# Cl and cae testing



## shdybrady (Aug 26, 2011)

Just curious on how much it costs for yall to get your goats tested. I want to restest some of the others and do the first testing on the others. What do yall pay. Also this is a shout out to any of my fellow goat people in ga. What do you pay and who do you use. I got a quote from a guy and it was going to be $130 a goat. I know having a healthy herd is priority. I understand this and agree with it. But I now have 6 goats. Does it sound right to really pay $780 for my small herd?


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## Alice In TX/MO (May 10, 2002)

NO. It's not right.

Look at this website that gives the info for CAE testing for $4 per sample.

Goats Intro | BioTracking.com

Most folks don't test for CL, as the blood tests for it aren't very reliable. Just check for abscesses/lumps. Here's some articles about it.
http://www.goatworld.com/articles/cl/


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## Ford Zoo (Jan 27, 2012)

Definately do it yourself. I had 2 goats to test. I couldn't get blood off my goats the first time so I had the vet do it. The approximate cost to send myself:
Vet to draw 2 goats=$24.00
Pan Am Vet labs for CL, CAE, and Johnes-$16.00/goat=$32.00
BioTracking for pregnancy for 2 goats=$11.00
Shipping for 2 packages to 2 different labs=$11.00
Total for all testing with shipping and vet draw to 2 different labs=$66.00. Cheaper if you can draw your own blood. Note one CL test thru my vet would have been $50.00 in lab charges alone, and it was still going to PanAm!


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## Caprice Acres (Mar 6, 2005)

I've gone through Washington State (WADDL - Washington Animal Disease Diagnostics Laboratory) in the past. I'll be doing Michgan State University's DCPAH (Diagnostic Center for Populations and Animal Health) in the future - I work there and it's cheaper.  No shipping, because I can just take it right over to recieving. 

At WADDL - CL test is 9.45, CL and CAE are 6.30 each if I remember correctly. There is a 10.00 asscession fee (for out of state) plus shipping costs. 

You'll need red top blood tubes and syringes/needles. I usually ship blood samples in a styrofoam worm-box from the local bait store, along with a small ice pack (NOT a frozen bottle of water).


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## SpiderLegs (Jul 14, 2011)

What Alice said here.....


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## Creamers (Aug 3, 2010)

I use biotracking - $4 a test for CAE - Can't beat that.


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## Lizza (Nov 30, 2005)

We use WADDL Diagnostic Lab Fees at the WSU College of Veterinary Medicine

We only test for CAE. CL blood tests are not accurate, if you have an abscess you need to take the animal to the vet, have them lance it, and test the puss. That is your only accurate measurement for CL.


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## shdybrady (Aug 26, 2011)

you know I have read that the cl isnt accurate like you mentioned. But if the abcess is internal how would you know? Also can it be transmitted sexually? But are johnes and cae pretty accurate through blood test?


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## Lizza (Nov 30, 2005)

My understanding is CAE (ELISA) is accurate, I just asked one of my vets yesterday and he said testing with WADDL for CAE will produce almost no false negatives or positives. Personally I prefer to test with the Universities and not with a private company (bio-tracking), it is too important . I do use Bio-Tracking for my pregnancy tests. 

I have two vets and both do not recommend testing for CL with a blood test, it produces false both positives and negatives, it isn't reliable enough to use. My own experience with people that have CL goats is that CL WILL show up in an abscess on the outside of the body, usually under the jaw like you see in the pictures if you google the images. Any stress, like kidding, illness, or moving and they will pop up. If your animals do not have outside abscesses I wouldn't worry too much about inside ones because if they have it they will show up (at least this is my own experience). This is only one of the reasons to isolate any new animals you bring into your herd. 

Johnes I also believe is accurate, I've only tested for it once, but I don't have really any experience with it.


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## Caprice Acres (Mar 6, 2005)

You can also do a pooled Johnes fecal test. I can't remember if it's 5 or 6 that they pool together, but the fecal johnes test is most accurate. The problem with Johnes is that it has a 6 month incubation time or so from exposure to active shedding. Animals may or may notbe shedding the bacteria. Most bacteria is shed in the feces, and usually a positive animal will shed some at all times - but if a positive animal's immune system is strong it may only shed lightly and therefore test negative though blood ELISA. It has nothing to do with the tests reliability, but the health and the shedding of bacterium of the animal being tested. the pooled fecal is most expensive but if you have enough samples to meet the max number of animals per pool, it can be affordable IMO - about as expensive as the ELISA blood test. 

IMO, I think it's important to get 3 negative test for CL, CAE, and Johnes before calling the herd negative. The CL blood test may not be the most accurate but with repeated testing and biosecurity measures, I believe it is helpful to prevent the spread of disease. Number one is buying from an absces free herd - but even an abscess free herd could be recently exposed at a show - you have to really trust the herd owner, too.


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## Ford Zoo (Jan 27, 2012)

The problem I ran into with CL testing was that my vet couldn't test pus from a wound on a new goat. While I understand serum testing isn't fail safe, it was the only option I had at the time. And I'm still trying to figure out why he doesn't have access to a lab that could culture something. I checked myself for a send in lab, but had no luck.


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## Zanzabeez ND (Jun 6, 2011)

Mygoat,

Oh, very interesting! Do you know if it is possible to send in owner drawn samples or will they accept only vet drawn samples at MSU? Do you know if they just provide positive vs negative or if they give the actual titer levels? 

It would be nice to be able to drive samples right in instead of messing around with shipping....

Tracy





mygoat said:


> I've gone through Washington State (WADDL - Washington Animal Disease Diagnostics Laboratory) in the past. I'll be doing Michgan State University's DCPAH (Diagnostic Center for Populations and Animal Health) in the future - I work there and it's cheaper.  No shipping, because I can just take it right over to recieving.
> 
> At WADDL - CL test is 9.45, CL and CAE are 6.30 each if I remember correctly. There is a 10.00 asscession fee (for out of state) plus shipping costs.
> 
> You'll need red top blood tubes and syringes/needles. I usually ship blood samples in a styrofoam worm-box from the local bait store, along with a small ice pack (NOT a frozen bottle of water).


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## Pony (Jan 6, 2003)

We use Biotracking, and test only for CAE. We do visual checks for CL. Our stock is old enough and healthy enough that I am not concerned about Johne's. 

If I lived closer to you, I'd come over and draw blood for the cost of a neighborly visit and a glass of wine.


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## CaliannG (Apr 29, 2005)

Before I learned to draw blood, my vet charged me $5 per goat to draw.

WADDLs has a $10 service charge, plus I think it cost me $15 to ship.

I *believe* that all my tests came out to $21 and change per animal, so round up to $22.00. I do CL, CAE, Johnne's, and Brucella.

That would come to $27.00 per animal plus $25.00 shipping and handling.  It would be cheaper, of course, to only do CL and CAE, especially since I live in a Brucella free state.


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## Caprice Acres (Mar 6, 2005)

Well, I'm no vet and I plan on taking my samples right to recieving. I believe they will take some/most specimines without a vet signature. They have such amazing facilities and are really top notch compared to most animal disease diagnostics centers. 

I would call and ask about titer levels. 

Diagnostic Center for Population and Animal Health




Zanzabeez ND said:


> Mygoat,
> 
> Oh, very interesting! Do you know if it is possible to send in owner drawn samples or will they accept only vet drawn samples at MSU? Do you know if they just provide positive vs negative or if they give the actual titer levels?
> 
> ...


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