I called the vet asap and asked for help through an internet forum and went about the day nursing her and hoping for signs of improvements. Which by Tuesday night I thought I detected. Then Wednesday morning she looked worse and I packed her and the children into the car and drove to the vet. He checked her, said she looked better than he had expected from my description and gave her a colic relief injection. Went back home, she showed some interest in the greenery and I left her outside for a bit. As evening drew nearer though she started shivering again, and I made a coat of an old apron and polyester duvet and put her in the shelter.
Anyway, before bed I went down to check and she gave me one heck of a fright: white froth coming out of her mouth and hardly moving. I gave her some fresh water which she greedily drank and ran to call the vet. He recommended getting more warm fluids into her, so I warmed up milk and took a thermos with hot water to warm the other water with me and some hay.
She drank nearly two cups of the warm milky water and then just looked like she was going to sleep. Her breathing was very easy and slow and deep, to me it sounded good. And then her whole gut started rumbling and gurgling and swoosh, she had a proper mouthful of cud in her cheeks and started chewing it. And this time it must have been the right stuff because it sounded like the normal chewing, and not the teeth grinding we've had in the past day.
So I sat and watched her for 15-20 mins chewing the cud, and it kept coming up pretty constantly, and she got a look on her face that I interpreted as : "Finally!"
No drooling, and it was all, going down and up the way I had observed at other times, so after a while I left her to it, plenty of water and hay, and wrapped up nicely.
This morning I went down, with a bit of trepidation because I saw her sister out by the gate, and not under cover, but when she replied I could hear a little reply coming out of the shelter.
So, she made it through the night, and when I offered her warm milky water again she just gave me a disdainful snort and nearly kicked the container away!
She got up and walked to the water bowl and drank the cold water, then walked around and did a normal pee and poo, and went back in the shelter.When I took her sister out for grazing she followed and stood by the gate complaining in her usual voice
Anyway,
thanks for all the support from my very special LSB so far,
it sure has been another steep learning curve, and today I'll be getting the sewing machine out to sew a coat together properly and look for some weather proofing spray for the apron.
It makes me so sick to the stomach to go through this, I want to help, but as with all our animals there are financial limits we have to observe, and we NEVER would let an animal suffer if it was beyond our help, and the thought of maybe having to end a goats suffering.
Fortunately not today, but I will have to seriously investigate these things to be prepared when/if the time comes.
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