HELP ! Crying Goat, Skinny, had worms, now not eating well

Hi Everyone ! (my fellow goat forum friends)

I'm concerned about one of my goats that I think is sick since last week and wanted to tell you about her symptoms to see if you have experienced anything like this in your goats:

Last Thurs. or Fri., it started when I heard one of my milking does crying loudly (like the noises they make when giving birth) - only one that day. Then she would arch her back. I noticed someone had clumpy stool but they were due for their weekly herbal deworming on Fri. I noticed that she had little white thin rice sized worms on her stool. So, I gave her extra doses of Formula 1 herbal dewormer (with wormwood) in the next couple of days (Sat. morning and Sun. night). On Mon. afternoon I brought her to the vet. Also, when I chase her out of the barn, she needs to urinate and still squats to try to poop, which she usually does. It's been loose pellets since and no sign of those little white worms since. (I dropped off a stool sample at the vet this morning).

She's been letting me milk her every morning and every evening. She's been looking skinny for a couple days now (where I can see her back hips, backbone and maybe some side ribs). Usually she eats most of her feed on the stanchion, except this morning. She ate nothing. Later in the morning I fed her lots of tree branches and went out and bought a bag of pellets instead of sweet feed (in case something is wrong with it - some of the other goats are leaving some sweet feed behind too). I would say she ate some, just a little.

She used to just hang out in the barn all day, either standing on a pallet or laying down under the hay feeder. Yesterday after we brought her back from the vet, and she hung out outside in the pasture area, laying down, not interested in branches yesterday.

This morning, after milking, she has been outside, just laying down. Except to get up to eat the branches.

Sometimes I think she has a little trouble with walking or jumping up on the stanchion. She also does not seem herself (disoriented - wouldn't go into the barn last night - jumped on the stanchion again and I carried her to the barn). Today, she was standing in the corner, looking up into the sky.

I described new symptoms to the vet this morning (she was standing there and one front leg and then the other would flick forward. Also, when she was in the barn this morning, it seemed like her back leg turned funny at the hip. They think it's tetanus and I should bring her again to see the other vet to start treatment for tetanus (but this goat was vaccinated 2X before she was weaned - I guess they are supposed to have a yearly CD/T vaccine ?)

I researched Tetanus and she doesn't have any bloating or lock jaw, and not locked up legs like a rocking horse.

And you can give Tetanus anti toxin ?

Anyone experience these symptoms in their goats before ? Any advice ?

Thanks,

~Lisa

EM Squared Farms

www.emsquaredfarms.weebly.com

p.s. the vet didn't find anything wrong with her yesterday. Temp was 104.3 degrees, he checked her all over. But she still didn't seem her normal self. today's not eating feed this morning was very concerning...anyone's advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks !!

Well, just called the vet to get test results from the fecal sample from yesterday. They said it came back negative for internal parasites. That's good.

I think she's doing a little better. I'm wondering if it's just a change in the feed (more sweet feed, less sunflower seeds). It all started when a little mouse chewed through my bag of sunflower seeds ($40) and left a pile of shells nearby. So I dumped what was left of the black oil sunflower seeds and shredded beet pulp into the can. The only problem was, there was at least 2X as much black oil sunflower seed than shredded beet pulp (not the ratio I wanted - I only wanted half as much sunflower seed to shredded beet pulp). So, I went out to buy a new storage can and a new bag of shredded beet pulp. Then I guess I changed their feed ratio from 3 cups of feed to 2 cups (instead of 1.5 cups of sweet feed and 1.5 cups of shredded beet pulp), and then back to 3 cups (but this time 2 cups of sweet feed and 1 cup of shredded beet pulp). Now I just use 2 cups again (of pellets and shredded beet pulp).

I guess I get worried if I see their back hip bones and thought more feed would help to fatten them up, plus keep them on the milking stand longer. But lately there was always feed left over. I wanted to use some of the sweet feed too, but it's at the bottom of the garbage can I use to store the food in (I poured the bag of pellets over it).

Well, I also cleaned out my barn completely. Now, only a dirt floor and fresh layer of hay.

I think she's doing better. Last night she was happily eating lots of the leaves off the branches I put in. She ate most of her pellets and shredded beet pulp (only gave me 1/2 tall glass of milk) and this morning she ate some more and gave me 3/4 of the tall glass of milk. Then she was eating some more of the branches. The only thing is she still does the "star gazing". She's alert now and looks at you when you call her and is outside more. Hopefully with more time she'll be OK. Also put out new baking soda in their feeders today too.

Rachel,

Thanks for the tip about Thiamine being found in the BOSS. I used to give more (a half cup/mixed in with the shredded beet pulp) but I cut back to only a small handful.

Now the garbage can with the BOSS, now has more pellets and shredded beet pulp. I didn't want to leave bags of feed out in case that mouse came back. I guess I could always feed more of this mixture to them to increase the BOSS.

She is more herself, just concerned about the stargazing sometimes and having to chase her to the stanchion the last couple of times.

Thanks.

Replies

Lisa Martin April 18, 2012 at 2:33pm

Rachel,

checked out your links, thanks !

No, my goat doesn't act like the goat in the video (thank goodness).

Interesting about the contents of BOSS - also has calcium besides thiamine. I think I'll feed more of the mixture to give more BOSS to see if it helps.

Thanks !

It's funny how many different answers you get from other goat people. I think I've received a different remedy from each person actually.

But I'm thinking yours makes the most sense since I was messing around a little with their feed proprotions.

~Lisa

Rachel Whetzel said:

Have you tried a Thiamine injection? (B1)

Also, reading on line, it looks like the treatement of GP is Thiamine, which BOSS have in them... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunflower_seed so why the decrease in feeding those? Just curious.

Video of a goat with GP and a follow up video of behavior an hour after being given a B1 shot. http://www.flickr.com/photos/pms_swim/5181926189/
Lisa Martin April 18, 2012 at 2:28pm

Well, just called the vet to get test results from the fecal sample from yesterday. They said it came back negative for internal parasites. That's good.

I think she's doing a little better. I'm wondering if it's just a change in the feed (more sweet feed, less sunflower seeds). It all started when a little mouse chewed through my bag of sunflower seeds ($40) and left a pile of shells nearby. So I dumped what was left of the black oil sunflower seeds and shredded beet pulp into the can. The only problem was, there was at least 2X as much black oil sunflower seed than shredded beet pulp (not the ratio I wanted - I only wanted half as much sunflower seed to shredded beet pulp). So, I went out to buy a new storage can and a new bag of shredded beet pulp. Then I guess I changed their feed ratio from 3 cups of feed to 2 cups (instead of 1.5 cups of sweet feed and 1.5 cups of shredded beet pulp), and then back to 3 cups (but this time 2 cups of sweet feed and 1 cup of shredded beet pulp). Now I just use 2 cups again (of pellets and shredded beet pulp).

I guess I get worried if I see their back hip bones and thought more feed would help to fatten them up, plus keep them on the milking stand longer. But lately there was always feed left over. I wanted to use some of the sweet feed too, but it's at the bottom of the garbage can I use to store the food in (I poured the bag of pellets over it).

Well, I also cleaned out my barn completely. Now, only a dirt floor and fresh layer of hay.

I think she's doing better. Last night she was happily eating lots of the leaves off the branches I put in. She ate most of her pellets and shredded beet pulp (only gave me 1/2 tall glass of milk) and this morning she ate some more and gave me 3/4 of the tall glass of milk. Then she was eating some more of the branches. The only thing is she still does the "star gazing". She's alert now and looks at you when you call her and is outside more. Hopefully with more time she'll be OK. Also put out new baking soda in their feeders today too.

Rachel,

Thanks for the tip about Thiamine being found in the BOSS. I used to give more (a half cup/mixed in with the shredded beet pulp) but I cut back to only a small handful.

Now the garbage can with the BOSS, now has more pellets and shredded beet pulp. I didn't want to leave bags of feed out in case that mouse came back. I guess I could always feed more of this mixture to them to increase the BOSS.

She is more herself, just concerned about the stargazing sometimes and having to chase her to the stanchion the last couple of times.

Thanks.
Rachel Whetzel at MigMog Acres April 17, 2012 at 5:31pm

Have you tried a Thiamine injection? (B1)

Also, reading on line, it looks like the treatement of GP is Thiamine, which BOSS have in them... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunflower_seed so why the decrease in feeding those? Just curious.

Video of a goat with GP and a follow up video of behavior an hour after being given a B1 shot. http://www.flickr.com/photos/pms_swim/5181926189/
Lisa Martin April 17, 2012 at 5:03pm

goat polio or listeriosis ?

This link was very helpful. I think it sounds like goat polio.

I did change their feed rations a little and increased a little more sweet feed.

Well, first I decreased their feed a little since there was left over food after I was done milking each one. Then it seemed like milk production followed suit. So I bumped it back up to what it was (I'm talking 1/2 cup of sweet feed instead of a 1/2 cup of shredded beet pulp).

It said to feed just hay and weeds and grass. I did replace some hay in their feeders today since I used the older hay in the feeders to sprinkle on the ground of the cleaned out barn.

I'm debating what to feed tonight. I don't want to change her diet too much.

Their sweet feed definitely has molasses, but I didn't see any mold. But some goats were leaving some behind.

I think I might just add in the goat pellets and let them pick out what they want to eat. I think I will decrease the black oil sunflower seed to just a small handful, instead a 1/2 cup of the black oil sunflower seed and shredded beet pulp mixture.

We'll see how tonight's milking goes.
Deborah Niemann-Boehle April 17, 2012 at 4:53pm

If something looks like white rice in poop, that's tapeworms, but they are not always shedding in poop. I have never heard of a vet's office sending a fecal out for testing. It takes 15 minutes in the office for a vet tech to do it. Were they checking it for something other than worm eggs?
Lisa Martin April 17, 2012 at 4:52pm

Goat-Link.com

Researched tapeworms - not what she had. They were very tiny and short and very thin.

I'm going to research barber pole worms too.
Lisa Martin April 17, 2012 at 4:35pm

They said they were sending out the fecal sample today for testing and results would be back tomorrow. I did some research on tetanus, but I don't think she has any bloating or lock jaw or locked legs like a rocking horse.

She did eat some tree branches, some pellets and some hay today. I'm hoping she'll eat better after tonight's milking.

I'll research tapeworms too. I'm not quite sure what those little tiny short skinny white worms were, but at least I haven't seen any again and her poop has been loose pellets.

Thanks !
Kailyn Elliott April 17, 2012 at 2:24pm

From how you described the worms, I would say she had/has tapeworms. You may need to treat those with something other than what you are currently using in order to successfully rid her of them. Hopefully you get the fecal results back soon!
Deborah Niemann-Boehle April 17, 2012 at 1:05pm

It sounds like a few things could be going on. I know goats don't have the greatest temperature control, but 104.3 is high. I've never seen it that high in one of my goats unless they were sick. Mostly she sounds like she might have a high worm load, so it will be interesting to see what the fecal shows. Update us when you get the results. It only takes 15 minutes, so they should have called you already. The behavior you describe doesn't sound that unusual. I'm surprised how quick vets are to say a goat has tetanus.

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