Posted by Denise on February 06, 2002 at 11:23:36:
In Reply to: Goat911 Online Request Form posted by Ann on February 06, 2002 at 04:54:47:
Posted by Ann on February 06, 2002 at 04:54:47:
Requestor Name: Ann
Requestor Address: pesch@rconnect.com
Location: Mt. Lake, MN
Goat Temperature: normal
Doe: on
Not pregnant: on
Age of Goat: 3 to 4 years old
Breed of Goat: nubian
First Noticed Situation: a month ago
I have a vet: on
Type of treatment rendered to date: This is not life threatening (I hope),
but our two best does have developed a kind of scabby rash. It started on
the leg and has now shown up on the face. On the face they are little hard
scabby lumps. The look like dried up chicken pox. We have never seen any
puss associated with these scabs. I should probably mention that the one doe
aborted 3 normal looking kids in the beginning of December. This doe's coat
looks rather thin. We wormed all the goats in the end of September/beginning
of October. We have never had any problems with our goats (we've had them
for 4 years), but this year has been terrible!
Also, we are having trouble with our nubian bucks. We had 3 bucks 7 months
and under die on us in the last several months. They had never been
castrated. They seemed very small compared to the previous years' kids.
These kids that died all were offspring of a new nubian that we bought last
year (which may explain the difference in size, but the buck is not a small
animal, either).Their coats also seemed thin. When they were in the barn at
night, they would "scrunch" themselves up as if they were very cold. The
last two have died on very cold nights, but the first one died when it was
quite warm. Any help would be appreciated!
Types of medicines and first aid on hand: I have some antibiotics here, but
I can get anything else that I need in short order.
Types of food consumed in last 7 days including diet changes: There has been
absolutely no change in diet. We feed them hay, and a mix of corn/oats/and
goat feed. The feed is kept in the loft, so there is no way (even for a
goat) for them to overeat the grain.
Description of Situation: Any advice about any of the above situations would
be greatly appreciated. I have talked to the vet several times; we even had
a goat sent in and tested for toxoplasmosis (we lost the 3 kids from the
nubian, one very deformed kid from a boer(the boer also had one beautiful
huge buck), and two little twins from another--the test came back negative).
We have raised goats for about 4 years, but we have never had to even call
the vet about anything before. This year has been a trial. We did introduce
some boer goats into our herd. We have experience with handling goats, but
have very little experience with sick goats.
__________________________________
Hi Ann,
We've been discussing your situation on our medic list.
To try and narrow down what the problem could be for us, could you look at
the skin on your goats..(just part the hair in a few places and look by the
hair roots), and see if you see very tiny black spots that move. If you do,
pick one up and look very closely at it's nose...if it has a needle type
nose, you are looking at blood sucking lice.
I dealt with this about 4 years ago, and when they have these, they itch
terribly and they will become anemic, and can die, especially if they are
overloaded.
If you find these little critters, you will need to inject all of them with
Ivomec....which is a Subcutaneous injection with amounts showing on the
bottle.
Also, please look at the ingredients on your calf feed and make sure that it
does not contain UREA...this is an ingredient that is NOT good for goats.
I'll keep thinking and doing some research...let us know what you find out
from above.
Good luck....
Denise Hack
Windy Acres Goats, Idaho