La Mancha goat attacked

[amyburemt]

My male goat was attacked by something that left puncture marks along his side and ripped his third eyelid as well as a couple of punctures on his face and neck. I am currently guessing either a dog or coyote attacked him, but i'm kind of stumped at the width of the punctures as they are about a fist width apart like 2 1/2 or more inches. The vet is coming today because his eye looks terrible and he needs antibiotics. I don't know what she can do for a ripped third eyelid though. Has anyone else experienced this. I think i'm shocked because whatever attacked him had to be large because he weighs 200 pounds or more and is a very huge goat.

 

[sannabelle]

Could it have been a mountain lion? Have you given him any electrolytes for the time being? Poor guy


@Fields Mountain Farm- anything like this ever happen to one of yours?

 

[amyburemt]

Could it have been a mountain lion? Have you given him any electrolytes for the time being? Poor guy


@Fields Mountain Farm- anything like this ever happen to one of yours?

he is eating and drinking fine. we live in missouri and my understanding is that mountain lions are making a comeback here so i'm not ruling anything out. I'm going to measure the distance between the punctures when i go back out to his area and round him up for the vet. i do have some smaller goats and sheep that have been brought closer to the house. I have a livestock guard dog, but he wasn't in with this goat. I am now worried that whatever it is might go after a person( i have 4 teenagers).

 

[amyburemt]

he is eating and drinking fine. we live in missouri and my understanding is that mountain lions are making a comeback here so i'm not ruling anything out. I'm going to measure the distance between the punctures when i go back out to his area and round him up for the vet. i do have some smaller goats and sheep that have been brought closer to the house. I have a livestock guard dog, but he wasn't in with this goat. I am now worried that whatever it is might go after a person( i have 4 teenagers).

the other insteresting thing is that it got past electric hot wire on the fence which is about 2 feet from the bottom. we don't currently have any on the top yet.

 

[Fields Mountain Farm]

No I haven't. But my guess would be a very large dog or bobcat, mountain lion...
I'd recommend a vet, but one is coming out already so other than keeping him calm and his temp regulated due to shock...Vet is best option.
I'm am very sorry this has happened. It's hard, but a fact of life most of us with livestock face.
Please keep us posted on how he's doing..

 

[amyburemt]

No I haven't. But my guess would be a vetry large dog or bobcat, mountain lion...
I'd recommend a vet, but one is coming out already so other than keeping him calm and his temp regulated due to shock...Vet is best option.
I'm am very sorry this has happened. It's hard, but a fact of life most of us with livestock face.
Please keep us posted on how he's doing..

thank you i will post an update once the vet gets here this afternoon. it's just unfortunate because he is one of my breeders and i think i'm mostly shocked because he is huge and it's hard for me to envision something attacking him vs going after one of my smaller animals. Hopefully he will recover good because he is also extremely stubborn lol

 

[Fields Mountain Farm]

he is eating and drinking fine. we live in missouri and my understanding is that mountain lions are making a comeback here so i'm not ruling anything out. I'm going to measure the distance between the punctures when i go back out to his area and round him up for the vet. i do have some smaller goats and sheep that have been brought closer to the house. I have a livestock guard dog, but he wasn't in with this goat. I am now worried that whatever it is might go after a person( i have 4 teenagers).

If the vet confirms it a big cat, I would notify wild life management. They can check out the area and give you more suggestions on keeping everyone as safe as possible.

 

[Fields Mountain Farm]

Also..If it's possible, you may consider a couple more lgds. You'll want pups you can train, so it won't help now, but may this time next year.

 

[mymilliefleur]

Sorry to hear about your Goat! I hope he makes a full recovery. Maybe he tried to defend the other goats, and that's why he was the one attacked. It's scary that it could have been a Mountain loin. Some one in our area lost a couple goats to one last year.
I second the advise to give wild life management a call. They should at least be able to tell you if there have been any sittings of large cats in your area.

 

[sannabelle]

I am also in MO and have heard the same thing. The teenage son of a friend of mine was stalked by a mountain lion while he was hunting last year- heard something behind him and had a chance to shoot it right before it pounced. Terrifying. This was in NW MO.