I don't like it when my kids are sick,
whether two legged or four,
I just don't like it.
One of the hard things about being a wanna be farmer is knowing what to do....
Three weekends ago, Bug complained about Chip acting weird,
nothing really to put a finger on, just...off.
Kinda laying around more, just different.
Well, it was hot.
It was humid.
*I* just wanted to lay around.
No big deal right?
It was a busy weekend so I just brushed it off as the heat.
But then that Monday night she got him out for harness work...
and he was bloated.
And I do mean BLOATED!
Great.
I mean, even rookie farmer me knows bloat is not something to mess with!
So I call the goat superintendent, voice mail.
So I call the assistant superintendent, voice mail.
So I call the guy we'd gotten Chip from, yep, voice mail.
Bug was getting frantic by this time!
Finally I get ahold of the superintendents wife.
He's at the barn....
call the vet.
Great.
Like we can afford that! ugh.
But I did.
An hour later the on call vet gets back with me.
After a bunch of questions,
(she thought for sure it was urinary calculi)
and deciding we really couldn't swing the $50 emergency visit,
we scheduled a more affordable $15 apt for the following day and were told to watch for pee and get oil into him which I wasn't attempting without help.
Have you ever tried to oil a goat?
It was dark by the time Good Ole Boy got home from work - I'm sure it was a good thing!
Not only for the fact there were four of us trying to hold down this 100+ lb goat but for the fact that I didn't want oil all over my shirt so took it off.
Good thing there.
Chip spit and sputtered so much I had oil from my hair to my toes!
But we got some down him.
And he had peed numerous times by then.
Waiting is hard.
Would he be o.k.?
Not sure how many times I got up to look out the window and see if he was still alive.
I knew bloat was fast - would he make it until the appointment?
By the next morning, he was still here.
Yeah.
Here is how he looked just before leaving for the vet.
He's still really bloated, but honestly, he's about half the size he was the day before!
The oil must have helped.
We get to the vet and took him in and weighed him - 105 lbs.
Not bad, the weight tape read 110 so that's pretty close.
But then they made us take him outside.
huh. Irritated me.
Really, the vet sees all size animals, why outside?
I mean, are goats third class citizens?
Whatever.
Hunny was WOUND so I gave her my camera to keep busy.
The rest of these photos are hers.
Waiting outside for the vet to see us.
And there were no benches.
We waited a half hour in the heat standing or Bug sat on the steps.
Finally she came out and checked Chip over.
Let me say, he did NOT like his temperature taken!
She said his lungs were 'snarfy'.
Anyone know exactly what that means?
lol.
She decided he had pneumonia caused by the heat and humidity.
That inflammation is what caused his bloat.
She gave him a 6 cc. shot of Resflor.
As far as care, she said we to really watch him in the heat.
When the heat/humidity were high we need to really keep him cool by -
*putting the sprinkler on their shed/pen
*encouraging him to play in a wading pool
*or simply hosing him down.
So now we have the sprinkler going over there almost daily.
Of course now they all hide in the shed when it's on,
and it makes the pen all mud so when the sprinkler if off they are filthy. Sigh.
Oh well.
Love our goats so mud it is.
We are also being very diligent about keeping free choice baking soda in there all the time instead of occasionally.
Have you ever dealt with bloat and pneumonia?
COUNTRY GIRL
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