# HELP! My doe is lethargic and shaking- no appetite



## puckles (Apr 2, 2015)

Our herd princess Griselda was fine at milking time last night. A couple hours later when I went to put the goats in the pen for the night she was last one in and did not come and eat any dinner- just went and stood in the barn alone with her head down. This morning she did not get up voluntarily for breakfast and wouldn't eat or drink even when led to the food and water. She is now laying down in the shade alone and as I was petting her I noticed she was shaking a little- almost like shivvering, most strongly felt when touching her neck. I have no idea what to do- her eyes are clear and she is with it- just acting sick and sad. This goat is normally first one to the food and always first one to any gate that may be opening. She is normally lively and in the middle of the action. Any of this sound familiar? We live in a tiny town with no vet or feed store, so I need to know what to get before I make the drive into a larger town.


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## jschies (Aug 15, 2014)

Take her temperature and post it. Look at the inside of her eyelids for a FAMACHA score and tell us that also. She may be anemic or have rumen problems. If you can take a stool sample to a vet to check for worms or coccidia, that would be a good idea too. Right now you can give probiotics and B complex.


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## puckles (Apr 2, 2015)

I do have probiotics on hand, so i can try that right away. She is 2 1/2 years old still nursing her second set of twins who are being separated for the daytimes to wean- they still sleep together at night. She seriously was completely fine at 8:00 last night but acting sick by 9:30. I will go take her temp right now as well.


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## puckles (Apr 2, 2015)

Gave her a small dose of probios and her temp is 105.1. I got her to drink some water but haven't seen her eat or poop. When she is standing she is sort of hunched with head and tail hanging low.


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## goatblessings (Jan 6, 2015)

You will need banamine (rx) bring the fever down, and also start antibiotics. If you don't have access to banamine, give her some aspirin. Her fever is quite high.Keep her in the shade if it is hot, you can also put some cool towels on her to help with her fever


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## mariarose (Oct 23, 2014)

I agree, that temp is very high. Emergency medication would be Aspirin for the fever (Banamine is better), probiotics of any sort to keep the rumen running, Yoghurt is normally very fine, (but with that fever Probios is better) and antibiotics. You can get penicillin easily and cheaply. This is to keep her going until you get more expert instruction. May I ask, how old are her twins? Did you see the placenta delivered? did you have to go in to assist delivery?


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## puckles (Apr 2, 2015)

Just got back from town with LA 200 since that was the only thing I could get without a prescription. We just moved a couple months ago and do not have a local vet yet- went in to speak with one but they said they can't prescribe anything since they've never seen the goat before. I made an appt. for tomorrow morning. She is standing and very slowly walking around, but not doing well. Her udder has not filled up at all since this morning- her twins are in the other pasture- they are almost 4 months old, big and healthy. The birth went great and there were no complications or help needed. I have never given a shot by myself before, but since I'm the only one around, it has to get done. going out to take her temp again...


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## mariarose (Oct 23, 2014)

4 months ago, that birth has nothing to do with this. Please let us know what you find out.


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## mariarose (Oct 23, 2014)

Any suggestions here? They have LA 200, not Penicillin.


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## puckles (Apr 2, 2015)

I just came in from taking her temp and giving her 5 cc of LA 200 sub-Q. I basically had to lift her onto the stand to get her to cooperate and this is when I noticed something wrong with her udder. Normally it is symmetrical, high, tight and round but one side has developed a large squishy lump between the udder and her belly- on the other side the udder curves back towards the rear before attaching to her belly. I tried to milk her out to see if it was stringy or bloody and barely anything came out. I took her temp and she has gone up to 105.5 since earlier today. It is hot out and when I came home she was laying in the sun by the fence. After treatment I got her into the barn with a bucket of fresh, cold water. I will be taking her to the vet at 9 am but what can I do til then? I have separated all the other goats but we only have one small barn for the night time...


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## mariarose (Oct 23, 2014)

Hang in there, you are doing great. I can't QUITE picture what you are saying, but it sounds like a mastitis infection. Keep her milked out as much as you possibly can tonight. And give her garlic if you have it. Ground fresh garlic is best. And of course the antibiotic. But milking her out often will help more that anything. Good luck. Poor thing. She must be feeling just rotten.


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## puckles (Apr 2, 2015)

I've never dealt with mastitis in all of our years of having goats. It's strange that the lump is filling in what is normally a space where the udder attaches to her belly- I though mastitis was more the main udder sac. Would her boys who are big and vigorous eaters be able to injure her while nursing to this result? We do let the goats all together at night because when we let them have access to the lower pasture overnight we lost a few babies to coyotes. So, the kids are plenty old to be separated but I don't want to risk using that pasture at night. 

She is separated still and I have been checking on her periodically- just brought her a branch from the maple tree with fresh leaves and some hay and cold water. I am so worried! Any suggestions on how to get her to eat or swallow the garlic? would one of those pill syringes work?


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## mariarose (Oct 23, 2014)

You are probably correct, as you can see what you mean, and I can't But frequent milking out, and feeding Garlic won't hurt, and may help. Mine gobble down fresh chopped garlic on top of regular milk stand feeding. How did she take to the fresh maple leaves? Mine would have just inhaled them. and if any did not, then I would have known she was really, really ill.

I hear you about the vigorous feeding. Man, Kids can be BRUTAL!!!

Does it look like any kind of abscess? Do you have any possibility of a snake bite (snake curled up next to a warm belly then striking if suddenly frightened?) Ticks?

Keep an eye on her temp, and keep tempting her to eat. allowing her boys to rejoin her could pique her interest in life...

A generalized swelling may be helped by some benedryl, perhaps. Dosage as stated on the bottle for the same size human.


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## capracreek (Apr 5, 2016)

For goats 105.5 is extremely high temp and can cause brain damage. We had a goat that spiked a temp this spring rushed her to the vet and he put her on drip and antibiotics for 24 hours and she did not improve so sadly we had her put down at his recommendation as she did not respond to treatment. I hope you have better luck. Goats are really very fragile.


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## puckles (Apr 2, 2015)

Griselda was doing a little better at night time in the cooler temps. She was standing up and eating a bit. We went to the vet this morning where she got a shot of banamine (with 3 more doses to take home) and milk was taken from each side to run tests. Looks like she got a strange udder injury that quickly led to infection, swelling and fever. They thought there was a chance of mastitis so she is on antibiotics and separated from the herd until we get results. Her boys are now permanently separated- both are for sale and are 2 of only 4 left out of 14 we are selling this summer. They have become more friendly and hopefully someone will come take them home soon. Griselda is acting a lot better than yesterday- standing and slowly walking around- eating a little grain and drinking water. Her eyes are still bright and she did great at the vet. Hopefully the meds work and her swelling goes down. Waiting with my fingers crossed for the milk tests... Thanks for your help, I will update on her condition. I'm just so relieved she didn't have the "sudden death" pneumonia that she had all the symptoms of and we had all the environmental and weather requirements for!


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

Glad you got her to the vet.


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## mariarose (Oct 23, 2014)

So glad you got her to a vet. I've never heard of any form of pneumonia which affects the udder. What made you think pneumonia? I'm really glad the vet got you some Banamine. I understand it is hard to find recently.

You've sold 10 goats already this year. That is great. My husband would be so happy if I would sell 10 of our herd...

Please keep us updated. We care.


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## puckles (Apr 2, 2015)

I had thought it was maybe it was interstitial pneumonia because it is classified by rapid onset of high fever and it thrives in hot and dusty conditions with cold temperature swings overnight- change of seasons. Plus a few other things I read. It is still very hot in the day in the high desert but you can feel fall coming at night as the overnight temps have dropped significantly recently. It often results in death and I always go to the worse case scenario in my head! Griselda is currently in the barn snacking and her temp has gone down to 102. Next round of shots is in a couple of hours and things are looking like we might be able to get on top of this one. Still have my fingers crossed though...


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## mariarose (Oct 23, 2014)

Thanks for the explanation. You have educated me. Yay! for the improvement. All of us are with you, please let us know.


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## puckles (Apr 2, 2015)

So, if anyone is still reading along- here is the update on Griselda. Test results came back from the vet and she has a vigorous form of mastitis with staph and possibly udder adema (sp?) based on how her udder was swollen spreading forward onto her belly. They said this is highly contagious and we have had her separated for the last week. We do let her older brother who is a wether in with her at night for company. He swelling has gone way down and she is giving a lot more milk than the first few days. I have been milking her out (after everyone else has taken their turn) with nitrile gloves on since I get little cuts on my hands doing chores etc. I have been flushing the milk down the toilet so it can't contaminate anything. She is acting a lot more like herself and I think she's getting pretty lonely. She's not eating as much as she used to, so she is on the skinny side, but has been appreciating that she gets all the hay she wants and doesn't have to fight anyone for it! I have also been gently massaging her udder after milking while she finishes her grain. The vet had more experience with cows and commercial dairy operations and basically told me if she was a cow she would be sent away and culled. I love this girl (oldest daughter of the herd queen) and want to do everything possible to make her well again. The vet seemed to think it was too much effort to nurse her back to health and that I may need to give her injections up her teats so she can't produce milk anymore. 

Has anyone else dealt with this type of mastitis? I really want to save her if I can. She has been given the only barn and I'm worried how long it will take her to heal since nights are getting colder and the other goats will eventually need to sleep in there too. Any advice on what to do with her would be appreciated.


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

Glad she is improving. I have no idea what injections stop milk production permanently. There are antibiotics that you can insert into the teats and work up into the udder.


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## Damfino (Dec 29, 2013)

Since she appears to be healing I would keep treating her and see if she clears up. It's nice she can have her brother for company. It might be a lot of work to get through mastitis, but I think it's worth it. I had one that I treated round-the-clock for several days, and then several times a day for several more weeks, but now she's a wonderful, reliable, healthy producer and you'd never know she'd had mastitis in her life. Run a CMT every couple of days and see if you start noticing some improvement.


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## capracreek (Apr 5, 2016)

Wow poor girl. I would think after 10 days on antibiotic she would not longer be contagious but I would check with the vet on that. Staph is horrible and some is very resistant. I would clean out the barn - burn the hay laying on the ground and around, and spray with bleach water before I put the other goats back in. Better safe than sorry. Hope you save her.


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

Very good advice.


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## puckles (Apr 2, 2015)

She was only on antibiotics for 4 days. As of today she has been completely separated from the herd for 2 weeks (except her brother as company at night). She seems to be acting completely fine and is getting terribly bored of being isolated. Her milk looks normal and her udder is filling up evenly with a fairly normal amount, but I can feel hard lumps in the middle of the injured side and where her swelling was. I massage her udder every night after evening milking with a home made salve with lavender oil to keep insects from biting her udder. I don't mind milking her separately or disposing of the milk. My larger concern is if she will be able to rejoin the herd since we aren't equipped to keep her separated permanently. Does anyone else have experience with the staph aureus form of mastitis and what I should do next?

I am also going to post this as a new thread now that I know more specifically what is going on. 

Thanks again!


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## Damfino (Dec 29, 2013)

I would have the milk tested again to see if the bacteria is still there. If the pathogen is gone, I see no reason why your doe should be contagious to the rest of your herd. I suggest getting the milk tested and then consulting with your vet about the results.

P.S. Oops... sorry. I probably should have replied to your new thread.


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