Young Goat Lethargic and Head Pressing

[bray]

We were given a new born kid about 2 months ago and last night we noticed that he was acting strange. We had to go get him and bring him to the food bowl which is very unusually for him. We had to do the same thing this morning, he will eat just fine when we do this. He has a little bit of foam coming out of his mouth and he is head pressing(standing with his head against hte wall). What could be wrong with him?

 

[1muttsfan]

You might post your question on Backyard Herds, BYC's sister site. Hope your kid does well.

 

[cassie]

Sounds like entero and/or polio. The head pressing is typical of either condition and they often occur together. If he were mine I would give gim some entero antitoxin, some penicillin, and get some thiamine from the vet. Do not delay.

 

[cassie]

I reread your post. If he had entero, it is unlikely he would eat. Sounds more like polio (thiamine deficiency). The treatment is thiamine and you get that from the vet. You can try large doses of B complex if you can't get the thiamine. Polio causes some truly bizarre symptoms in ruminents, and often you never know what brings it on.