We have a sick boer goat out in the barn...not really very sick yet, but going downhill pretty fast. She doesn't like to get up, but she can stand, she hasn't touched her water, or her feed. She's usually a friendly doe, but now she's as jumpy as a cat on a hot tin roof, and if so much as a fly lands on her, her hide starts jumping. Her eyes are kind of glassy, and she looks sullen. She had CL recently, and we injected the abcsess with 7% iodine, after cutting and draining it. Could this be a result of an iodine overdose? Or could it be tetanus? Rabies?

-- Tony Underwood (t2madruga@neto.com), June 04, 2001

Answers

Don't know what it sounds like to me...is she pregnant ??? Call the vet out immediately or put her in the back seat of the car and get her to the vet. I wouldn't play a waiting game is she is going down hill fast. Good Luck !!

-- Helena Di Maio (windyacs@ptdprolog.net), June 04, 2001.

Tony she could very well have gotten tetanus, remember an abscess is a wound, did it burst 21 days ago? Has she been previously vaccinated? Doubt this is iodine overdose since it wouldn't be absorbed like that. Problem with CL is that when a doe has outward abscess she also can have internal ones, pressing on organs, in her lungs etc. Tetanus isn't something the normal homesteader could treat on their own with the massive injections of antitoxin needed for this, honestly even I don't have that much on hand. Get her to the vet! Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh TX (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), June 05, 2001.

How long hasn't she been eating. did she just stop suddenly.Is her belly swollen or big.I don't have much experience with goat sickness but I had a goat with simular sythoms ,It was bloat.They can stand but won't walk or eat.And she was jumpy also. when I touched her back .If it is bloat the method I've used was one from the archives on cattle (bloat) I used about a 8 ounce cup of vegtable oil.She's about 150 lbs. Ajust the dose to weight .And used as a drench.Having someone hold the mouth open and pour the cup of oil down the throat.It worked. Within an hour or 2.I would take the goat to a vet.But in my case ,I couldn't afford to see a doctor for myself ,so if I can't treat my own animals, it's sad, but their gonnas.I had a pygmy goat die last year on me cause she had bloat and I didn't know how to treat it.The advice I've found on this forum from some great people who give up their precious time to help others,has revolutionized health care for my goats.I hope she does OK.

-- SM (false@no.com), June 05, 2001.