We knew this would happen eventually, but we didn't realize it would happen so quickly after getting our first Nigerian Dwarfs. Tuesday morning, I went down and checked on all of our animals just as I do every morning. Everyone was good, except Willow, our 4 month old ND, was just laying down. I went in, she let me pet her (which I should have known right then that she wasn't well) and I gave her & Luna some animal crackers and went off to check the piggies.
When I came home from work, I went right over to see the goats and I realized that Willow had only moved a foot from where she first was that morning and she wasn't holding her head up like earlier. I asked Tom to come in and help me take her temperature and check her FAMACHA score. Her temp was on the lower end of normal but her FAMACHA score was a 5 :( I went in to panic mode and the Goat Emergency Team online was extremely helpful and walked me through every step of what needed to happen for best results.
First, I was to warm her up. I grabbed a blanket & a trash bag and wrapped her in it, keeping her head out. I walked her from her pen to our deck and laid her there so I could recheck her temp when it was time. After about 15 minutes, I checked again and it was in the solid normal range...success!! The G.E.T told me that at 16 weeks, she was prime for a coccidia bloom if she wasn't treated when first born. So, with the medicine list in hand...I hustled off to TSC to get what I needed.
I walked in 10 minutes before closing and the lady was as helpful as she could've been given that they were out of everything on my list. They had some alternatives but they are known not to work as effectively. I came home with iron, penicillin, power punch & b12...nothing for coccidia. By this time, Tom had moved her to the garage so that she would be safe during the night. I walked in and I could tell in just 30 minutes from when I left that she was significantly worse. We gave her the injections and drenched power punch. I had hoped to see a spark...something...but her eyes were glazed over and she had little to no control over her head. I just knew she wasn't going to make it through the night.
I stayed up with her until about 1am, her body temp was low again and I had her wrapped in a blanket with a heat lamp. I came upstairs to try to get some sleep but I tossed all night. When Tom woke up for work at 3:30am, he went to check on her and she was gone.
I'm devastated with so many coulda, woulda, shoulda's. I feel for Luna, as they're a pack animal but I'm afraid to bring in another goat. She's still so cautious of us. She's eating out of my hand now but the slightest flinch of my other hand to pet her and she's off.
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