I just went out to feed the goats, and as I gave my Doe Deenie a chin scratch I noticed it was feeling swollen...She is eating ok and even took her treat fine...It is not hard or hot to touch but feels fleshy...She is due to kid for the first time on the 12th of March.
I have attached 3 photos to show you the swelling...It is more on the left side of her lower jaw.
My instinct tells me maybe a bug or spider bite? Of course we are supposed to be leaving here at 6am to take the kids to Disney World and will not be back until tomorrow night.
Kelsie
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Update on Deenie's bottle jaw...After getting back the fecal counts all the adult goats got a dose of wormer and Deenie was started on 5cc of redcell for 2 weeks...after 6 days the swelling did not return again until day 13 which was the day after she had her babies.
I also started Deenie on grain 10days before her due date...just a 1/4cup to begin with and worked it up to 1 cup over 5 days...I wanted her to build up some before the babies came.
2 weeks after the first deworming all the adults recieved another dose and I halved Deenies Redcell to 2.5cc for the next week (tomorrow being her last dose) just to help her recover from the birth...upped her grain to 1 1/2cups once the babies arrived....She has had some pasture time but looking forward to here being able to go out with the rest all day in the next few days.
Monday I will collect more fecals...hoping we will see good results.
Just went out and looked at her eyes, they seem pink but how pink is hard to say by flashlight...Might have to find some rope and bring her into the house to have a better look once I get the kid to bed...The swelling does seem to have gone done some...it seems to only be on the left side and under the jaw that is swollen...The right side seems normal.
A bug bite would probably be round, whereas bottlejaw is more cylindrical in shape, running along under the jaw. I would not rule out parasites if anemia is not present ... in other words, it could still be parasites, even if the goat is not anemic. Barber pole causes anemia; bottle jaw is more often caused by brown stomach worm (ostertagia). I've only ever had two goats with bottle jaw, and they both recovered easily. They did not even appear sick. Our main parasite problem here is barber pole, and goats infested with that one are usually anemic, get very sick, and sometimes die. In either case, just about any commercial dewormers kill both of them.
Will go back out and check her eyes when hubby gets home from work so he can hold the flashlight. She was FAMACHA field tested about 3 weeks ago by the vet...But no fecals were done at the time.
It might be bottle jaw... but if anemia is present, you should be able to tell by looking at her eyes and checking to see how pink they are. http://www.dogislandfarm.com/2011/08/bottle-jaw-in-goats.html