I'd like to organize my worming schedule a little better for all our animals. We have our horse and miniature horses in with our two pygmy goats. Our horses will be on a rotating schedule (seasonally affected) of Oxibendazole, Pyrantel Pamoate or Ivermectin every 8 weeks. Its my understanding that I can use Pyrantel Pamoate or Ivermectin for the goats (pets, not used for milk or meat) but can Oxivendazole be used on them too? Can the equine paste wormers for Pyrantel Pamoate or Ivermectin be used on them or does it have to be another form? Of course if I could get everyone on the same schedule that would make things SOOOOO much easier!

The older of our two goats is approximately 8 years old. Both goats came to us late last summer and the older one seems to have trouble walking. When she first came her feet were terribly overgrown and had grown over rocks making her feet very sore (she crawled a lot on her knees to avoid the pain in her feet). She seems to have a very stiff legged gait even now (she no longer seems to be foot sore). She tends to swing her front legs out in a wide arc as she walks (without bending her knees much) but her shoulder movement also seems to be a little restricted. She also has difficulty lifting her head very high so she tends to walk with her head down level with her back and tilted to one side so she can see higher (she looks SO awkward). I'm sure she has some arthritis from the altered gait when she was footsore but is there anything else that might be causing this? Could it be that she's just getting old? How long do these guys tend to live anyway(I haven't been able to find that answer anywhere)?

-- Lisa - MI (sqrrlbabe@aol.com), March 11, 2002

Answers

Oh yeah, I forgot.....both goats were tested for CAE and the tests came back negative.

-- Lisa - MI (sqrrlbabe@aol.com), March 11, 2002.

Taken very good care of, goats can live into their teens. Keep her feet pared very short, I would also use some Joint Flex or any of the other hundreds of joint powders or crumbles they have with Glucosomine, Chondroiton and MSM in it jeffersequine.com or unitedvetequine.com Hoof trimming isn't just for cosmetic reasons, young animals forced to grow out on horrible hooves can ruin their feet and legs permanently, and though the goat my now have arthritis, she is more than likely having joint problems due to a bad gait for so many years. Watch the protein in their grain, they need nothing more than a 12 percent, and unless you are breeding them, a hay diet would be better for her, with access to whatever minerals you are using for your horses.

Horses are single stomached animals and are wormed on a rotation. It would be so much eaiser to just purchase yourself a bottle of Ivermectin 1% injectable and syringe it out and give to your goats by mouth 2cc per 100 pounds, and simply give it to them when you worm your horses. When you run out, which won't be this year :) than just switch to a white wormer like Valbazen Cattle Drench.

Unless you are doing fecals using paste type wormers on goats is a guessing game. You do not want to be rotating wormers with your goats like you do with your horses, you only build resistance worms in ruminents by doing that. And to answer your question, though you shouldn't use quest paste in your goats, all horse wormers are dosed at 2 times the dosage for, so if your goat weighs 50 pounds treat them with 100 pounds of the horse dose. Safeguard paste works so poorly that you would have to times it by 3 or 5. The only wormer that you have to be very careful of overdosing is tramisole/levamisole, overdosed it will cause salivating, shortness of breath and trembling. Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh TX (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), March 11, 2002.

Thanks! Exactly the information I was looking for!

We don't use Quest on ANY of our animals.....its definitely not good for miniature horses (there have been problems that have resulted in death for many) and I just don't trust it for my mare either so its been permanently removed from our list of possible products.

We've been keeping the feet trimmed short on both goats (hoping to relieve ANY possible additional stresses on their legs/feet....they've had enough as it is), but poor Gretta still just looks so miserable. She's happy and all, but she just has so much trouble getting around (she only moves if she absolutely has to). We also have a tough time curing a persistant cough on her (The vet hasn't been able to determine what is causing it as she never seems to have a fever or snotty nose or anything else associated with it)......she just has seemed to have pretty poor health from the day she arrived. She's such a sweet thing too.....

-- Lisa - MI (sqrrlbabe@aol.com), March 11, 2002.

Lisa, I received a doe just like you have some years back. Sweetest little thing! I trimmed her hooves real well, and trimmed them religiously every week after that for almost 6 months! Finally got the very close to where they should have been. She continued walking on her knees for a long time after that, because of the pain. I started giving her an aspirin twice a day, and that perked her up wonderfully! She started walking almost normal after that, and now, 2 years later she is just like the other girls. I still have to trim her hooves more than the other does, but that is ok. For the cough, I gave her MSM. Mixed it in a solution of Apple cider vinegar and she loved it, and the cough has never returned. Hope this helps. in His grace, Sissy

-- Sissy Barth (iblong2Him@ilovejesus.net), March 11, 2002.