glenolam's madness - April passed away

[abifae]

Uh oh, now I spelled it out for any kiddies lurking reading your thread.

*reads carefully*

 

[glenolam]

Ugh.

I've had a case of the runs "running" through my goat herd. At first I ignored it and figured I'd let my herd duke it out with whatever is trying to mess with them. I'm a firm believer that you can't get stronger or build a resistance to something if you run to the drugs each and every time you're sick.

Anyhoo - after seeing scours off and on for a week or so I decided that I should drop the poop off at the vet. $10 for a fecal...not bad, IMO.

Gave 4 samples from the 4 goats that gave me the most concern. The other 5 goats look fantabulous so I had little worry about them.

2 of the 4 samples have BOTH slight to moderate coccidia and strongiles and the other 2 just have strongiles. Nothing to write home about, but she said it was best to treat everyone so it doesn't blossom into some worm storm.

Ugh.

So - the plan is to remove everyone's hay Friday night. Saturday am I'm to dose them with Panacure (AKA Safeguard) at a dose of 5cc/100#. I can replace the hay after that, but only enough for them to get a little somethin somethin in their rumens. No Grain. When they're done (or in an hour or two), remove any leftover hay and fast them again for 12 hours. Redose Saturday night at the same rate. Replace hay. No Grain.

THEN....On Sunday I'm to start dosing everyone (yes, even the 155# goat Big G wrangled the other day) with 1cc/5# of DiMethox ( )

OMG. They're gonna hate me.

Once this is done take a few samples back in to see if we need to redo this again.

Ugh.

On a side note, the vet said to me that she wanted to just say again how sorry she was about loosing Cara a few months back. She said she knows we tried all we could and wished it could've turned out better. That was nice to know she remembered since it's not like I've been going there for years.

 

[savingdogs]

What is strongiles, a worm?

 

[glenolam]

Yes, lung worms to be exact. Trichostrongyle is the "real" term.

ETA:

Because I have nothing better to do than read about this crap (literally!) Here's something good to know :

Haemonchus contortus (barberpole worm)
Ostertagia (round worms including stomach worm, Coopers worm, wire worm, hookworm, threadworm, whipworm, and nodular worm)
Trichostrongylus (lung worms)
Tapeworms
Coccidiosis
Parelaphostrongylus tenuis (meningeal or brain worm)

 

[savingdogs]

thank you, that was very informative.

I have used herbal wormers twice in two years and have never done a fecal. But up until right now, everyone has looked fantastic. My does are thin right now but I thought that had to do with just producing kids.

 

[TanksHill]

I know nothing about worms and probably less about goats but I have a question.

Can things like these be prevented by giving the goats things like Grapefruit Seed extract, DE and Pumpkin seeds??

Just wondering. This is the exact reason why I am terrified of getting a goat. I don't even know if we have a goat vet in the area.

g

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

so is the DiMethox for the cocci????

ps this is really helpful thanks for sharing

 

[miss_thenorth]

you should really change your title to "got worms? My goats do...' I thought you had worms.

 

[savingdogs]

Hah! and I thought she meant like red worms or fishing worms.....

 

[glenolam]

I figured I'd keep you all guessing with the title!

SD - all goats have worms. All. Just sometimes they're more susceptible to an outbreak than other times. And kidding/being in milk/coming to a new home doesn't help.

The 4 samples I brought were from Fudgie, who's in milk, Katie and Jenny, the Saanan's (I can't get Katie to gain weight and Jenny was scouring the other day), and April, one of the Nubians who I can't get to gain weight either.

Plus, 2 or 3 of them are coughing, which can be a sign of lungworms.

Skinnieness can be from milking/kidding, but if it lasts too long then you may or may not want to figure out if worms are the culprit.

Like I said, I hate to treat unless necessary, and, well, now it's just necessary.

Tanks - I'm in no way organic or non-medicinal, so I have no idea if those would help prevent this.

Basically....there's little you can do to prevent worms. It's just gonna happen. But as long as your herd is otherwise in good health, you don't need to worry. And FWIW this is the first time I've had it this bad and I've had goats for over 3 years.

OFG - yes, the DiMethox is for the coccidia. I always thought it was just a kid thing and that most adults grew an immunity to it, but guess I was wrong.