My pygmy is coughing...

[Iamaqte]

Hello! I have a baby pygmy goat and she is coughing.. it is getting worse and i was just wondering if anyone has any suggestions before I take her to the vet.

I have my feed store lady looking into if i can use the horse cough on her, since it appears my mini-horses have just started a slight cough.

Why would they be coughing?

 

[helmstead]

1st - change of season often causes colds. Is her nose snotty?

2nd - worms...have you dewormed with a broad spectrum like Ivermec?

3rd - bacterial infection of the upper airway - which WILL require the vet

HORSES AND GOATS ARE NOT ALIKE. Horse meds will KILL goats as will horse feeds. Goats and SHEEP or COWS are alike - look that direction.

PS - how old is this baby? The younger it is the quicker you need to figure out the cause.

 

[4-H chicken mom]

I agree with helmstead, goats are not like horses. We raise lambs and they will cough if it gets to dusty in there pen and we sprinkle some water to keep the dust down. Also, worms will cause them to cough. A good wormer will help with that. If you brought the goat home from somewhere else, it might have shipping fever, which is a common problem in young lambs.

 

[Iamaqte]

Any suggestions on a wormer? I have never wormed a goat before.. so the easier, the better.

 

[nccatnip]

dusty hay can cause a cough also

 

[helmstead]

We use topical ivermec intended for bovine use off label. We just use the same weight to dose ratio.

There are an increasing number of easy to use (ie pelleted) goat dewormers being made available across the country. Given that we don't feed our goats individually, we prefer the topical DMSO type.