Goats n Grain: The Waiting Game

[cassie]

It is long past the time when this advice will help you, but I will post so you can keep it for future reference. Unfortunately, I have had a lot of experience with this sort of thing. If you find the goats in the grain the first and most important thing you can do is to withhold water for maybe 12 hours. The excess grain will ferment in the rumen producing lactic acid. The acid kills off the rumen bacteria among other things. Without water the deadly reaction cannot occur. Then fill the feeders with dry hay. Try to fill the culprits with as much dry hay as you can get them to eat. This will help dilute the grain. A five-day course of penicillin is helpful. One, because clostridium perfingens, the bacteria that causes entero, is susceptible to penicillin. Two, because the penicillin will treat any ulcers in the rumen that may form because of the excess acid.

Every goat owner should have a vial of clostridium perfingens antitoxin on hand. Also a packet of Gas X for bloat. Gas X is the best thing I have ever found to treat bloat and I have tried them all. It is fast, effective and safe. It is a lot safer than oil. Oil does work for bloat, but if you accidentally get some in the lungs it causes what is called a mechanical pneumonia. In that case you have cured the bloat but killed the goat.

If your goats are running around, they are probably fine. I would expect them to have a royal case of the squirts for a few days. If you have the antitoxin now go ahead and treat them. Sometimes entero does not show up immediately.

 

[cassie]

No, I didn't know about that one. I'm on Backyard Herds, but only one person has responded to my posts about this in 3 weeks, and their advice was to put her down and get some healthy goats. :-(

I just joined Goat Spot, so I'm going to post there and see if I can get some help. She's still eating, drinking, peeing and pooping fine, and she can move all her legs and tail. But she can't even recline upright unless I prop her with blankets - it's like she's paralyzed from the neck down except she's not (?). And the vet school checked for spine issues and reflexes and found nothing wron

I could not find your original post so I don't have all the details. I think I have encountered something similar to what you described. In my animals they were alert, ate and drank, but they seemed to be paralyzed and they could not stand at all. They could lie in a dorsal recumbency, so I didn't have to prop them up. Or maybe I did. It has been so many years I don't remember. Anyway, I kept feed and water in front of them, changed their position several times a day, and stretched their legs out several times a day so the tendons didn't contract. After a period of time, maybe three or four weeks, they eventually recovered. I never did find out what the problem was, but I have reason to suspect it was PPLO, mycoplasma. It sounds in a way like your goat might have polio, which is a thiamine deficiency. The treatment for polio is thiamine, and you have to get that from the vet. If it is polio, you should see improvement shortly. One thing about thiamine is that it cannot hurt. In a severe case of polio, the thiamine needs to be given for several days. Thiamine deficiency causes some truly bizarre symptoms in ruminants. However, the most common symptoms are staring, appearing to be blind, and pressing the head against the wall. You didn't say anything about that. If you think it would help, PM me.

 

[Aunt Angus]

It is long past the time when this advice will help you, but I will post so you can keep it for future reference. Unfortunately, I have had a lot of experience with this sort of thing. If you find the goats in the grain the first and most important thing you can do is to withhold water for maybe 12 hours. The excess grain will ferment in the rumen producing lactic acid. The acid kills off the rumen bacteria among other things. Without water the deadly reaction cannot occur. Then fill the feeders with dry hay. Try to fill the culprits with as much dry hay as you can get them to eat. This will help dilute the grain. A five-day course of penicillin is helpful. One, because clostridium perfingens, the bacteria that causes entero, is susceptible to penicillin. Two, because the penicillin will treat any ulcers in the rumen that may form because of the excess acid.

Every goat owner should have a vial of clostridium perfingens antitoxin on hand. Also a packet of Gas X for bloat. Gas X is the best thing I have ever found to treat bloat and I have tried them all. It is fast, effective and safe. It is a lot safer than oil. Oil does work for bloat, but if you accidentally get some in the lungs it causes what is called a mechanical pneumonia. In that case you have cured the bloat but killed the goat.

If your goats are running around, they are probably fine. I would expect them to have a royal case of the squirts for a few days. If you have the antitoxin now go ahead and treat them. Sometimes entero does not show up immediately.

Thanks for this! I have the antitoxin ordered and on its way. Three of my girls didn't even get diarrhea and the one who did had normal poop the day after I posted this. It's like it never happened, which is weird because I know they ate a ton.

 

[cassie]

Thanks for this! I have the antitoxin ordered and on its way. Three of my girls didn't even get diarrhea and the one who did had normal poop the day after I posted this. It's like it never happened, which is weird because I know they ate a ton.

You lucked out. Maybe they were full of hay when they got in the grain. That would make a big difference. I am glad everything is OK.

 

[Aunt Angus]

You lucked out. Maybe they were full of hay when they got in the grain. That would make a big difference. I am glad everything is OK.

Oh, I'm counting my lucky stars. They are brushers, so they eat everything all say long, plus they have fresh hay always available. They only get a handful of grain every night at bedtime (well, not for the next couple of weeks). I feel like all of that helped. But the grain is stored somewhere else now. Hopefully, it won't happen again!