Sometimes this life is hard-traumatic NEW Pics and update
May 11, 2017 17:43:05 GMT -5
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Post by kimgoatmilker on May 11, 2017 17:43:05 GMT -5
Hello all. Although I have family goats, not cows, I have always felt welcome in this space to ask questions, but this time, I have come for emotional support, as we have just gone through a horrible experience and I know that this is a place where I can share that people will actually understand.
We have two Nigerian dwarf does that we milk for the house. We purchased them both in milk in 2014 and milked them through until this fall when we had them bred. One doe kidded in Feb - there was a malpresentation of all three kids, all had to be pulled, but I muddled through with an experienced goat person on speakerphone and was able to get the kids out. One was stillborn, the other two are thriving. The other doe, Maggie (whom I love more than anything - I love all of my animals but she has my heart) went into labor on Tuesday. She was not progressing well, so I did an exam and found a muzzle and one foot. I was able to get the other foot around but was not making progress. It felt like there was no way that kid was coming through the pelvis. I called the vet and she arrived 40 minutes later. She tried to get the kid out for about an hour - it was awful. My poor Maggie was screaming in pain. The vet used a modified lamb puller and small ropes. She was unable to get the kid out. At that point, Maggie was not looking good - her head was hanging and she was no longer vocalizing. We all decided that the best course was to do a C section. The vet started operating very quickly - I put a catheter in Maggies jugular vein (luckily my husband and I are both in medicine - human, not animal, but we were able to assist) and started getting fluids running. Once the vet opened the abdominal wall, there was so much blood. The uterus was torn. She brought it to the surface and pulled out two beautiful kids - both were dead. The kid that was stuck was about 3x the size of the other kid, who was normal size. The vet could not get the bleeding under control, and so had to take out the entire uterus. She kept asking me if Maggie was alive. I was by her head and had my hand on her heart, willing it to keep beating. She survived the surgery somehow. Her temperature was 90 degrees and her color was nearly white. We moved her in the house on a sling and bundled her up by our fireplace and gave her another liter of warmed IV fluids via jugular catheter. She spent the next 24 hours inside, with me hand feeding her bits of grass, molasses, alfalfa leaves, crackers. My one year old daughter was thrilled that there was a goat in the house, but dismayed when I blocked her attempts to "help". Maggie is now out in the barn in a deeply bedded stall with the other doe. I milked her out as much as I could yesterday, but she was unable to stand for more than a few seconds. She has more strength today, and was able to stand for about 10 mins while I milked her. She is continuing to fight. She is nibbling hay, alfalfa, grain, and any treats we give her. She is on meloxicam, penicillin, Nuflor, Probios, and Red Cell.
I just can't believe that we are in this position - a doe that nearly lost her life and no kids for her to mother. It is so sad and I feel such a loss.
Can you all think of anything else we should be doing to help increase her changes of making it?
Thanks for being here, as always.
We have two Nigerian dwarf does that we milk for the house. We purchased them both in milk in 2014 and milked them through until this fall when we had them bred. One doe kidded in Feb - there was a malpresentation of all three kids, all had to be pulled, but I muddled through with an experienced goat person on speakerphone and was able to get the kids out. One was stillborn, the other two are thriving. The other doe, Maggie (whom I love more than anything - I love all of my animals but she has my heart) went into labor on Tuesday. She was not progressing well, so I did an exam and found a muzzle and one foot. I was able to get the other foot around but was not making progress. It felt like there was no way that kid was coming through the pelvis. I called the vet and she arrived 40 minutes later. She tried to get the kid out for about an hour - it was awful. My poor Maggie was screaming in pain. The vet used a modified lamb puller and small ropes. She was unable to get the kid out. At that point, Maggie was not looking good - her head was hanging and she was no longer vocalizing. We all decided that the best course was to do a C section. The vet started operating very quickly - I put a catheter in Maggies jugular vein (luckily my husband and I are both in medicine - human, not animal, but we were able to assist) and started getting fluids running. Once the vet opened the abdominal wall, there was so much blood. The uterus was torn. She brought it to the surface and pulled out two beautiful kids - both were dead. The kid that was stuck was about 3x the size of the other kid, who was normal size. The vet could not get the bleeding under control, and so had to take out the entire uterus. She kept asking me if Maggie was alive. I was by her head and had my hand on her heart, willing it to keep beating. She survived the surgery somehow. Her temperature was 90 degrees and her color was nearly white. We moved her in the house on a sling and bundled her up by our fireplace and gave her another liter of warmed IV fluids via jugular catheter. She spent the next 24 hours inside, with me hand feeding her bits of grass, molasses, alfalfa leaves, crackers. My one year old daughter was thrilled that there was a goat in the house, but dismayed when I blocked her attempts to "help". Maggie is now out in the barn in a deeply bedded stall with the other doe. I milked her out as much as I could yesterday, but she was unable to stand for more than a few seconds. She has more strength today, and was able to stand for about 10 mins while I milked her. She is continuing to fight. She is nibbling hay, alfalfa, grain, and any treats we give her. She is on meloxicam, penicillin, Nuflor, Probios, and Red Cell.
I just can't believe that we are in this position - a doe that nearly lost her life and no kids for her to mother. It is so sad and I feel such a loss.
Can you all think of anything else we should be doing to help increase her changes of making it?
Thanks for being here, as always.