# Had to put a goat down with neuro symptoms



## Cygnet (Sep 13, 2004)

Head's going off to the state lab for testing for rabies ... and I am thoroughly exposed. Anyone see rabies in a goat before? 

Neighbor kid knocked on my door to tell me the goat was down and "flopping" and couldn't get up. He'd been sick a few weeks ago (pneumonia), but had been doing tons better. Elderly 12 year old Nubian mix wether who's lived here since he was six months old, and was in good health until a few months ago. 

Anyway, when I went out to check on him, he was massively overheated and in distress from heat exhaustion, and wobbly and dehydrated. Which made no sense because it wasn't that hot today -- but I'd seen him sleeping in the sun earlier (and watched him get up, move around, and lay down in the sun again). I couldn't figure out why he hadn't moved into the shade or drank. 

I hosed him off, cooled him down, and he chugged two quarts of pedialyte from the bottle -- he perked up, started acting like himself, chewing his cud, eating, drinking from a pan of water, and that left me totally baffled because he ... didn't seem off once I cooled him down. 

A few hours later, he abruptly went downhill -- walking in circles, pressing his head to the wall, getting stuck in corners of his pen. Pupils responsive to light, but really enlarged, and he seemed to be "blind" in that he'd walk right into things (but blink if I moved my hand near his eyes). I tried to give him more water and he had massive throat spasms, flung his head back, and choked. Which .... alarmed me. 

Anyway -- I took him to the vet and let the vet put him down (he was in BAD shape and needed to be put down regardless) and they're sending the head off for rabies testing. 

My money's on tetanus -- he was vaccinated in December, but he's an old, old, old goat and he's been sick, so who knows how wimpy his immune system was. But I just couldn't take a chance on it being rabies -- they find rabid wild critters here on a fairly regular basis.

None of my other goats are vaccinated, of course. The neighbors have a bunch of dogs that share a fence line and I found out they have two that aren't vaccinated. 

I'm THOROUGHLY exposed if it is rabies, so let's hope not. I was checking capillary refill and gum color and getting his slobber all over my hands when I was giving him water, and he was licking the salty sweat off my arms on Friday and my arms are all scratched up.


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## SunsetSonata (Nov 23, 2006)

Had you actively seen this goat drinking the day before? Did he have other symptoms that may have been masked by his pneumonia recovery? Not physically being able to drink would explain why he was overheating. The change seems rather dramatic for rabies, though it's still wise to get him tested considering the symptoms. Was he acting normal yesterday? I also wonder about a stroke considering his age.


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## Cygnet (Sep 13, 2004)

He was eating and drinking on Friday, but my neighbor said she thought she saw him "not acting right" on Friday.

I was in the pen with him Friday evening and he seemed totally normal to me, but "totally normal" was begging for treats and for my soda, so I didn't exactly see the full range of his behavior.

He was urinating, also, so it wasn't bladder stones and shock from that.

Stroke? It's definitely possible, or a metastatic cancer -- he lost a ton of weight with his lung crud but that could also be symptomatic of cancer. I don't know. Can't know without testing.


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## CaliannG (Apr 29, 2005)

Check for CAE too...that can cause the symptoms you are describing in old animals.


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## Creamers (Aug 3, 2010)

Sounds a LOT like either Goat Polio or Llisteriosis 
Happens all of a sudden 
http://www.tennesseemeatgoats.com/articles2/listeriosis.html


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## CarolT (Mar 12, 2009)

Never seen rabies in goats, but in wildlife, the throat muscles are paralyzed for a while longer than it sounds like he experienced. They aren't actually afraid of the water, but so horribly thirsty they go mad. They can't swallow but can smell the water which makes them have fits. And they can take days of not being able to swallow for it to finish  I'm no expert, but my vote is not rabies. I would have tested anyway, though.


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## beccachow (Nov 8, 2008)

I'm so sorry.


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## Cygnet (Sep 13, 2004)

I know it could be either polio or listeriosis, but it just wasn't something I could take a chance on as we've had rabies cases in wildlife around here in the past. That said, he's kept in a dry lot pen, has had the same diet for a decade, has no access to vegetation, and there's nothing wrong with his hay -- I double checked for weeds. It smells great, no mold, nice and fresh. New cutting alfalfa. He didn't get ANY grain other than the occasional cracker as a treat once in a blue moon.


It has barely rained all winter and there's no vegetation growing anywhere -- even outside his pen is bare dirt.

If it's not rabies, I'll let it go -- he was very old and I don't need to know the exact reason, as long as it's not zoonotic. At a certain point, 'too many birthdays' is the best explanation. (As I told the vet, if I hadn't had my hands -- which are all scraped up at the moment -- in his mouth and was therefore thoroughly exposed, I'd have just put him down myself with a rifle.) None of my other goats are at all sick, so i don't think it's environmental.


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## where I want to (Oct 28, 2008)

I heard of a goat having rabies but never seen one- I know different animals have different response and there are different phases to the progression. The symptoms can develop over a year in some cases.
It doesn't sound like what I've heard about rabies but under any circumstance you will have the information in plenty of time to get the shots if needed. 
Sometimes I just dread the misery my animals can cause- sounds like you had a good dose of it. I hope it all works out OK.


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## Cygnet (Sep 13, 2004)

CarolT said:


> Never seen rabies in goats, but in wildlife, the throat muscles are paralyzed for a while longer than it sounds like he experienced. They aren't actually afraid of the water, but so horribly thirsty they go mad. They can't swallow but can smell the water which makes them have fits. And they can take days of not being able to swallow for it to finish  I'm no expert, but my vote is not rabies. I would have tested anyway, though.


Thanks. I wasn't sure of the time frame. He was definitely able to drink around noon, but not in the evening. I know tetanus can cause spasms & paralysis of the neck muscles and throat too -- but it is a red flag for rabies, and why I got pretty concerned.

Tetanus wouldn't explain all the neurological symptoms, but it would explain why he couldn't rise (if he was having spasms) and if he got stuck out in the sun, and overheated, the heat stroke could explain the neuro symptoms. The thing is once I cooled him off he acted totally normal for awhile -- I didn't think tetanus would act like that. Thought it was pretty much downhill until the goat croaked or started to improve. 

Sigh. He was a good goat -- just a big old pet. Useless, hard on fences, he tormented the dogs, but just a sweetheart to have around.


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## Sherry in Iowa (Jan 10, 2010)

First of all..I am so sorry that you lost him. No matter what he died of I know that you will miss him terribly. We lost the last of a bottle baby "set" of whethers. A part of this homestead will never be the same without my two magnificent boys. They too were old..one went in his sleep and the other basically died of a broken heart. He just gave up.

I expect his death was age related..saying a prayer that it isn't anything worse.


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## FunnyRiverFarm (May 25, 2010)

So sorry you lost him  What you described sounds very much like listeriosis. Circling is one of the most noted signs of the disease...hence the nickname "circling disease".


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