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Twitchy legs ??

Posted by Lyn Adams on February 22, 2011 at 4:27pm in Health

I was wondering if anyone else has seen this or heard of this. I'm very new to goats.

My question is , both my goats seem to have twitchy legs. All of a sudden , it's almost like they have a invisible fly buzzing around them. Does anyone know what might be going on. Should I be taking them to the vet ??  They are 10 months old, and in very good health .

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  • Deborah Niemann-Boehle February 22, 2011 at 9:03pm
    There used to be this awesome site when I got started called Saanendoah, but the woman got out of goats and gradually shut down section after section of the site. There is not a lot of information or research on "food animals" and keeping them healthy as individuals. I would get really frustrated the first few years, and then a vet student explained to me that the emphasis with food animals is on herd health. They don't really focus on the health of an individual animal, because most are not worth the cost of treatment of most illnesses. There are vaccines and tests for diseases, but if an animal has a disease that is contagious, it is euthanized to save the herd. There is little in the way of treatment. If it breaks a leg, it's dinner. Dealing with a vet school is very educational. When one of my goats had a broken leg, the large animal clinic said they didn't deal with that type of thing. They referred me to the small animal clinic, and the dog vet said it would cost $1,500 to do surgery and fix it. I called around and finally found a vet to just splint it, and it cost $100, and it healed fine.
  • Lyn Adams February 22, 2011 at 7:43pm

    Thanks for responding quickly. They don't do it all the time, but it is a behavior that I hadn't seen before. There eating and drinking like normal. They run around outside N/P.  So I guess I'll hold off calling the vet for now and just keep my eye on them. Thanks again.  :0)

    Are their any good web sites that describe Nigerian Dwarf goat illness ?

  • Deborah Niemann-Boehle February 22, 2011 at 4:35pm
    I'm picturing them standing there and then suddenly stomping a leg and/or snorting and/or kicking. Sounds normal, but you didn't say how often they're doing it. They do a lot of interesting things. The veterinary definition of a healthy goat seems to be one that is eating, drinking, walking around, and chewing its cud. I used to run my goats to U of I a lot when I got started, and after hearing that a few times for $100+, it finally sank in.
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