Help my goat!

[toddntiff]

My goat, mini la-mancha, is about 3 months into her pregnancy and she is weezing. I took her temp tonight and it was 102.5. There is no nasal discharge and she is eating normally. Her house is dry and clean and well ventilated.
I have noticed that she is such a messy eater and spills her alfalfa all over the ground and there is "dust" from that, that every couple of days I scoop up and take to the chickens.
I'm not sure what this is and my motherly instincts are kicking in to help her and her unborn kids!
Any ideas and/or suggestions?
Oh...and I did give her a tsp of children's benedryl tonight to see if that made any difference by morning.

 

[Chatychick]

Her temp looks normal and if there isnt any discharge from the nose sounds like she got something caught in her throat or nose. I would give her some Vitamin C about 1 tablet 2x a day for a while with this crazy weather. Mine love them. Other than that maybe she just needed to sneeze. I bought a huge sifter and when I get a bag of alfalfa pellets I sift them to get the dust out. Its really a collander and works well.

 

[toddntiff]

Okay...so here is the morning update!

I went out to greet her and she sounded MUCH better. I gave her another tsp of benedryl with the crushed vitamin c and afterward she sounded a bit raspy again. I cleaned out her house with some of the excess alfalfa ( I removed what felt like a bail!!!)
So, I think it may very well be dust related. Would feeding alfalfa pellets be better than feeding her flakes of hay each day? She is pregnant so I want to make sure she gets enough!

 

[ksacres]

Quote:
No. Goats need the fiber provided by real roughage to keep their rumens in top form. Alfalfa pellets are great as a supplement, and they provide more roughage than grain, but since they are processed and cut into bite size chunks, it's still not the same as hay. If your hay is that dusty, you need to find a new source of hay. It could be that your hay is moldy-light mold smells "dirty" or "earthy" but is harder to see than dark mold. Make sure your hay is bright green, leafy, and smells sweet. Good hay does not smell like dirt or ground, it smells really really good. If it makes your eyes or nose water or makes you want to sneeze when you smell it, it's not good hay.

 

[toddntiff]

Okay...so it's the pm and the weezing is back and as it was last night. I'm worried about her. We are suppose to go out of town tomorrow morning for about a week and this has me very concerned to leave.
Any other ideas? She still doesn't have a temperature and I've been faithful about the benedryl & vitamin c since last night.

 

[Chatychick]

Mine get grass hay and alfalfa pellets all the time and the alfalfa hay here is almost non-existant. Unless you truck it in...This is what I give mine and I milk mine also. Are you sure the weezing isnt from her being PG and just getting harder to breathe? Mine do this when they are getting closer to kidding...with no temp it sounds like maybe just dust related. Does her shelter smell like ammonia? is the bedding wet? kneel down if your knee gets wet its going to irritate the lungs. Im not saying thats it but it might be. Or just because she is getting larger. I dont get as much waste with the alfalfa pellets as I did with the hay and I have plenty of grass hay this year, so thats why I use the pellets...less waste. Good luck