Goat Medical Needs?

[catcrazy37]

Do goats need yearly checkups, or anything like that?
Do you deworm goats consistently, or when needed? And do you do it yourself, or have the vet do it?

 

[cassie]

Most medical care for goats, like other livestock, is done by the herd owner. Goats should be vaccinated for enterotoxemia and tetanus. CD/T is the vaccine. That stands for clostridium perfingens/tetanus. A good vet for emergencies and to consult with is invaluable. Worming and vaccinations, also dehorning and castrations, are usually done by the owner. Tests for worm loads and bacterial cultures are usually done by the vet. A fecal test for worms is helpful so you know what the worm load is before worming and after worming to find out if the wormer you used was effective. If a goat contracts mastitis, a culture can be run to find the most effective treatment. In this case, you take a milk sample, and then go ahead and treat the goat. You take the culture in for testing and if another medication is indicated you can change it but valuable time is not lost. You can get sterile sample tubes from the vet and they are a good thing to keep on hand. If you never need them, that is great.

Two medications I always kept on hand were clostridium perfingens antitoxin for entero and GasX for bloat. Bloat and entero are both true emergencies and prompt treatment is essential. While vaccinating for entero greatly reduces the chances your goat will get entero, like all vaccines, it is not 100% effective. The antitoxin is cheap insurance and hopefully you will never need it. If there is a more effective treatment for bloat than GasX I haven't found it and I have tried most of them.