Post by rosalind on May 29, 2017 17:29:17 GMT -5
Two goats, similar age one year apart, similar symptoms -
The second goat died today (the other goat died last year, same farm). They are my friend's goats and she's asked us to help out, but we're not sure what is wrong. She thought milk fever leading into ketosis, but the ewes start out punky after kidding two weeks ago, had weak unthrifty kids, never got into full production of milk, would not eat grain.
She's been doing all the home remedies - lots of B vitamins, Calcium sub Q (the first week after calving, then stopped), supplements of molasses, etc. and started dosing with propylene glycol.
When we got out there today, the goat was walking around and would eat succulent feeds (carrot, asparagus, grass, etc.) but refused grain and ate minimal hay. Her belly was very large - she looked "capacious" but almost too much so. Dehydrated.
She died soon after we started IVing her a CMPK/dextrose mix (that was administered very slowly). We stopped immediately, but she died.
So, owner wanted to open her up so we stayed and helped her with that. Inside, the lining was coarse and like a flaky fat that broke apart easily. Her stomach was HUGE - each compartment packed full of frothy green very watery foodstuffs - and her intestines were completely flat empty. She did poo a tiny bit when we arrived, and it looked normal, but the owner said she'd been straining some. The liver was mostly normal color but on one side very splotchy - like marbled dark and light red. The lungs were abnormally light - as light as foam (is that normal???). Heart looked fine.
Any ideas?
My husband thought peritonitis - but what would cause both goats to have the same symptoms? The first goat struggled for weeks and eventually had to be put down. This second goat was acting similarly, we just accidentally sped it up with the CMPK? I searched online and there was a possible link with Mycoplasma and peritonitis.
Secondary thought was a DA - maybe a mild version? But no signs of twist that we could find (not that we were necessarily expecting to) and just found it odd the stomach was enormous, intestines practically empty, and she was dehydrated.
My friend really doesn't want to lose more goats to this and we feel like it's way out of our league (we're cow people, so dealing with goats is really not our forte!)
www.merckvetmanual.com/generalized-conditions/peritonitis/overview-of-peritonitis
www.goatwisdom.com/ch8diseases/mycoplasma.html
The second goat died today (the other goat died last year, same farm). They are my friend's goats and she's asked us to help out, but we're not sure what is wrong. She thought milk fever leading into ketosis, but the ewes start out punky after kidding two weeks ago, had weak unthrifty kids, never got into full production of milk, would not eat grain.
She's been doing all the home remedies - lots of B vitamins, Calcium sub Q (the first week after calving, then stopped), supplements of molasses, etc. and started dosing with propylene glycol.
When we got out there today, the goat was walking around and would eat succulent feeds (carrot, asparagus, grass, etc.) but refused grain and ate minimal hay. Her belly was very large - she looked "capacious" but almost too much so. Dehydrated.
She died soon after we started IVing her a CMPK/dextrose mix (that was administered very slowly). We stopped immediately, but she died.
So, owner wanted to open her up so we stayed and helped her with that. Inside, the lining was coarse and like a flaky fat that broke apart easily. Her stomach was HUGE - each compartment packed full of frothy green very watery foodstuffs - and her intestines were completely flat empty. She did poo a tiny bit when we arrived, and it looked normal, but the owner said she'd been straining some. The liver was mostly normal color but on one side very splotchy - like marbled dark and light red. The lungs were abnormally light - as light as foam (is that normal???). Heart looked fine.
Any ideas?
My husband thought peritonitis - but what would cause both goats to have the same symptoms? The first goat struggled for weeks and eventually had to be put down. This second goat was acting similarly, we just accidentally sped it up with the CMPK? I searched online and there was a possible link with Mycoplasma and peritonitis.
Secondary thought was a DA - maybe a mild version? But no signs of twist that we could find (not that we were necessarily expecting to) and just found it odd the stomach was enormous, intestines practically empty, and she was dehydrated.
My friend really doesn't want to lose more goats to this and we feel like it's way out of our league (we're cow people, so dealing with goats is really not our forte!)
www.merckvetmanual.com/generalized-conditions/peritonitis/overview-of-peritonitis
www.goatwisdom.com/ch8diseases/mycoplasma.html