Cowgirl Up on LatigoLiz.com

Monday, September 22, 2008

Doctor Bob Does House Calls

My favorite horse vet came today. He is gracious enough to take on my goat girls as patients on a limited basis. I have access to other vets in this area if he feels he is out of his element. I love my vet and his vet-tech fiancé.

Pepper and Ginger will be fine. Temps were a little elevated and both had a bit of respiratory stuff going on in addition to Pepper’s goopy eyes. Lucky me I get to give subcutaneous injections of an antibiotic once a day for the next week. They were both really good about the shots this afternoon, so I hope that continues when I am solo.

My vet hasn’t worked on goats in a long time, but he welcomes the challenge. I love him. Have I said that before?

Julie used to work on a goat farm and knew quite a bit about them. Ginger is definitely a Boer or Boer cross (primarily meat goats). She thought that Pepper is probably a Nubian or Nubian cross (which will please Paddock Boy). They are both less than 6 months old. They both agreed with me that they are on the malnourished side. Although, their bellies are quite pudgy now. I probably will have to do another round of worming (possibly a 5 day course of SafeGuard just like we do for horses). There is a condition that if untreated can kill a goat in less than 48 hours once symptoms are noticed. It’s related to worm infestations of 3 varieties all at once. Fairly common in the Midwest I guess. Not the same as bloat, which is also a great concern when radically switching diets. I didn’t have fecal analysis tests done, but may in the future. I want to get them healthier first.

From this:

to this:

in one week.

I was so pleased with the goaties today. The work with them in the past few days made the vet visit go really well. Of course, I did resort to hand-feeding and now they are super pushy, but I figure it’s a small price to pay with little goats. :) They’ll get bigger, but not as big as the horses.

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6 comments:

BrownEyed Cowgirl said...

They are so cute!!

Anonymous said...

Those kids have filled out and look so shiny! I am not a goat person, but these guys are cute.

Mrs. Mom said...

Wow they look fantastic! What a great job there LL. Keep it up! I miss having a goat around- they have such character and personality!

Hope they behave for you for their sub-q shots!

Cactus Jack Splash said...

They sure look alot better

Brenda said...

Wow they look great!! makes me want one. Its so nice to have a vet you really love. Sometimes they are hard to find.

dp said...

The goats are looking much better. Good food and good care goes a long way with most any creature I find. Is there such a thing as a non-pushy goat? Certainly the pygmies are little monsters...