Re: couph

Could just be allergies. Or an irritant. Or something more serious like lungworm or pneumonia. Did you take a temp?

I had a doe who always coughed. I think it was Sondra who told me that some does are just like that. I treated for lungworm anyway. She still coughed. When we put her down I had a necropsy done; no evidence of lungworm. Her lungs were very healthy. So I try not to worry about coughs anymore (I worried for two years about this doe) unless there are other symptoms, as well.

Keep an eye on her.

 

Re: couph

I have found that goats with dry coughs without runny noses or other problems, have lungworm. I have had good luck treating with Ivomec at 1cc per 22lbs and also putting them on Hoegger Herbal Dewormer. The combination of both chemical and herbal deworming has worked for me and my goats don't cough any more.

 

Re: couph

I have 3 goats who are coughing, but my issue is dust. I got a batch of dusty hay because of the haying weather this year. It was worse when the pollen counts were high too.

 

If their diet is hay and what browse you have left with the drought, than it's likely just more roughage, so you are hearing a lot more coughing of cud and cud chewing. I know all my girls have barrells to die for right now with so much roughage in their diet. Without fever I wouldn't do anything, do get back with us if they get a snotty nose. The nice thing about these mini's is that they have such hybrid vigor you rarely have anything much go wrong with them.

You shouldn't be having a problem with lungworm in this drought...do they have access to the water up where you are at?

 

i water in a water tub

 

Sorry I meant do they have access to standing water, a pond, the river etc....usually lungworm is associated with places that have snails. Vicki

 

I thought liver flukes were the ones transported by snails?

 

I thought liver flukes were the ones transported by snails?

Yes, they both are. There is one type of lungworm with a direct lifecycle, but the rest have snails as an intermediate host.

 

Two of my new girls have a cough and runny nose as well. I wish I had some of Hoeggers stuff as I have heard only good things about that, but am stuck with the Ivomec for now :/
But they seem to be improving, so that is my suggestion as well.

 

I'm neither a vet nor a person who raises goats (however I have successfully identified one in a field which included cows, horses, pigs and chickens), but I would agree that probably one of the above answers is the correct one. However, CAE is a tricky bug, and although the predominant symptoms are the encephalitis (younger goats) and arthritis (older goats), plu the fact that a large percentage of infected animals are asymptomatic, the disease can manifest itself in many other ways. Short-term sniffling and coughing is likely to be caused by allergies, dust etc., but if you are seeing chronic runny noses, sniffles or coughs, and time and/or medication does not seem to be helping, you may want to think about the possibility of a CAE infection. As they say, When you hear hoof beats . . . . However, zebras have hooves too!

 

Chuck is correct, I think on the forum it's pretty much a given that we think everyone tests their goats for CAE. They don't...so it should be something we say routinely. Is she tested negative for CAE. I know the original posters goats and where they came from, a tested herd, in fact I ran the tests to biotracking with a group of mine

And yes for us, the symptoms that point us to having does tested in dairies I am helping with is always hard udder and chronic pnemonia that nothing helps. I haven't seen swollen knees in a very long time, not even at shows. Vicki

 

The doe that I put down who had a chronic cough was CAE+. Would there be any scarring of the lungs or could it have been a symptom without scarring?

 

I'm neither a vet nor a person who raises goats (however I have successfully identified one in a field which included cows, horses, pigs and chickens)

It's not easy to get me giggling this early in the morning, but that one did it! Thanks Chuck. :rofl

 

@ Vicki, I think that is very true. I assume everyone tests. I mean, I have only had goats for three years and just started really investing into them this year (getting involved with ADGA etc.) and I assume that any one who is more involved with goats than I am and knows more about them tests. I mean, I didn't test just because I had backyard goats for the first two years, but since seeing them as an income as well as a beloved hobby, have CAE tested regularly. And I was sooo excited, when I first tested, everyone came back negative!

 

Nicki, that makes Chuck qualified to be a VET!!!!

That is a wonderful feeling DawnBreakers (please put your name in your signature) we all hold our breath a little as we wait for our test results, no matter how many years you test.

 

I had a summer cold go thru a good portion of my goats this summer. Thought they were all done with it and then one was off feed a week or so later, 105 temp, rapid breathing. Called vet, he said pneumonia likely that it was huge this year as we had weeks of hot temps (for us) with cool & damp nights, the ideal conditions for lingering repiratory issues. Treated with LA200 and all's well.

So I'd say keep a good eye on their feeding and demeanor.

My infertile buck that I spent so much money on last year, his only other "off" symptom is a persistent cough. He's been tested for everything vets can imagine, all negative, maybe unrelated to cough, but they said a likely possibility is a pneumonia that the immune system overcame with a short high fever that left him infertile, but there can be some residual coughing sometimes. I will send off organs when he is put down to see anything can be learned about his infertility and/or cough. I'll try to remember to post if I learn anything interesting.