SOS have a hurt baby goat!!!

[kentuckychicks]

Fly I appreciate your concern

 

[kentuckychicks]

Cocoa seems to feeling better this AM! Before going to bed when I started hooking up the humidifier my husband was like are you serious?!?? Yes sir I so was! We are giving
Her stretches a break and just doing them lightly so we don't go backwards on her muscle development but don't want to get her out of breath. Our dog has started taking her head and gently pushing on cocoas hip when she is about to fall over trying to help her keep her balance. Lol so now I gave a helper as far as balance work goes.

 

[kentuckychicks]

Chooks you don't happen to have a picture of the contraption you built do you??

 

[kentuckychicks]

Cocoas cold is almost gone at this point no congestion now just a little sneezing and a little coughing. Going to finish up the antibiotic and back on the steroid. She is starting to try to walk on her own again so we are back to the stretches. She's gained some weight which is good too!

 

[jorey]

Yea!!!

 

[chooks4life]

Quote: Sorry to hear she got a cold. I'd guess they don't get colds quite like humans, did the vet give it a specific diagnostic name?

Also sorry to hear your family's giving you a hard time. When I was writing the bits about not allowing people to stress you out with good but often misguided intentions, I hoped you wouldn't experience that. It can be hard to battle to save an animal that needs TLC when people add stress to the situation. One golden rule is that those who are un-invested, uninterested, and often outright ignorant have the loudest opinions. Not calling your family names, just a general observation which has held true for me.

Second-guessing is something which often happens when a setback seems to contradict your previous instinct about it; but sometimes you're right despite the setback; sometimes panicking and doing something rather than nothing is actually worse. Whichever it is, just take the time to breathe and watch, listen, observe.

Another thing is that an overdose of 'book smarts' deafens you to your 'street smarts' temporarily, as you view things through more of a rhetorical lens which perceives less as it seeks to ascribe and be forensic. If you know what I mean.

To answer your questions: Should you feed her more? She should be left slightly hungry, but not ravenous; her sides should not be bulging, nor should there be a hollow in her flanks when the feed is over... But these are only general rules of thumb. Depending on her breed and the husbandry of her most recent ancestry her needs will differ. I don't know which is right for her, larger feeds less often or small feeds more often; that's something you have to find out for yourself, sorry.

Should you stretch her more? If you think it's having a negative impact, then no. You're the one observing her, and if she seems to suffer unduly from it, then ease off a bit.

Should you keep her warmer or is she too hot? Generally with babies one takes it for granted that they can't regulate their own body temperatures too well. Generally at night a baby ruminant benefits from having something to lean against which is an external source of heat. A problem with hot water bottles is that they are not stable in temperature. If you give her one you will need to have an idea of how long it will stay hot, and how many layers to wrap it in so it's just right, and whether or not she will move away from it when it's too cold. If she's restricted to being pressed against a cold or lukewarm hot water bottle, her cold could become fatal. Unfortunately the best way to make sure she's coping overnight with the temperatures is to check her regularly; I'm sure the last thing you need is less sleep, lol! Feel her ears and her 'armpits'; if her ears are cold it's a sign she could do with more heat.

If you're overdosing her on any vitamins/minerals etc, it may be harmful. I would recheck the dosage to make sure she's not getting too much of anything known to have adverse reactions in overdose. Some overdoses are fine, i.e. vitamin C is generally helpful in dosages well over dietary standard, but others can rob the body of other nutrients if present in too large a dose. She should be getting all she needs from her milk, at this stage, I'm not sure extra vitamins are necessary, but I don't know for sure what the circumstance is.

Quote: No, sorry, I've built quite a few before, lol! I will see if I can find one. I'll post this and go look and if I find one I'll edit with the link or pic.

Best wishes.

EDIT: I recommend you check Google Images for something that fits, since there are a lot of variations out there. Her needs will be specific to her injury of course. I don't have the quota to check through Google Images results right now, otherwise I would, as this subject is something I'm often involved in and learning how to manage situations before they occur is often easier than the reverse. I found a few links which may have something helpful in them. But be warned, not all the stories in there are success ones. Anyway. Some links:
Quote: Quote: Quote: Quote: Quote: This one in particular, the disabled kitten one above, I think may be helpful, as the frame is rather like what I was describing.

Here's another link, because it may also be helpful:
Quote:

 

[kentuckychicks]

Sorry been so busy! Cocoa is over her cold and gets her last antibiotic shot today. She feeling much better back to trying to stand and "walk" She is actually taking her rear left leg and trying to scratch her ear so that's improvement! She weak in her rear right leg and hip though is is finally putting weight on the right one. Bear with me as I'm still learning goat words but the tendon in her right leg from her "knee" to her hip feels a little tight so I'm going to ask the vet when we head back next week. She is starting to chew on everything also another good goat sign but driving me crazy! Lol! She is also putting on weight finally and starting to look like a goat instead of goat bones with hair. The muscles in the front of her body are developing nicely she had almost no muscle mass at first so another yay moment. If she wants to get somewhere quickly she will lift her whole bottom half off the floor in a sit position with her front legs and here she comes. Lazy bones since she never learned I use her back half properly you have to make her try to use it to walk. Overall a healthier goat than a week ago.

 

[kentuckychicks]

Thanks chooks I'm going to check that out now!

 

[jorey]

So much good news. Glad she is doing so good. you two will show all those that doubted.

 

[chooks4life]

You're welcome, hope something in all that helps.

One thing someone should have mentioned by now, but clearly we all forgot, is that baby goats and sheep aren't fat like many other baby animals when they're born. They are very thin, usually, basically bones with a covering, no discernible muscles, until they begin to put on weight around the 2nd week mark.

Sounds like she's starting to get there, in terms of ability to move; hope all goes well.

Setbacks often occur with serious injuries, and as her foster mother it's important that you don't let your stress about anything like that show when you deal with her. But I'm sure you already know that as a mother, anyway. Best wishes.