I have three baby goats on bottle (they are about a month old and taking some feed)Yesterday I lost two of them. it seems as though they got sick about the same time. First they acted as if they were drunk or something. Then they lost the use of their back legs and started stumbling all over the place.up until this time they were acting normal... within 3 hours they were both dead. the third one is fine and is acting normal. I had them under a heatlamp and kept fresh hay for bedding, can someone please give me some advice..thanks Danny in Comanche Texas

-- Danny Bingham (dlbingham2000@yahoo.com), January 30, 2003

Answers

I can't be much help in diagnosing the problem. But you might try posting the question again on this other, more active Dairygoats forum. It is moderated by the same person who does this site, only gets a lot more participation. visit the other forum

-- Rebekah (daniel@itss.net), January 30, 2003.

Danny you should try and keep the goats away from the heat or they could start to smell. You should also get your mother goat and the other baby to the vet. And give them a shot, so that they don't get what ever the two others wons got.

-- Nicole McCord (Jaggoes@aol.com), February 19, 2003.

Danny,

In late summer early fall i lost 4 of my younger goats with something similiar. they started with the drunken thing started circling then finally went down and and became basically paralyzed on one side. i lost two and then 2 weeks later i lost one more and about 1-2 months later lost the 4th. Not absoulutley sure what it is they had, as far as i can figure from what i read it coincides with listerious. but really am not sure. i gave pennicilian and vitamin b complex shots kept the 3rd alive for 5 days and finally she just let go. keep an eye on the other little one maybe even administer pennicilian to it to ward it off. got any other questions let me know. just thought i would give you some insite on what has happened to me recently.

-- Tammy Buhrow (tjb018@yahoo.com), February 24, 2003.

I lost two grown goats. One we put down and the other died at the vets. They had picked up a bacteria from the pasture. I'm not sure how to spell it, but the Dr. called it Lysteria. The goat that died at the vets had two babies that had to have shots everyday twice a day for one or two weeks. They did fine. The doctor said that there was no way of finding the source in the pasture, but to keep an eye on them for behavior like you described. It may be something completely different. Just dropping some info. Aloha

-- Emilie Fernandez (msathome@hawaii.rr.com), May 21, 2003.

An update- when this happens to young kids, a week or two old, chances are it is floppy kid syndrome. It can be reversed completely within a day or two if you catch it the same day they start staggering. Give each kid a half teaspoon of baking soda in their mouth. (You will have to pry the mouth open and put it in there). Then make sure the kids are kept dry and safe until they recover, and if they cannot stand to eat, you will want to support them as they nurse until they can get around easily. Sorry I learned about this too late to help your kids, Danny, I encountered it for the first time this year.

-- Rebekah (daniel1@itss.net), May 26, 2003.