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JOHNE'S DISEASE - MESSAGE FORUM DISCUSSION

By: GoatWorld Message Forum
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Rated 3.8 by 8 responses.
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The following discussion appeared in the GoatWorld Message Forum. This message thread may or may not be indicative of Johnes Disease, and also contains information that leads to other topics, but should be considered as a reference for comparative purposes.

Original Question:
"I have been posting about lice and an anemic goat. Now my doe is very weak and her temperature is 99.6 so I believe her to be dehydrated. I am not sure what the best thing to do would be (at this point). She has been wormed with Ivomec injectable given orally last Friday. Also was given Ivomec injectable SubQ for the lice. I also gave Red Cell Tuesday and Wednesday gave her at least 1 gallon of electrolytes each day until yesterday (she would not hardly drink yesterday). She also was drinking water besides the electrolytes. She won't drink the morning and is very weak. I did give 1 cc Ferrodex and 3 cc's of Fortified B Complex yesterday, 3 cc's of Nuflor this morning. (She has a cough that sounds congested). I've also been giving ProBios. She took a couple of bites of hay and grain this morning but she is very weak. The cough that she has sounds like she is so weak she is having difficulty coughing. I also gave Nuflor Friday and Sunday a week ago. This isn't the exact order treatment was given in. Her stool went from soft to balls stuck together. Please help."

Followup:
Is the doe in late pregnancy or in lactation? Are her inner eyelids white and does she look like she has lost quite a bit of weight? When you drenched the electrolytes, did you tube her or by mouth? How long has she had the cough? Could it be some pulmonary aspiration from all of the drenching?

Followup Response:
"Yes, she had kids 2-1/2 months ago. Her eyelids are white in color. I have not drenched her with electrolytes as she drank them on her own. She has had the cough for a couple of weeks. She also has lost quite a bit of weight. She looks very gaunted in the flanks. Her kids are not nursing from her now as she will not let them. They are eating well though (on their own). I have not drenched her with the electrolytes as I am afraid of aspiration (into the lungs). I have performed that on a kid before and it kind of makes me nervous. Do you think I need to drench her with electrolytes? Am wondering what I need to do here?"

Followup:
Sometimes a goat becomes so anemic from worms that they don't survive. Sometimes when you deworm a goat that has a very heavy wormload, when the worms die and detach, they cause a good deal of bleeding from all of the places they were attached to. Only time will tell whether she can overcome this bloodloss or not. You might try giving her some Magic (1 part molasses, 1 part vegetable oil and 2 parts Karo Corn Syrup mixed with just a bit of warm water) 2 to 3 times a day for energy. Give 2 to 3 ounces by drench. You are pretty much doing all you can. The only other thing I can think of would be a blood transfusion. Her temperature indicates shock and her digestive system shutting down.

Followup Response:
"She passed on last night. She had a very strong will. I really think she had pneumonia as well. Now I have 2 little doelings to be concerned with and want to do everything possible to keep them healthy. I don't believe they had been nursing from her for at least the last 4 to 5 days because all I saw was the mom turning them away and they were not persistent. They were both spending most of the day in the pasture browsing and I have gotten them to nibble and eat grain. Should I deworm them again - I wormed them approximately 2 weeks ago with 1 cc of Ivomec and also used the pour on for lice one week ago. They are 2-1/2 months old and have pale eyelids."

Followup:
The kids are old enough to be weaned. At that age, they were most likely nibbling and eating on grass blades or whatever even though much of their nourishment still had been from the dam's milk. It is very stressful to the digestive system to suddenly eliminate that nutritional source and go soley on solids. You can try to train them to nurse from a bottle for supplementation, but at that age there is a good chance they will not accept it. I would let them go browse and give a daily grain ration for additional supplementation. The stress from the diet change will (possibly) trigger a coccidiosis outbreak. You may want to monitor their feces very frequently. Coccidia will turn it (feces) soft and then to diarrhea within a day or two. At that point intestinal damage has already occurred. It may be suggested for you to go ahead and treat both of them with a sulfa drug like Sulmet.

Followup Response:
"I did treat all my kids for coccidiosis 11 days ago. 3 to 5 cc's for 5 days, including the two spoken of here. Would you recommend repeating this? I poured some milk over their grain last night and this morning but they only nibbled at it and showed little interest."

Followup:
I do not see where you would need to repeat the coccidiosis treatments, but it would not hurt to deworm again with the Ivomec. The Ivomec is considered quite safe within reasonable dosage rates. As for the girl with the anemia, giving B-complex will help her rebuild red blood cells over time. Perhaps once a day or every other day will give a vitamin boost to her system. Also giving an iron injectable once every 10 to 14 days until the eyelids show results is said to help.

Followup:
GW Note - this response made after the goat had been reported passing.
"If you have a goat with pale to white inner eyelids and gums, we assume a heavy parasite load. I start out giving Safeguard 12cc/100 lbs. orally for 3 days in a row and then give 1cc/20 lbs of Ivomec injectable orally, and then repeat the Ivomec treatment in 2 weeks. This (Safeguard) is not as strong as Ivomec but it will kill some parasites off slowly and she won't have so much bleeding as they turn loose from where they are. Ferrodex is an iron injection once a day for every other day or a total of 3 injections. I would do a repeat on sulmet as well. The temperature being down to 99 is a red flag that she is having rumen problems and her organs are probably shutting down and she would need a dose of a probiotic."

Followup:
"If this is Johnes Disease, there isn't anything that can be done. Johne's disease (pronounced "yo-knees") is a contagious, chronic and sometimes fatal infection that affects primarily the small intestine of ruminants. A ruminant is any hooved animal that digests its food in two steps, first by eating the raw material then regurgitating and eating a semi-digested form known as cud. Ruminants include cattle, goats, sheep, camels, llamas, giraffes, bison, buffalo, deer, wildebeest, and antelope. All ruminants are susceptible to Johne's disease, which is sometimes called paratuberculosis. Infections have also been seen in a variety of non-ruminant species including rabbits, foxes and birds. Horses, dogs and non-human primates can be infected experimentally. Paratuberculosis is found worldwide, with Sweden and some states in Australia the only areas proven to be free of the disease."

About the author:
This information was posted from the GoatWorld Message Forum.

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