Heart broken over losing my buck

Friday I was out milking my goats and feeding.
I walked up the field and I could see my buck Zuce in the field laying down, but I could not see his head ( strange) all I could hear was strange breathing.
I ran out of the field and into his field fences were too high to jump ( 8 ft)


I get to him and his head was flipped back and he was gasping for breath, with his heart racing.
I called the guy that was helping build my new barn near the house to help. Yes he got more that he had signed up to do.
He came out and then brought his truck down, my truck was attached to the trailer with 100 bales of hay.
We loaded Zuce up and he started to fit. I huged him as I knew I was about to lose him. He was just 3 years old just started a month ago to smell good for the girls . I did not care I wanted him to know I was here for him.
We drove him out of the field and up to the front of the house. Where he died in my arms fitting. It tock 15 mins for him to die.

I drove him to the vets so they could do an autopsy on his body. He looked in good health a nice weight. His eyes were pale as were his gums which would make you think worms, however I had de wormed in July.

They phoned me to ask if I wanted samples taken as both his liver and kidneys did not look good. So samples were taken. He also had fluid in his stomach and when they got to his heart. One side was large and the other side was small so he had died of a heart attack. They told me goats don't get heartproblems like that. So samples of his liver , kidney , heart and brain have been sent off to be tested. Seems that there are some parasites that live in both brain and heart so they want to find out what damaged his heart to give him a heart attack at 3 years old.


He also had no worms in his body so why the pail eyes and gums. The day before someone was looking at my goats and Zuce did not come over to the fence, so that was strange. He looked at me and kept eatting. Zuce loved people a sweet male goat that loved hugs. Anyone could go in with him at any time of the year and I even let him wonder the yard he always stayed close to me.
I will miss him.
10 days for the results.
To me I needed to know what killed him as I had sold some babies from him this year and would need to contact people if it was something nasty. Thankfully the vets have said this was just something Zuce had not anyone else, but as I drove him to the vets my thoughts were what if it was something any of my goats could get.
Plus I still have 3 more bucklings to sell that unless I know what was wrong I would not be able to sell in good faith.

The only good thing that happened on Friday was I had a phone call from my brother that lives in Bavaria to say I was an Auntie again to a little boy.

I am sorry to hear of you loss. I know how much your goats mean to you and I feel your heartbreak. It will be good to know what caused this, it will help you in the future for sure. And like you said then you can honestly sell the bucklings in good faith.
<<HUGS>>

Awwwww

Michelle I am so sorry to hear of the passing of Zuce. He was a handsome fellow. I always got such a kick out of him when we would visit. He meant so much to you and, you loved him deeply.
Very saddened by this news. Feel free to call me Karrie, we would love to get together for tea and visit.

Jon

Sorry to hear about that. Hope you get some answers soon.

IT's hard to lose good livestock, more so when they are like pets. I hope the vet can give you some answers. Knowing is better than not knowing and will help you make decisions. Sorry to hear all this.

*Tight hug*

CCG sorry to hear of the loss of your goat Zuce. Please let us know what they find.

Thanks all that ment a lot to me sharing the loss of Zuce with you all.
I know seems silly that a goat dieding ment so much seems I am not only a chickencrazygirl but a goat crazy one too.

I will let you all know the results.

Yes Jonny I have been meaning to call you guys to get together , but you know what life is like crazy all the time. However losing Zuce make me realise best share some good times with both people and animals that mean a lot ,as you never know what could happen.

I had a card from the vets today on the passing of Zuce with everyone signing it, it was so sweet.

Thanks all again

Sorry for your loss.
Will be interesting to see what
it was.
I lost a buck a few years ago
he was about 3-4 years old,
found him dead one morning
when I went out to feed.
It is very hard and a little
scary when you do not know
what caused it.
If it turns out is was something
just he had can you keep one
of the bucklings for replacement?

Results came back yesterday from the vets on Zuce.

He had kidney disease , his blood was not clotting and he died from a stroke in his head................wow
They said it was just his problem and I should not see it in any more of my goats. Me well just shocked that a 3 year old buck would have kidney diease.
I want to see if the vets will give me a copy of the autopsy so I can read or try to read what wrote.
I just think what caused those problems.
So there you go, yes it does make me feel better knowing I did nothing to have caused his death , but still crave more answers. Oh to be a vet.

Glad you got some answers, always hard not knowing and wondering if it was something you could have prevented.
I am guessing as a 3 year old with kidney disease it was an issue from birth and it was just a matter of time.

You have been through so much with this beloved boy. Could it be that the heavy worm load that he experienced might have damaged his kidneys in some way?

Chickencrazygirl, I am curious if the autopsy was your idea or the vets idea? IF it was your, did you have to argue and insist toget it done, or was the vet willing? Can I ask what the charge was or at least did you feel it was a reasonable charge?

I ask because many years ago I had my beloved standard poodle die. First had signs of poisoning, rushed her to vet, vet gave her muscle relaxants and said she would be fine. Got home from vet and about 8 minutes later she keeled over and died. She was not yet 2 years old. I asked about an autopsy and the vet's response was, if I was breeding dogs, I would need to know why this dog died. BUt since I was NOT a breeder and an autopsy would be very costly and it doesn't bring the dog back, it made no sense to have an autopsy. He saw no value in autopsy.

I have been surpirsed by the seeming co-operation of numerous vets that people on this site deal with, others have told of autopsy/necropsy. I wonder if the difference is that livestock is viewed as more critical than petstock? Was it your own vet that performed the autopsy or someone else? Either way, it's good to know this is not somethign that was passed on, just a one time bad luck. Still, big loss.

Uno usually it is up to the owner on if they want the necropsy done. The vet was probably trying to save you some money, but could have also been trying to cover their butt! Did they not treat the case properly and therefore didnt want you to know the cause of death, or did they genuinly not want to cause you any more costs?

We took a cat to the vet that was doing a discount spay/neuter program. Got her back and she was just not right, called the vet and they said it was normal and she would wake up more as the days went on, well 3 days after surgery she died. My youngest daughters cat, she saved the money to pay for the surgery, and then this happens. I was more than upset, figured they had done something wrong, so they did a necropsy there in front of me at no charge, there was no internal bleeding, all the sutures looked good, so we came to the conclusion she most likely had a reaction to the anesthetic and just couldnt clear it from her system. We could have paid for an off site necropsy, checking on everything else, but it wouldnt have brought her kitty back and it was close to $200 for that to be done, so we accepted the vets opinion and left it at that. I still have questions on why, but even after $200 I still might not have had all the answers...

Hidden, in the case of my young, dead dog, I truly think the vet, whom I know personally, was trying to save me money. I know vets aren't gods and deal with patients that cannot tell thme their aches, pains and problems. I never would have thought this was the vet's fault.

I am surpirsed by the number of people who persue autopsy and the co-opertion and willingness of their vets. I think it's good, if your livelihood is livestock related, you need to know.

So I was the one that asked my vet to do an autopsy on my goat. When a 3 year old just dies with little signs of problems I needed to know. I sell goats to people for both breeding stock and pets most of my babies had already been sold and in good heart I would have phoned them if the results would have been something that could have been passed on to their new goats they got from me.

Most of all I wanted to know that I had not screwed up.
So after he had died I drove him straight away to the vets and they started straight away. After 30 mins they phoned me to ask if I wanted samples sent away as both kidneys, liver did not look right. Price for autopsy was $120 with I know they gave me a deal on as I told them he was 120 lb goat and they charged me for a 50 lb goat.
So after the samples were taken and I picked him up to take him home, I paid $270 for both the autopsy and samples. $45 was for the UPS to pick up the samples .So complete total was $270

But in truth I know I did not screw up and today I feel I have more questions that need answering that's why I want the report.
I thought the price was a good price and worth me paying it to know. I guess I am not a cut throat farmer just yet.

Just something to think about, remember I am not a goat person.

Things animals eat can impact their kidneys and liver and not cause immediate death. There are often things we are told that are toxic for our animals and people will say " I feed that often and my _______(insert whatever animal you want) is not dead yet. That is because many things have a cumulative effect and do not cause an animal to drop dead right away.

Just something to think about. Check your hay for a weed or your pastures.

coopslave wrote:Just something to think about, remember I am not a goat person.

Things animals eat can impact their kidneys and liver and not cause immediate death. There are often things we are told that are toxic for our animals and people will say " I feed that often and my _______(insert whatever animal you want) is not dead yet. That is because many things have a cumulative effect and do not cause an animal to drop dead right away.

Just something to think about. Check your hay for a weed or your pastures.

I have to say I totaly understand what you are saying so makes me want to find out the answers even more on WHAT caused his kidneys to shut down the vet said he had Amaloidosif covering them which she said was protein. It covers them over time and stops the function of the kidneys and what Zuce had people can also get.
I do believe the answere is out there and think that food must have a large part to play.

Last year only some of the goats hay had alfalfa in it and I only gave oats to a few goats and did not give zuce oats. So he lived on hay and water. Since I lost my boy a week later the ram got picked up and I have let all the other animals into the field to eat down the grass so I know that I would not be able to find any weeds too well at the moment. I think a lot of reaserch should come up with some answers. If it is feed related than I do not want any more of my animals to get the same problems.
Live and learn the lessons, do not repeat the lesson learn it the first time.

Ah darn, missed this post. This is a sad thing for you to have lost this fellow, hope you are recovering emotionally from this. Still, find something to make you feel more happy this day, some time has passed, maybe gone from a deep roar to a dull roar, CynthiaM.