lavender is still in a holding pattern. i asked the great folks at goatER (a yahoo group) what their thoughts were on the situation and they think that she may have hypocalcemia. so, i'm trying to locally locate the proper supplements to give to her. i swear this area is really awful when it comes to trying to find anything useful when treating goats! and, what's even worse, the stuff i'm searching for is for treating cattle! you'd think with there being so many cows around, both dairy and beef, that there'd be something available. not so.
i think given the situation, she is enjoying being inside. she gets bits of apple and pear along with her food. she's really quite handy to have in the kitchen because as i core an apple or pear, i just feed it to her. she's not eating the hay so much but she's eating grain when i offer it.
for the first time, i have a ray of hope that she is going to kick this and pull through. IF i can find the supplements! i may have to order it through jeffers which i hate to do because it will take a week to get here. :(
ETA: i found a formula made for horses at rural king that had all the minerals in the others so i got it and gave her a dose around 330pm. we had her sitting up, she stayed that way for about an hour and then got tired so we adjusted her so she could rest her head. i also stopped the pen and b complex. by 830, her head was back into the dreaded against her body position. so, i started up the pen and complex again and started heavily drenching her with electrolytes. i'm not sure if it's dehydration or the listeriosis but i'm not taking any chances. so, basically, we missed 1 dose of the pen. i'm not sure what's going to happen now.
5 comments:
Hope she pulls through. We've been through a pretty rough patch with our goats this year too, so I know how you are feeling. I looked in my favorite goat book Natural Goat Care by Pat Coleby, and didn't see anything that looked like what you described. If you haven't got her book I'd recommend it. Lots of natural preventatives, and remedies.
DO you have a Merck Veterinary Manual by chance? It is really helpful to have on hand.
What supplements are you looking for to treat her? I know you said she is close to due, but I can't remember if she is nursing now or not (or are you milking her?)
sorry lavender is having a tough time tansy. i found this info and don't know if it will help, or if these medicines are just as hard to find as others in your area
http://www.goatworld.com/articles/milkfever/hypocalcemia.shtml
did note the part about molasses and warm water. molasses is a good food for her i believe. it is a good source of calcium, copper (which i first suspected as her problem), manganese, potassium and magnesium. get organic blackstrap molasses if possible. anyway, good healing thoughts being sent lavenders way! hugs from leslie
How is she doing? Sending hugs...
hi tansy, how is lavender doing hon? you are all in my thoughts! hugs
Post a Comment