Polio. So my mom went to the vet clinic and picked up the stuff my vet had ready for us to give him. My mom gave him a shot of Vitamin B, 3 cc thiamine hydrochloride and asprin.
When I had gone out to go look at him he looked soo much better. Just happier looking and could walk again. I was soo excited. so my dad finnished buildinng the little goat barn and now Dober is in there with nice heat and the chickens have there coop back. We are still giving him shots and I am starting him on some more vitamins because he is completely blind. They say their eye sight usually comes back so I am hoping his does.
If you see this happening to your goat here is what they need-
Vitamin B1
Penicillin twice a day for 3 days
Thiamine Hydrochloride 3cc three times a day for 3-7 days
Vitamin B shot one per day for 2 days
Asprin once a day for 3 days
Replies
There are many reasons for a goat being down, the most common of which is internal parasites. There are many other symptoms of goat polio.
I've never had a goat with goat polio, but from everything I've read and from talking to people who've experienced with with their goats, they do recover fairly quickly after you begin treatment. I have read about goats that never fully recover though, so that's always possible.
It sounds like he went blind after you started treatment. If so, that's what makes me wonder if it's something other than goat polio. Even if he didn't improve right away, he shouldn't have been getting new symptoms.
M-worm is diagnosed with a spinal tap or necropsy. The textbooks say that a spinal tap doesn't always work that well, but it worked with our two goats and llama that had it.
He might show a bit of improvement with thiamine supplementation if he had m-worm. I wondered if my first doe with m-worm actually had white muscle disease, so I was giving her selenium, and she seemed to be improving, which was what delayed me taking her to the vet for almost two weeks. She did not improve with treatment after a couple of days, so we had her put down, and they did a necropsy, which showed the worm was already in her brain stem, so she never would have survived.
Would you have expected a goat with goat polio to be more fully recovered after 48 hours on Thiamine injections? He is about 200 lbs and we are giving him 10cc q 12 hours. He is definitely much better than he was on Wednesday evening--just not back to normal. If this is M-worm rather than polio would he have shown improvement with the Thiamine? How is m-worm diagnosed?
If they lose their visions from goat polio, it's hard to say whether or not it will return. Some goats never fully recover. However, since you haven't seen more of an improvement, I'm wondering if it's something else. Meningeal worm also has similar symptoms. It's a deer worm that gets into the goat's spinal column or brain. Recovery from m-worm is actually much tougher, although he could hang on for days or even weeks before he dies.
Deborah, I have a goat (4 yr old Nubian Weather) who has had similar illness this week. I first noticed him "looking at me funny" on Monday. On Tuesday one rear leg was moving awkwardly and he was eating & drinking but not with his usual enthusiasm. By Wednesday morning he was definitely sick: wobbley, head weaving, refusing food and water. Consulted with the vet--started treatment with antibiotics , anti inflammatory and thiamine. Wednesday eve he was very weak -head down and did not want to move--I was afraid he was not going to survive the night. Thursday morning he showed a bit of improvement and he became stronger through the day on Thursday. Today (Friday) he has started eating a little bit and drinking water. I saw him urinate. He seems have lost most or all of his vision--is it likely that his vision will return? He has no blink reflex and he nose bumps the walls like he is trying figure out where the wall is. His pupils are reactive to light. I will consult with the vet again today--we have no goat vet..who will do farm visits in our area.
Symptoms of goat polio are actually quite similar to listeriosis and enterotoxemia, and you really need to see a vet to get a decent diagnosis, although in this case it was probably listeriosis or polio, because blindness is only a symptom of those two. It sounds like your vet is actually treating for the possibility of both listeriosis and polio. Treatment for polio is simply thiamine injections, but treatment for listeriosis is antibiotics. You don't need an antibiotic to treat for polio. Since thiamine is by prescription only, you have to call the vet for that anyway.
Glad to hear that Dober is doing better! If he did have polio, you need to figure out what caused it so it doesn't happen again. Usually it's caused by something upsetting the rumen, such as eating too much grain or eating spoiled feed, but the same symptoms can also be caused by lead or sulfur poisoning.
It was sooo scary!! I have just experienced so much these last couple years!! But this way I will know what to do next and I can help others!! :)
Dober!!!!
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