# help, goat drooling and foaming



## Ziptie (May 16, 2013)

So moved everyone to a new pasture to day. Just found 3 year old in milk for past 3 months. Down on the ground with the other goat pawing and trying to get her up. Got her up drooling really bad and some foam might be grinding teeth. Poop looks normal.
Gave her a small mouthful of oil thinking it is bloat. The problem is she does not look like a cow who is bloated she actually looks like her ruman is empty. Called the vet but won't be back to the clinic for another half hour.


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## Woolieface (Feb 17, 2015)

Makes me think of Listeriosis or poisoning. Is she looking like she's blind or stumbling around?


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## Ziptie (May 16, 2013)

No stumbling or going in circles. She is just standing there. If I open the pen she will get out and walk around. She is no longer drooling or foaming. 

Vet said she must look bloated for it to be bloat but that is all that he could help with over the phone.

Still pooping, looks normal.

Gave her 10 cc of oral b vit complex.

Vet will be their for a couple more hours. Trying to decide if I should take her in or not.


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## JudyM (Jan 9, 2015)

For what it's worth, my sister's boxer did that after a snake bite. The poison worked through her system and she was good as new in 24 hours! Don't know how a goat would respond to a snake bite though - if that's what it is.


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## Woolieface (Feb 17, 2015)

She might have eaten a poisonous plant in which case I think you're going to want activated charcoal if she's still showing symptoms.


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## punchiepal (Oct 11, 2008)

Was she on a hill? Sometimes if they lay with heads lower than rumen it can cause problems. Or if she was rubbing her back on the grass and couldn't get righted again, same thing.


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## mzgarden (Mar 16, 2012)

How did she do overnight? Did you find anything in the pasture that might be the culprit?


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## Ziptie (May 16, 2013)

Well, this morning she milked out her usual 1/2 gallon. I fed her Boss, whole oats, and alfalfa pellets. She was really rooting around in her feed dish throwing food out of it. It looks like all she ate was the alfalfa pellets. I gave her 5 more cc of the oral b complex and I am going to go to the vets to pick up some injectable B. The strange thing was she was actually playing and head butting the baby this morning(baby is 4 months old). She usually isn't so active.

I have also been giving her a brewers yeast..dog pill...forget the name. Though for the past week she has not been eating it.

She was on a little incline but not really that bad. Another strange thing is when I found her she had dirt all stuck to her face. Not sure if she went down hard or if it was from all the drooling (a there really was a lot of it).

Any one think maybe Grass tetany? Though all the other goats and calves that were on the same pasture is fine.

I am very happy she is doing well but I sure wish I know what did it to her.

Thanks for everyone who responded so quickly.


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## Caprice Acres (Mar 6, 2005)

Keep up with the B complex! To me thats sounds pretty indicative of Polio, especially the rapid recovery. Can't hurt if I'm wrong, too.


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## onebizebee (May 12, 2011)

Always have charcoal on hand too for accidental poisonings. I keep two large tubes of it on hand at all times because I have one dumb goat that loves to eat jimson weed. She will break out of the fence to eat it on the neighbors pasture. :hair I get mine at the co-op here. I also use it on the dogs if they get in to some thing they shouldn't.


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## Ziptie (May 16, 2013)

mygoat said:


> Keep up with the B complex! To me thats sounds pretty indicative of Polio, especially the rapid recovery. Can't hurt if I'm wrong, too.


Curious to know why you think it would be goat polio over grass tetany?


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## Woolieface (Feb 17, 2015)

I had a lamb with Polio last year. It looks very close to Listeriosis in its symptoms and can be easily confused. She went blind and couldn't control her back end. She never drooled, though.


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## Caprice Acres (Mar 6, 2005)

http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/m...ypomagnesemic_tetany_in_cattle_and_sheep.html

Well, mainly because you don't seem to have administered any calcium/magnesium and she still got better.  I suppose it could be grass tetany but not a lot of info...

Is she getting hay/forage (like alfalfa pellets?) Minerals? 

Ruminants produce a ton of saliva normally... but it's usually facial paralysis that leads to drooling. I hadn't heard that grass tetany was associated with drooling. That's the main reason I thought polio. That, and the vitamin B can't hurt her, and seemed to be the treatment you tried - and she improved.


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## Farmer Jayne (Oct 21, 2013)

I had a goat get an orange peel stuck in its throat. He drooled and staggered around. If I hadn't actually seen him eat it I wouldn't have known what was wrong. He could still breath, so he wasn't choking, but it was really uncomfortable. I got the peel out and after a couple of minutes he was fine. Maybe yours had something stuck in its throat and got it out on its own.


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## Ziptie (May 16, 2013)

mygoat said:


> http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/m...ypomagnesemic_tetany_in_cattle_and_sheep.html
> 
> Well, mainly because you don't seem to have administered any calcium/magnesium and she still got better.  I suppose it could be grass tetany but not a lot of info...
> 
> ...


I have read that grass tetany was associated with drooling on an edu site..I think. Saw imbalance due to Mg levels in the grass. I thought you could treat this with B vit, but it looks like that was incorrect. Thanks for the info. I think you are correct Goat polio.

She gets minerals in her feed (sprinkled on top). Salt has been lacking as they keep putting their feet in the goat feeder(soon to be fixed). She also gets alfalfa pellets and has access all the time to a bale of grass hay(though not the best quality).


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## AuntKitty (Oct 25, 2004)

I've had goats do that when they are gobbling down food. New grass can be mighty tasty. Its called choke I think. Sheep get it too. Foaming coughing & shaking their head. All is well a short time later. Glad she seems better!


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

Aunt Kitty wins the prize for the right answer

The animal was choked.

It can be traumatizing to watch them jump around and sling green foam everywhere, or nearly pass out, but it almost never kills them and they generally recover in minutes.

People tend to overreact and start medicating at the least little thing, or imagining all the possible diseases, when quite often that only makes things worse.

The less you give your animals in the way of medicines, the healthier your overall herd will become


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## Ziptie (May 16, 2013)

She wasn't jumping around. She was lying on the ground flat out and not moving with lots of drool all over her mouth/ground and foam on the edges. The buck was pawing at her and pushing at her rear end as if he was trying to get her up. Not sure how long she was down for. I had to help her up and get her to a pen. Even after I got her in the pen she flopped back down.

Going to go research choke....


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

Ziptie said:


> *She wasn't jumping around*. She was lying on the ground flat out and not moving with lots of drool all over her mouth/ground and foam on the edges. The buck was pawing at her and pushing at her rear end as if he was trying to get her up. Not sure how long she was down for. I had to help her up and get her to a pen. Even after I got her in the pen she flopped back down.
> 
> Going to go research choke....


You missed that part, and saw the part where she got too low on Oxygen.

The drool and foam are the symptoms
The complete recovery by the next day indicates it's nothing serious

Sometimes the best thing to do is observe


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## Ziptie (May 16, 2013)

I hope you guys don't think I am arguing with you over this. I am truly trying to understand what happened so I am prepared next time(tone is always so hard to tell over the net).

So I read up on choke. If she was that low on oxygen and on the ground wouldn't I have to get the blockage clear? She was not make any coughing sounds at any point.


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## Hollymcq (Apr 22, 2015)

When my goat choked, he would not sit down at all. When he first started choking it was really bad, we managed to get most of what was causing him to choke straight away (thank god) but for the rest of the night and the next day he was up, walking, foaming and looking very uncomfortable. Took him to the vet and he still had a bit stuck down in his wind pipe. Sounds quite different to what the other goat has gone through..


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

> So I read up on choke. If she was that low on oxygen and on the ground wouldn't I have to get the blockage clear? She was not make any coughing sounds at any point.


They deplete the oxygen in their blood while panicking

Once they get weak and lie down the oxygen levels build back up, and the entire time the blockage is absorbing moisture and getting softer, assuming it's not some sharp object

Unless you can see it, there's little you can do short of running a tube down their throat to push it out, or massaging their throat if you can feel it

I've never lost an animal that went through it

She recovered without you doing anything, as most will do


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## Caprice Acres (Mar 6, 2005)

It could very well be choke, too. Without knowing more, Vit B is cheap/easy to continue IMO. 

Welcome back, BFF.


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

mygoat said:


> It could very well be choke, too. Without knowing more, Vit B is cheap/easy to continue IMO.
> 
> Welcome back, BFF.


Thank you !


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