Not Fun

Poor Katie had to go to the vet yesterday for an abscess, two actually, on her cheek. It's not CL because of the location. Likely she is biting the inside of her cheek or has a briar lodged in there. Her teeth may need floated.

I've dealt with a couple of various medical matters with my goats over the past 16 months since getting them and let me tell you, I would rather do anything...seriously anything, like having to stick my arm halfway up a goat's wahoo even, than have to flush an abscess! It was traumatic for all of us. 

Katie's twin doelings stood at the gate and bawled most hysterically, which set us all on edge.

Not something the vet mentioned, but I found it helped to open the wounds better by first applying a warm compress of epsom salt solution so that the scab came off and it was easier to get the cannula up in there.

I had Ava helping me restrain her. I won't make her do it again in this particular case for the likelihood of causing her to forever hate goats because of it. It was not a job for the feint of heart. Even held in the milkstand, Katie was of a mind to buck out of there. Horses are easier to restrain than a goat! This is a 56 lb. goat!

I owed everyone a handful of animal crackers after that.

Julie, or Juji as we call her, is doing well for a 13 year old goat. She doesn't get into to as much excitement as the others, but prefers to pick a good spot and lie in the sun all day. We figured out last time that the easiest way to trim her hooves is to roll her over into your lap, lol.

I have found another reason to start bottle raising kids from now on, besides for managing milking or avoiding the hysterical hollering that goes on every time I have to separate them to work on anybody. I caught these big girls still nursing their mama. They are tubby little things and their mama is not. I thought Katie was looking thin because of her troubles chewing, but maybe that is less of a problem than I thought. I am going to have to separate the girls out long enough to dry her out.

I am on the fence about breeding Katie again this fall. She is an excellent mama, but I would like to get her weight up a little first. Her blood test for Johne's and CAE will be coming back soon. I don't expect any problems there.

Katie's birthday and her doelings' birthday is this Saturday, the 25th. Katie will be 12 and the girls will be 1.