What’s wrong with my goat?

[ChickenMom04]

My 3 year old goat has recently been walking with very stiff legs, waddling, keeping his head down, and sitting frequently. He’s a fixed Pygmy male. (Black goat with brown stripes on head)
He also seems to always sit with one leg extended as seen here:

Or down on his knees like this:

he’s always walked with stiffer front knees ever since we got him as a baby, but it hasn’t seemed like an issue until now. I’ve checked his droppings and they’re normal. The only physical problem that I can see would be that his eyelids seem to be slightly more pale. I’ve felt his legs and trimmed his hooves in case there was something stuck that was bothering him, but no such luck. I don’t know if this means anything, but I’ve noticed his siblings rubbing up against his chest or lightly pushing against him with their heads when he sits down lately, like they’re urging him to get up. They haven’t done this before. Would deworming help or is this a bigger issue? We’ll end up deworming anyway, but I need some advice. This is our first herd and any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[StinkyAcres]

What minerals are they getting? And have they been tested for CAE? I would not deworm them without a positive fecal test.

 

[RosemaryDuck]

My 3 year old goat has recently been walking with very stiff legs, waddling, keeping his head down, and sitting frequently. He’s a fixed Pygmy male. (Black goat with brown stripes on head)
He also seems to always sit with one leg extended as seen here:
View attachment 3169850
Or down on his knees like this:
View attachment 3169854
he’s always walked with stiffer front knees ever since we got him as a baby, but it hasn’t seemed like an issue until now. I’ve checked his droppings and they’re normal. The only physical problem that I can see would be that his eyelids seem to be slightly more pale. I’ve felt his legs and trimmed his hooves in case there was something stuck that was bothering him, but no such luck. I don’t know if this means anything, but I’ve noticed his siblings rubbing up against his chest or lightly pushing against him with their heads when he sits down lately, like they’re urging him to get up. They haven’t done this before. Would deworming help or is this a bigger issue? We’ll end up deworming anyway, but I need some advice. This is our first herd and any help would be greatly appreciated.

I would highly recommend taking him to a vet or having a farm vet come out and examine him.

Your description also sounds a lot like WMD, which could be from a vitamin deficiency.

https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/white...muscle disease (WMD) is,it is not known which.

 

[cassie]

If it was my goat the first thing I would do is to give him a shot of BoSe. That is for white muscle which is a selenium deficiency. This is by no means rare and it can cause all sorts of symptoms in muscles and joints. If it is white muscle you will see rapid improvement in a very few days after the injection. If white muscle is not the problem the BoSe can't hurt him. Another thing that might help is some thiamine. You have to get both thiamine and BoSe from the vet.