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“If people let government decide what foods they eat and what medicines they take, their bodies will soon be in as sorry a state as are the souls of those who live under tyranny.” Thomas Jefferson

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Twisted Bowel

We lost Strawberry last night. She went out yesterday afternoon with the rest of the herd to browse. She was a little reluctant when she left out of the barn and only when the rest of the herd moved far enough away did she move out to join them. She was supposed to have been pregnant and I had noticed that her belly was increasing in size especially over the past week. She wasn't hard or distended, just beginning to look pregnant. The day before yesterday she didn't really want me around her when I made my morning rounds. She let me briefly scratch her behind before she bolted away. I though this too was attributed to pregnancy and since I didn't catch when she was bred I though maybe she was closer than I thought. Well, I checked on her while the herd was out grazing and she seemed to be content with them doing what goats do. Then when I called the herd in for the evening she didn't come with them. I looked and she was laying down in the driveway, laying in a funny way like she just fell down on her belly. My first thought was that she was going to have a baby in my driveway. So I got her into the barn at which point she went down and wouldn't get back up. I went and got my husband and we picked her up and moved her into the kidding stall. I got all my meds to make my "rescue remedies". Even though her rumen was not distended I gave her a baking soda, corn oil, molasses drench. I did everything I normally do for whatever might be the problem although really I had no idea because she didn't have any typical symptoms. She started grunting and acting like she was having contractions, but then she wasn't dilated. Somehow I knew she was dying. She died within an hour of us getting her into the kidding stall. Again thinking that she was pregnant we did an emergency C-section. What we didn't find was babies. What we did find was a terrible bowel mess. her rumen was normal size, but her gut was a mess. Apparently it had twisted or impacted (I was holding most of it in my lap so not sure which at that point). She had loads of empty intestine (not normal) and one particular spot about a foot or so long that was incredibly distended and black. Her bile duct on her liver was also terribly swollen indicating that the digestive process had stopped. There is absolutely nothing that could have been done to save her nor prevent this. unfortunately it is something that happens. If you own livestock then eventually you will have deadstock. It just goes to how that since goats are prey animals they are experts at hiding pain and weakness. The intestine took quite some time to get necrotic, it didn't happen over night and she had been in pain while that happened for quite some time but she still acted normal until the day before yesterday. I am a bit sad this morning. I am a fixer and I just hate situations that I simply can't fix. unfortunately, we won't be able to use the meat for us since I thought I was doing a C-section and I nicked the bladder spilling all contents into the body cavity. The dogs however will get the benefit, they don't particularly care if their meat has been marinated in urine. At least she won't be wasted even though it was a sad night last night. Well, chores are waiting I had better get to it. Blessings, Kat

3 comments:

teekaroo said...

Definitely the hardest part of caring for stock. So much can go wrong and there's just nothing to do about it. Sorry for your loss and disappointment.

Missy said...

Praying for your family. You've been having a tough time. May God continue to give you strength and comfort you.

Kelle at The Never Done Farm said...

Sorry for the loss, it never gets any easier and being a small farm it always seems to hurt worse than a larger farm might feel. I still miss Ginger and we lost her a year ago to heart problems, literally days before she was due to kid, when I found her the kids were already dead as well, it was only 30-45 minutes after I'd last checked on the ladies, but still was to late and she had twins. Glad you can make use of her for the dogs, we didn't think about that at the time and just buried her and the kids.
HUGS and praying for healthy kids for you from here on out. Were ready to begin in a few weeks, three does and then again in July our two doelings will be first time kidders.