Okay, she started acting weird again. I have put her back into isolation. All of her vitals are normal. Her eyes seem a bit bulgy, she has a glazed kind of look. She won't eat the grass hay, but will eat some of the very stemmy alfala I have given her. I haven't given her much. She had no grain for two days. Her poop is normal although there does seem to be a tic less than normal. All of the stuff that I have found seems to indicate either a lack of microbial activity in the rumen, as her bringing up her cud seems to be a bit less active than normal. I am thinking either thiamine deficiency or simple indegestion....The B bottle says to be very careful giving it as it can cause abortion!!! I haven't been able to find anything in my books alluding to that though. Also, she is scratching her ears. I can't see any signs of mites, though. Her stance seems rigid, but her muscles don't feel too tense. She hasn't been mewling, just looks depressed, head down, eyes glazed, not interested in feed. I gave her probios again last night and have taken her into isolation again. I think that she is eating too much wet grass. Any opinions on the injection of B's?

I'm going to call the vet a couple of counties over that actually knows something of goats when they open, but my vet who is close, really doesn't know much about them and although he tries, I think this is something peculiar to him. Thanks for any help.

-- Doreen (animalwaitress@excite.com), March 20, 2001

Answers

To the top, please.

-- Doreen (animalwaitress@excite.com), March 20, 2001.

Did the vet say anything about that foam? Are you milking her bag now or trying to let it dry up again? I do hope you figure out what is bothering her, it's so hard not knowing. I don't know about the B's.

-- Cindy in Ky (solidrockranch@hotmail.com), March 20, 2001.

the vet last week said the foam was basically an indication of too much wet browse. That's what 3 vets have said. The vet that really knows goats the best is on vacation, but the other vets I have spoken with this morning say that B should be fine, sometimes the warnings on bottles are a little over zealous.

I am letting her dry up. Her bag isn't hot at all, she doesn't seem to be bothered by that. I did just cut back gradually, like skipping the pm milking for a week then every other day for a week then just no more. I was just concerned that that might somehow be causal in this as I had just stopped when she first went strange.

Her eyes seem normal this morning and she seems more alert and rather irritated with being in solitary.

The vets said to just keep her in off of pasture for a few days and give her some more probios and the shot of B. Also they said no grain.

This is just throwing me because this goat is always super healthy. I think she may be a bit fat, not much, but a bit. I haven't changed her food, but of course the grasses are coming in and trees are leafing out so she has been eating a lot of new green. I'm going to keep her in iso for three days and just give her hay. The problem is that there is no grass hay available in town anymore,only questionable alfalfa, not horrid, just stemmy, so I need to do some begging and borrowing I guess. Any other advice would be greatly appreciated.

-- Doreen (animalwaitress@excite.com), March 20, 2001.

Have you ever checked out http://www.hayexchange.com

I clicked on Texas and there were quite a few but don't know how close they are to you. Check it out, it's cool. Kentucky is just overflowing with hay from last year. There is so much. I know they sent some to Texas too. Hope you find some.

-- Cindy in Ky (solidrockranch@hotmail.com), March 20, 2001.

Vitamin B complex will not cause any danger to the pregnancy. Inject 12 cc in the rump muscle. Probios is a good idea too. This sounds like it could be Ketosis or Milk Fever.

The treatment for Ketosis is 45 cc propylene glycol orally twice daily for no more than three days. There is no harm in this treatment if she does not have ketosis. Continue the probios between propylene glycol administrations as the PG tends to be hard on the gut.

For Milk Fever, the treatment is calcium. An easy PREVENTIVE for milk fever is several large fruit flavored TUMS at every feeding. If she is already deficient in calcium, you will need to get some into her system directly by means of a series of subq shots or IV. Although I give lots of shots to our herd, injecting this much liquid calcium gloconate (or caldex) under the skin in the rib cage area is something I prefer the vet do. It has to be done slowly. Too fast and you can kill the goat. Our vet prefers to give by IV. It can also be given orally, but is not as effective that way.

To ease her indigestion, give her 2 TBSP milk of magnesia with a little ginger mixed in.

-- Skip Walton (sundaycreek@gnrac.net), March 20, 2001.

Thanks all. Our isp was down most of yesterday, but I did finally get in touch with a vet that really knows goats. Guess what? Most likely it's a magnesium deficiency. The vet figured that because she improves whern I pen her up that she is gorging on the new green and there isn't enough magnesium in it. Also, I checked my minerals and there is no magnesium in them. I have some loose sheep minerals that have magnesium, so I am putting that in with the other and building a gate so she can't go out and eat as soon as the sun comes up. She'll have to wait to fill up on hay.

Thanks for the tip on the hay. I usually feed them coastal free choice during the day and give some alfalfa at am and pm. I'll check that site out. Maybe I can find less expensive alfalfa!! Thanks again, I have to get that gate built before I put her back in.

-- Doreen (animalwaitress@excite.com), March 21, 2001.

Doreen, I just wanted to say, real fast, that I get such a kick out of your e-mail name every time I see it.

-- Dee (gdgtur@goes.com), March 25, 2001.

Glad you like it. I think perhaps it's my real name. I never felt to enamored of the one my folks gave me. ;)..just don't tell my mom.

-- Doreen (animalwaitress@excite.com), March 25, 2001.