I almost lost my goat UPDATE

So if anyone has followed my posting about my goat getting her front legs caught in the door, I thought I would give you a follow up on how things are doing.
Well we are now on day 8 from when it happened and Mocca is still not standing. I have been massaging her legs and body at least 3-4 times a day. She looks fine and in a good frame of mind. I feed her kids and she cleans them when I am feeding. The little girl does not always take a bottle and I was worried that she had started refusing the bottle untill I saw Mocca move. The kids saw part of a milk bag and raced over and started nudging for milk. Mind they did not get any milk that time as the teat was still hiding. So little girl drinks when she is hungary I am ok with that.
So yesterday the swelling in one leg had gone down , but her other leg was so large from the ankle down her toes were apart instead of together. I iced her legs and still no different today. I had brought some cream that ice's mussicles.
I phoned the vets to see if there was an anti inflamitry for her to take the swelling down. They said I would have to bring her in.
I told them I still had a lot of snow out the back and even if I could drive her out I could not get her to the truck. She is a 150 lb goat and I was on my own.
So 2 times they said no and I was upset on the phone enough that she knew I was close to tears. If I could get her there I would , but there was no way I can move her.
I went out to sort animals out got back and there was a message on the phone that the vet would come out after all..............so here I am waiting to see what will happen for Mocca .............I have just about everything crossed that I can to hope for the best. But have a feeling things will not end good today. I am hopeing it is an easy fix , but with Mocca not standing in 8 days I am worried.
Mind I do not understand why I had to beg to get a vet out here it was nothing to do with being booked up just them not wanting to come out to my place to see her. I am willing to pay the cash.
will let you all know what happeneds this afternoon with my girl.[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Oh i will have everything crossed as well, I sure hope there is something they can do to help her recover.
Good luck and I sure am rooting for Mocca.

Very strange the vet wouldn't come out, usually you don't have to ask twice.

Our vet is not a goat lover, so maybe that's why yours was hesitant to come out? He said they would hel us out with the goats "if we really needed it"

Have you been trying to get her to stand up and move her from side to side? One thing that is used in dairy cows to get them to stand again is a floating tank. It is a big tub that gets built around the cow and then filled with warm water to get her to float and hopefully to her feet. With a goat you could probably fill a big cattle trough or something like that with the goat in it.

so pleased they came out. We are building a sling tonight for Mocca along with physio on all of her legs. DMSO for her nerves as well as Pain killer every 2 days. Epsom salts baths for her front legs and medication for infection. She needs to be in the sling for 30 mins at a time every 3 hours. Guess I have a lot of work ahead of me. 10 days to make some improvement or she will have to be put down. Yes putting her down would be easy , guess I don't know where the easy button is. Mind she did say I had done a great job on her so far more than what most people would have done. If you have animals you have to do the best you can for them when you can.
I still have no idea why they did not want to come out all I know is I am thankful they did in the end.They are about the only vets in the area that will work on goats. All I know is I am thankful they came out when they did. Both front legs are now swollen which this morning it was just one. She said the one that swelled first has no feeling in it. Which I said wouldn't the swelling take away the feeling and she said yes. I was the one that surgested both the epsom salts and the DMSO.
Boy oh boy 10 days to see if I can get her walking or having feeling in her legs. She is such a great girl my Mocca. Wish us luck on building a sling. I went into town to get all the hard wear, to rig up a pully system. Pictures to follow.

Hopefully with some antibiotics and anti-inflammatories she will be up and moving soon.

I know what you mean, the vet closest to my house would not see my turkeys a few years ago when I had issues with meat turkeys and wanted to bring them in. Last summer I called to see if I could order eprinex, they wanted to see the chicken for an exam to diagnose mites. Really?!?! I found it elsewhere

Here's wishing you all the luck in the world CrazyChickenGirl!! I'm sending lots of healing thoughts to you and Mocca - you have a lot of work ahead of you so you need to take care too. Oh I hope this works out for you both!! Thanks for keeping us posted. Good luck!

Well I made a sling and my husband sorted out the way to pull her up. Seems she can stand at the back end but front end well lets say a lot of work. Mind for 2 -3 mins she did stand all on her own. Doeling fed off mom just fine seems she has a soar teat on the other side which is the side she has been laying on most of the time so will put some udder cream on it. I need to re make the sling to just support the from end for her. We soaked her legs in epsom salts and did some movement with her legs. I will re start again in the morning it was almost 10 pm before we got finished for the night time.
Off to the vets in the morning to get meds and pay my bill. Will find out then what it is ?
Oh well would rather give Mocca a chance.
Thanks for all the well wishes it does mean a lot to me. Even the vet could not work out why the door had given way and her legs getting caught , she said she thought even tho it was made with ply board is looked strong. Me well all I know is the doors are getting changed first chance I get.

Ok so I am happy at the moment for small steps. I made another sling which seems that I have to use both slings to work together , I got Mocca up and soaked her legs in cold water with epsom salts. massaged. Medication and pain killer. One kid nursed from mom so I bottle fed the other one. Mocca was eatting and kids behaving so I went to feed chickens for 5 mins right by the barn. Came back to let her out of the sling and released the straps and she kept standing. She was trying to move her front feet forwards and had already moved her back legs a little at that point. She stood for 15 mins on her own until one of her kids jumped on her back and boom on the ground she went. She looked at me like how did I get back down her , but it was such a big step to happen I am so happy right now and wanted to share that with you all. I have taken pictures so will post them later.

CrazyGirl, thank-you so much for sharing all this painful information with us. I appreciate all the knowledge you are sharing with a newbie goat person. I feel prepared for anything now!

I am so glad she is improving that sound very hopefull.
To bad the Vet didn't come sooner.
Until we got our new vet here in PG there
was no one to come out to the farm.
Now we have a great vet and it takes a
bit of the fear away when something bad happens.
Hope she makes a full recovery.

Schipperkesue wrote:CrazyGirl, thank-you so much for sharing all this painful information with us. I appreciate all the knowledge you are sharing with a newbie goat person. I feel prepared for anything now!

Sue I always think it is a good idea to share both good and bad on what is going on with goats and life. If someone else can benifit from my mistakes then I would rather they learn from my problems.
Mind the vet looked at the door where Mocca got caught in and she had no idea how it could of happened, but it did.
I have hope now today as she stood for 15 mins first time in the sling this morning and 10 mins when the kids got home from school. When she stood on her own it was after the 30 mins of being in the sling and I had given back her weight slowly so she could hold her own.
She is moving all her legs and that gives me hope.
I was trying to upload picture to photo bucket but it was not going well so will try again later so you can all see what we have got set up for my girl.
In the 8 years I have had goats and locked both kids with their moms I have never had this problem.

Good to hear some positive developments and hope you continue to see improvement each day. All the best!

So I just got in from the last time in the sling for Mocca tonight. Got her in it soaked her legs and put on the DMSO . I then tock off the sling and she then stood for wait for it 40 more mins. She was walking around her pen checking stuff out. I gave her a small handfull of oats and she walked across the pen to get them. She was both turning and backing up. I have been blown away by Mocca today by her want to walk and her strenght she has found. She even crouched down so she could pee as well.
When she wanted to lay down she went to bend her leg but then stood back up. 20 mins later she then bend both front legs that are swollen so she could then lay down. I straightened her legs for her and got her in a good position.
Wow is all I could think. Last night I left the barn feeling down and with not much hope in my heart. Tonight I felt like I was on a cloud floating back to the house.

that's great! so happy to hear Mocca is improving so well, keep up the great work

Mocca has been doing amazing this last 2 days. I have to help her up and then she spends the day standing. Last night I decided to see if she could stand on her own you know with some oats to tempt her ............well she tried to get up but needed me to push her back end forwards for her and up she went. Same again this morning .........however she decided to walk throw the doorway and got onto the milking stand. Last night she was head butting the door. I think she is feeling fantastic. Mind this morning she was trying to drink milk from her kids bottle which was funny. So if things keep going like they are I am sure she will recover. Mind she still has swelling in the one leg , but is on medication.

You are doing a great job with her. It shows what a bit of effort and love can do in these desperate times. I know I have been told many times by my vet it would be "easier"" to just put them down, but I am like you and if they have a chance to live I will do my best to get them there.
Your perseverance is amazing, keep up the good work.

Hidden River wrote:You are doing a great job with her. It shows what a bit of effort and love can do in these desperate times. I know I have been told many times by my vet it would be "easier"" to just put them down, but I am like you and if they have a chance to live I will do my best to get them there.
Your perseverance is amazing, keep up the good work.

Thanks so much Hidden River and you are right vets do not always get it right. Last year one of my does gave birth early and she had no milk or milk bag. All the colostrum I could get was cow and the kid died 12 hours later. Vet said never to breed her again as she had a runt of a kid and this year she had wonderful twins and a great milk bag.
I am always the one trying to save my animals not putting them down, so pleased to hear you are the same

Glad to hear about the good progress! Keep those updates coming.

So wonderful to learn of how much love and attention you are giving her to give her every chance she has. Good work chickencrazy. I have the utmost respect for you for doing all that you can to give her the best chance. That's how it should be for these animals we bring into our lives, IMO.

Latest update for Mocca is .............is she is driving me nuts She gets up most of the time on her own. Other times I touch her butt and up she springs. I have opened up the complete barn to her for a day so far, mind weather is ment to get nasty for a few days so she will be back in her small pen with her 2 kids untill that ends, as all the other animals will want into the barn as well. They do have other shelters but oh well I just hate goats when the weather is nasty as they do complain so much.....as do I.
Any way the swelling is coming down in her leg but she still has no feeling in it. Vet wanted her to stay in her medication , but to me 14 days was enough of injections.
But I am so pleased with how things have gone with Mocca and wanted to share the good news to everyone that has been sending best wishes to Mocca.
Mind her milk supply was reduced due to the 8 days on the ground when she could not get up so I top the kids up in the morning and hope that they get enough milk out of Mocca during the day time as if they are not bumping her for milk she will have no milk in the end.
So there you go folks good things can happen. Now just to get the feeling back in her foot would be great. It is still wrapped up and I have a wrist wrap on her leg called "Back on track" which made the differeance for her taking the swelling down along with getting the blood moving.

So glad to hear how well she's doing.

My Mom has sciatica and has days when she has no feeling in one of her legs -- she gets around fine, at least a goat has 3 more to help them stand! Just as Coyotes learn to walk with a stump if they have gotten them out of a predicament, your goat will do fine, feeling or not!

Post a picture sometime! I'd love to see her.

It's great to hear Mocca is well on her way to a full recovery, she's very lucky she has you, a lot of people wouldn't put the love and effort into her rehab

Mocca is back out with the other goats some fighting went on and I was worried on how it was going to play out with fights. Normaly two goats will go up on their back legs and come down and hit heads. Mocca did not do it but the other goats did and Mocca was ready each time and after 20 mins they left her alone. Her legs seems to be holding up and she gets up on her own.
Thank you all for all the well wishes for Mocca my girl , seems that with a willing to live and lots of work even goats can pull throw some nasty things.

congratulations!!!!