Afterwards, I realized the vet probably didn’t want to drive into an unknown situation by herself. Nonetheless, since I couldn’t get Trixie to stand, and the on-call vet didn’t really want to drive 30+ miles, I drove 28 miles in the opposite direction to go to a health foods store. I couldn’t figure how she could possibly be short on minerals. For the month prior to kidding, I had been giving them molasses water and apple cider vinegar water, of which they had been drinking 5 gallons each, every day. The goats/sheep have access ad lib to kelp, loose minerals, baking soda, and a goat/sheep block. And most of the time, the goat has plenty of calcium, she just can’t access it. It has to do with low calcium in the blood. Contrary to the name, there is no fever with Milk Fever. When they kid, there is a huge drain of minerals on their system. Apparently, it happens in high producers. The vet figured Trixie had Milk Fever, with possible complications of Ketosis. She also had a sweet-sour rotten smell to her. But when I passed a flashlight over her eyes, her pupils didn’t contract like they should have. Her pupils were dilated, but she was in a dark shed, so I didn’t think too much about it. In fact, she preferred to lay under the heat lamp that I had turned on for the new babies. I didn’t know what it was, but she didn’t feel hot to me. Not a great thing to do, but when you don’t know what else to do, I guess it’s better than doing nothing.Īfter a bit, the on-call veterinarian from the last number I had contacted, called me. Not knowing what else to do, I gave Trixie Belle 3 cc of penicillin, 30 mL of Goat NutriDrench and some ProBios. I contacted that vet and got their answering service. The other gave me the number of the veterinarian that he uses. One said they had lost two goats earlier this year to similar symptoms. If I couldn’t get her to stand, how was I to get her in the car and 40+ miles down the road? I contacted two local goat breeders. Two of the numbers had been disconnected, and three had answering machines referring me on to some emergency place in Spokane. I didn’t know if she still had a kid in her, or retained placenta, since her stomach was still pretty good sized. Her eyes were glazed over and she wasn’t usual feisty self. I figured out a way for the baby to nurse while she was laying down.īut then Sunday morning, Trixie Belle wouldn’t stand at all. Trixie Belle didn’t want to stand for the baby to nurse, but I just figured she was tired since it was about 10:30 pm and it had only been 24 hours since she had the kids. Kind of the way it goes with three babies and two teats. Two of the babies had full tummies, but one was still hungry. When we got back, I checked on Trixie Belle, and she was laying down. Saturday night, we went to a meeting so Heather could meet John Phillips, the astronaut. Saturday morning, she was letting the babies nurse and eating hay. She let the babies nurse and headed over to the feeder for something to eat.
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