Mysterious
Deaths
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On Veteran’s
day, we were down at the barn at 2 p.m. playing
with some of the kids. Since it was a dark, gloomy,
misty day, we did not let the goats out onto the
big hay field; they have a tendency to forget
how to get back to the barn, getting stuck at
Hoyte’s fence. As a result, we had a few
goats on the lower hay field, some on the hillside,
and many just hanging out around the barn.
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At 4 p.m. when we went back down to feed,
Ophelia didn’t
rush into the feed room when given the opportunity.
She was laying at the back door to the barn, head
up and alert. But when Ken went over to encourage
her to move, she couldn’t stand up. She
would wobble then fall. We took her temperature
– 103.3….not too terribly high.
We put her on the four-wheeler and took her to
the truck. A call to the vet’s alerted them
we were on our way to the office. We arrived just
before closing time. Ophelia didn’t appear
to be in any pain; she just couldn’t stand.
Dr. Galbraith suggested she might have either
polio encephalitis or listeriosis and said he
would start treatment with penicillin and thiamin.
We suggested he keep her overnight, and he agreed.
We were leaning more toward the listeriosis (a
bacterial disease of the nervous system that can
cause fever and is spread by eating food contaminated
with listeria) but knew the symptoms of the two
diseases are similar.
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The next morning we got a call from the vet. At
9 p.m. Ophelia went into convulsions; she died
around 10 p.m. Dr. Galbraith suggested we come
over and pick up her body and take it to Nashville
to the State Vet’s Office at Ellington Center
because he had no idea why she had died. His best
guess was some sort of poison – possibly
nitrate poisoning.
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We agreed. Before leaving, though, we decided
to go down to the barn and check on all the goats
and feed the little ones. Little did we know our
nightmare was just beginning.
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At the barn we found two dead goats (Louise
and Deanna), three goats down (Ivy, Liza,
and Mandy), and
several other goats staggering around. Liza was
in the white canvas shelter – stretched
out on her side, thrashing about and moaning loudly.
We agreed she wouldn’t live very long. |
Back to the house and another call to the vet’s
office. We were told to take the two dead goats
to Ellington instead of the one in his office.
He also suggested we take along one of the live
ones; he thought they might want to draw blood
from a live one.
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Back at the barn we closed the goats out of the
side paddock where a roll of hay had been put
out a week before. The also closed them off from
the lower hay field. We collected some samples
of the hay and a bag of feed. (We were concerned
about the feed because we had gotten feed from
a new pallet at the Co-Op the preceding Tuesday.
We also realized the corn we mixed with the grain
could possibly have a mold.)
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Since we didn’t think Liza could possibly
survive the trip to Nashville and since Mandy
was the heaviest and in a location that would
be the hardest to move her from, we decided to
take Ivy. Ivy was more alert, thus we thought
she had the best chance of surviving the trip.
After all, we were advised to take a “live”
one.
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So, we got Ivy loaded into the cage on the back
of the truck and the two dead goats loaded on
the truck outside the cage, and off we went to
Nashville. We arrived around noon and were told
the vets were all at lunch, but we should fill
out the paperwork while we waited. A word to the
wise: read the small print before you sign a document!
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The vet came back from lunch, asked us a few questions,
and disappeared. The next thing we knew, she was
on the back of our truck. Ken rushed out to see
what was going on – expecting her to be
drawing blood. Indeed, he even held Ivy’s
head still so she would be able to draw the blood
painlessly.
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I can’t describe our shock when we suddenly
realized what the vet was doing. She wasn’t
drawing blood; she was killing our goat!! When
we expressed our shock and dismay, she said, “Oh,
we don’t deal with live animals here. I
thought you knew that.”
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With that, we were dismissed. We were told our
vet would be called when they had a preliminary
diagnosis.
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So, on the two hour trip back to Pulaski, we still
had no clue why we had lost four animals –
and dreaded getting back to the farm. We had no
idea how many other sick animals we would find.
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We stopped by Dr. Galbraith’s office, and
Joyce called up to Ellington to see what she could
find out. Nothing. Wyatt was out on a farm call,
so we went home. When we got home we called back
to our vet’s office; they still hadn’t
heard anything.
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We went down to the barn. No more dead animals.
Liza was still moaning and groaning, but she was
still alive. Betsy,
though, was down in the area with Mandy. We proceeded
to get the wobbly animals into the section of
the barn with Mandy and Betsy – they included
Nola, Eileen,
Xenia, and Yams. |
Back to the house to report in to the vet’s
office. They had gotten a preliminary diagnosis
of listeriosis. The suggested treatment: 3 cc
penicillin.
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While Ken was talking to the vet, I was reading
the Small Ruminant Production Medicine and Management book by Infovet. That book suggested, as a treatment
for listeriosis, 40,000 IU/kg of body weight 3-4
times a day for a week followed by 22,000 IU/kg
once a day for another 2 to 3 weeks. Our penicillin
was 300,000 IU per ML. After doing some quick
math, we came up with a dose of 7 cc per 100 lb.
So, we added the 3 cc our vet suggested to the
7 cc the book suggested and decided to give the
goats 10 cc per 100 lb. |
In addition, we gave 5 of the 7 Poly Serum (between
15 and 20 cc, depending on the size of the goat.)
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We tried to reach Coni Ross. When we were unsuccessful,
I sent her an e-mail requesting her help.
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We called the local Co-Op and told the manager,
Damon Deese, what we were going through. Since
we feed Co-Op feed exclusively, he said he would
pull the lot we were feeding and not sell it until
we got a report back from the lab. He would also
call the Co-Op nutritionist so they could run
their own test. Since we didn’t want to
feed the herd anything we had on hand, he graciously
offered to deliver some dairy feed and some of
the Co-Op’s new, unmedicated goat feed.
He also brought us another bottle of penicillin.
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Around 8 Wyatt called to check on the animals.
This was the first time he realized we were talking
about an epidemic – 4 dead and 7 extremely
ill animals out of a paddock of about 50 goats.
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When we went back to the barn at 10 p.m., we drug
Liza (who was still laying on her side, unable
to move, and still loudly moaning) into the barn.
We gave the seven sick goats an additional 7 cc
per 100 lb. penicillin and 1 cc per 100 lb. flunixamine.
We also gave each of the seven 10 cc penicillin
orally. For the first time all day, Liza raised
her head (in an attempt to get that taste out
of her mouth). Then we went through the herd giving
all the girls in that paddock a shot of penicillin
(3 cc per 100 lb.). By the time we finished, no
one loved us any more.
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Saturday morning we had an e-mail from Coni. Coni
said listeriosis does not usually kill that fast.
She said it can cause septicemia which can kill
faster, but usually in 24-48 hours. Coni recommended
giving 10 cc SQ of penicillin a day minimum per
100 lb. She felt we were on the right tract with
the Poly Serum and suggested we give Nuflor since
listeriosis is susceptible to that also. Coni
felt the problem could be Pasturella Hemolyticia
or Haemophilus Somnus. Both these cause symptoms
like we had, and goats can die in 4 to 6 hours
with no prior symptoms. Coni later called to confirm
our treatment and said the convulsions could also
be from sepsis. Coni suggested that, until we
had a definitive diagnosis, to continue to give
the penicillin, add Nuflor to their treatment,
and repeat the Poly Serum in 3 days. Coni also
suggested over the phone that we give them dexamethasone
to reduce brain swelling. We will forever be grateful
to Coni for her call and assistance.
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So, Saturday morning was spent re-vacinating everyone
for pneumonia. At 9 a.m. the sickest of the goats
got 8 cc penicillin, 1 cc flunixamine, and 3 cc
nuflor. We also repeated the poly serum for Mandy,
Betsy, and Liza – the three who couldn’t
stand. Mandy decided she was tired of being a
pen cushion, and weakly stood and staggered away
from the inside of the barn.
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We made a quick trip into town and bought several
tubes of Probios and got more goat feed.
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Shortly after noon, Dr. Galbraith came out and
tubed Liza and Betsy – giving them a combination
of water and glucose. He was concerned about them
dehydrating. And he was also concerned about pneumonia
since they were lying around, unable to get up.
He seemed very leery about giving us a bottle
of dexamethasone and warned it had to be used
with extreme care. He also suggested giving them
Cimetidine to prevent stomach ulcers. In addition,
he brought out a bottle of flunixin muglumine
since we were running low of Flunixamine.
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At 4 p.m. on Saturday we gave the seven sick goats
another round of penicillin plus 3 cc fortified
vitamin B complex. At 10 p.m. we gave the three
worse goats 2 cc dexamethasone. (Dexamethasone
is a synthetic steroid used to treat inflammatory
conditions and hormonal imbalances.)
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Sunday morning when we got home from church, Betsy
was up and walking (slowly) around. Liza was trying
to stand. And the other goats were outside in
the sunlight waiting to be fed. We definitely
felt like we had turned a corner with whatever
it was we were dealing with.
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But just because they were up and moving didn’t
keep the needles away from them. Mandy, Liza,
and Betsy all got flunixin muglumine and penicillin;
Zenia, Yams, Nola, and Elieen only got penicillin.
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Sunday evening Mandy, Liza,and Betsy got dexamethasone,
Nuflor, and Probios; Zenia, Yams, Nola, and Eileen
only got Nuflor and Probios.
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On Monday we called our vet several times and
the State Vet’s Office twice. Nothing. The
good news: Liza, who we had written off as dead
on Friday, was up and walking around – running
when it was time for shots!
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Treatment on Monday consisted of 10 cc penicillin,
10 cc Probios, 3 to 5 cc (depending on the goat)
Nuflor, and 1 cc flunixin muglumine. Betsy and
Liza also got 20 cc poly serum and 3 crushed Cimetidine
tablets.
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Dr. Galbraith attempted to contact one of his
University of Tennessee professors but was unable
to reach him.
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On Tuesday a call to the State Vet’s Office
revealed Deanna may have had pneumonia (but this
did not necessarily kill her). Louise was carrying
a 12” fetus that had probably (possibly)
died before she did; it’s possible she died
of a uterine infection. They still had no information
about Ivy other than her calcium and magnesium
levels were good.
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Wednesday, Dr. Galbraith was finally able to reach
his UT professor and told him all the symptoms.
The diagnosis: blue-green
algae. The professor told Wyatt this is a
problem normally found in the fall – animals
drinking from stagnant water contaminated with
blue-green algae. Wyatt told us he had seen this
once before with cattle – 7 cows got sick,
1 died. Dr. Galbraith suggested we not tell the
State Vet’s Office of the diagnosis. He
wanted them to discover it on their own then provide
us (him) with a method of treatment. |
On Thursday Ken again called the State Vet’s
Office. At this time he told them we had sold
some goats that were to go to Iowa the week of
Thanksgiving, and he really needed to know if
it was safe to ship them out of state. He was
told, “That’s not my problem.”
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(On Friday we took the animals going to both Iowa
and Georgia to our vet and got health certificates
for them. None of these animals had been affected
- were not even in the same paddock. But the State
Vet’s Office didn’t know that; and,
in our opinion, their response was irresponsible.)
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One week after we took the goats to Ellington
Center, we finally got preliminary reports. They
told us nothing. In these reports, there was no
mention of possible pneumonia nor was there mention
of Louise’s pregnancy. Three weeks after
the initial problem, we finally got toxicology
reports from the State Lab. Their diagnosis: parasites.
(They provided us with a long article from the
internet that told of resistance to different
wormers.)
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Our vet was as upset as we were with the lab’s
report, but he said he couldn’t protest
their diagnosis since he has to work with those
folks. When we asked our vet what we could do
to prevent this from happening again – or
what treatment we could use should this happen
again, he said to keep the goats out of areas
with standing water if possible. But should they
get sick again, all we could do would be provide
supportive care/tender loving care like we did
this time.
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We sent samples of water from various locations
on the farm to the University of Tennessee for
analysis, but the location we think was the culprit
of our problems had dried out by the time we knew
we needed samples. We did send along dirt samples
from that area. We have to date heard nothing
from this test.
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In the meantime, we have kept the goats off the
lower hay field. This area has flooded several
times this fall and never seems to totally dry
out before the next flood. We are also trying
to find out as much as we can about blue green
algae.
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All of the goats that didn’t die in the
first two days have fully recovered from their
week-long illness. Surprisingly, none of the bred
does lost their babies. And Betsy, one of the
does we had to tube feed, had recovered sufficiently
to be AIed two weeks after being tube-fed. Our
vet insists no treatment we pursued had any affect
on the recovery of the goats; they recovered too
quickly. We respect his opinion but truly believe
the oral penicillin and the poly serum saved their
lives. We also feel bringing down the pressure
on the brain and easing their pain gave them the
“will to live.”
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Our one regret is that we allowed Ivy to be sacrificed
at the State Vet’s Office. Based on what
we know now, she did not have to die. Her death
did not provide us with any usable information
(except that the lab didn’t have a clue
about the illness). And since she wasn’t
nearly as bad off as some of the goats who survived,
we’re confident we could have saved her
too. |
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