I have a 2 year old FF doe, 4 weeks from kidding, eating well, active per her usual self, growing a large belly and udder, and seems normal in every way, but I can't seem to get her eyelid color above C/D.
I first noticed this in late January (when I learned to look for this) and wormed her with MannaPro Positive Pellet Dewormer (I think it's morantel). One month later I checked again and still didn't like the color so looked into it more and ordered COWP, which was given (2g) mid March. I also gave her about 9mls of BS Molasses for a few days at the beginning of last week, and I *think* that brought the color up a teeny bit, but today I feel like the color has faded already. (Side note, she has also had Ivermectin pour on twice in the last 10 days for lice.)
How concerned should I be about this eye color? How important is treating anemia during the last month of pregnancy? Or in other words, what is the lesser of two evils - anemia at this stage of pregnancy, or treating anemia during late pregnancy (right on the heels of Ivermectin pour on treatment)?
Should I try another 2g of COWP and see if that helps (I see fishtail on my other doe but not in this girl - however, we don't have the best loose minerals for her here either...) Should I give her another dose of morantel and watch closely to see if she responds in the proper amount of time (and what would that be - I didn't know much about the worm resistance problem in goats and made the rookie mistake of not checking for her response to the treatment when last given in late January)?
What should I do for this girl? Advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks :)
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One other thing. I have a doe who I always thought was always a bit pale in the eye lids. I was checking by pulling the eye lid down. The vet checked her by pulling the top of the lid up and looking at the conjunctiva of the upper lid. I was surprised how pink it looked! He said that goats with a darker skin pigment around the eyes are harder to judge by the lower lid, so look at the upper instead. Just thought it was worth mentioning, just in case. :)
okay, thank you so much :)
If she is two years old, a second 2g dose of COWP would not hurt her. One study found that pour-on dewormer used in goats only kills about 50% of internal parasites, so it is not terribly helpful if a goat has a really large load. If you used morantel tartrate in January, you could use that again. I'd do it at the same time as the COWP.
As far as whether to do it now or when she kids, I would also look at body condition and poop. If she is well conditioned and pooping berries, I'd wait until she kids. But if her body condition is a little on the boney side, and the berries are sticking together or look more like dog poop, I'd deworm now. Eyelid color of C/3 is questionable, so you look at other symptoms to see if the doe really seems to be suffering from the parasite load. If she is at C/3, then she will probably be pushed into dangerous anemia after kidding as parasite levels tend to go up at that time in susceptible does.