Goat Listerosis
We had a goat come down with what we found out to be listeriosis. We still don't know where from exactly but sounds like it can really be in anything. It was such a difficult situation to deal with. Fortunately for us, our goat made it through; and is now doing great. I wanted to write down what we experienced during this ordeal, so that others who have goats that are going through this terrible illness can gain a little more knowledge and hear our story. I found it difficult to get any information on the internet when I had searched.
Symptoms began on a Thursday afternoon. We noticed that our one-year-old Boer goat, Clare, was not feeling well. She had some diarrhea a couple days before, but now just looked sick. We hoped she had just gotten into something that disagreed with her; and that she would snap out of it soon.
Friday morning when I went down to feed the animals, the goat was really wobbly and then fell over and needed help getting back up. I watched her for a while and she was very unstable and couldn't walk in a straight line.
So I called our vet. She had me take her temperature which was 106 degrees. The vet came around 2pm that day and we gave her 2 liters of IV fluids and started her on penicillin and Betamine. The fluids and meds helped drop her temperature. Our vet left us more of the penicillin that we were to inject twice daily, and the Betamine to give as needed for fever.
A couple hours later when I got her back into their sleeping area in our garage, she collapsed on to her left side... and did not get back up for two weeks.
Saturday morning came around, she was refusing to eat or drink anything. Just layed there on her left side unable to even lift her head up. The vet called us with the results of the bloodwork she had done. She told us that in her opinion, everything points to listeriosis. And that most of the time this bacterial infection is fatal in goats. That they usually die within the first few days. But that the longer she stays alive, the better chance she has.
So we kept giving her shots of penicillin and Betamine. By day three we looked like she was losing the fight. She hadn't had anything to drink in days, the only fluids she had was the IV that the vet had given her. My husband (a firefighter and paramedic) decided he'd try to buy her some more time. He was able to get some equipment and managed to start another IV in the goat's neck. He was able to give her another 2 liters of normal saline. Crazy right?
Day three had our goat still on her left side, unable to get up or lift her head. At this point, her fever had gotten better, but that's about it. Even her left eye began to develop a white mass on it. We thought for sure she would lose it. I began frantically searching the internet trying to find anything else we could do to help her beat the infection. I found a blog post that mentioned adding a homeopathic supplement of Usnea to her water and even topically to the back of her spinal cord.
Day four showed no change. We were having to move the goat every two or three hours and placing her on fresh bedding to keep her clean. We had to forcibly roll her over to her right side and hold her down just so we could clean her, and cut matts out of her hair. As soon as we let go she would kick her legs frantically until she was able to flip back over to her left side. We got the Usnea from a health food store and started adding a few full droppers to her water. We would have to suck up the water solution in a syringe and squirt it into the back of her mouth while holding her head up. We also applied a few drops of Usnea to the back of her neck on her spine twice daily. This was one of the only "tips" I found from scouring the internet and I found it in this blog post.
Wanting her to have something in her stomach, we bought some grass/alfalfa pellets and would soak a bit in some warm water to create a slurry. We'd then suck it up in a turkey baster and slowly feed her the wet food, just a bit at a time.
Another day and we began feeling like she could beat the infection. But wondered if the effect the infection had on her central nervous system was going to be permanent or not. Would she ever stand, or even be able to feed herself again? She was so miserable and so dirty. We did our best to keep her comfortable. Moving her every few hours, grooming and cutting hair away to keep her from getting soars. We even draped her in our old Anthropologie duvet cover to keep her warm. Spoiled goat! Ha! Also, she was screaming all day long because she was lonely. I stayed with her as much as I could but could not be with her 24/7 so I get a Bluetooth speaker and played music and podcast for her so she wouldn't feel alone. Dax Sheaperd's "Armchair Expert" was a favorite of hers as well as Eminem.
We got some old sheets and fashioned them into a sling, and hoisted her from the roof of the garage into a standing position. We thought maybe if we could just get her legs under her she'd start to try to use them again. Kind of a goat physical therapy session. It didn't work at all. She wouldn't put any weight on her legs. They just hung there until she was too uncomfortable in the sling and we had to put her back down to the ground on her side.
We didn't know what to do. Sure she may beat the infection, but what would her quality of life be like if she was never able to regain the ability to stand or feed herself? We wanted to know if it was time to call it quits or not. I even asked a goat owner's facebook group that is run by vets who are there to offer advice and expertise. No luck. Thankfully someone saw my post and messaged me and told me about their goat who had gone through the same thing, with the same symptoms. She told me that it was a long road with their goat. That it took a lot of time and energy to care for her. But that after two weeks their goat was able to stand and walk again. This woman I am eternally grateful for since it was her that made me decide to keep trying to save her life and knowing there was a light at the end of the tunnel!
So we stuck with it. On day six we spoke with the vet again and she recommended we also start giving her shots of vitamin B; and she gave us an ointment for her eye that still has the large white mass on it. Being that my "inner hippie" is into homeopathic remedies, I have a large supply of coloidal silver at our house. We began adding a few drops to her water twice a day, as well as directly to her eye. The Colloidal Silver was just a shot in the dark and I figured it can't hurt at this point!
On day ten we finished the pennicillun shots. We were still giving her vitamin B, Usnea and Colloidal Silver in her water, ointment and silver to her eye, and Usnea to her neck. We're delivering about four or five turkey basters of water every few hours. She can now eat leaves that we hand feed her. And when we lay her head right on or in front of fresh grass/alfalfa she's able to nibble at it.
Around day 12 my husband was able to pull her into a standing position. She wasn't able to stand on her own without support. And she could only take about two supported steps before she'd fall back down to her left side. But we began noticing that occasionally she'd keep her self in an upright laying position with her head up every now and then.
The miracle came on day fourteen. Two weeks from the time she fell, and had been unable to get up... we went to go feed her and she stood up! It was the exact same amount of time that the kind lady on facebook told me it took her goat to stand again. Our goat still wasn't able to walk without assistance. And even when she would occasionally stand, it would only be for a minute and then she'd fall over again. But we were making progress for sure.
Day fifteen came and she had gotten even better. We helped her to her feet, let go, and she took a few wobbly steps on her own over to her water trough and began to drink. We couldn't believe what we were seeing. We helped her walk out into the yard and let go. She kept walking over to some food and began eating. After a few minutes, she would lose her balance and fall back down. We'd help her back up and she'd continue doing what she wanted to do.
Another day or two go by and now she's able to stand up on her own, walk without losing her balance, and feed herself. Around day nineteen the goat began running around the yard. That's when we knew we had beaten this thing once and for all. She was so happy to be able to get up and move around again. Our other goat was also excited. She was so happy to have her friend healthy again. She walked over to her and started rubbing her head against the head of her buddy.
Difficult doesn't even begin to explain what it was like to deal with a goat stricken with listeriosis. It was so hard to see her in such a miserable condition. We dedicated so much time and energy into nursing her back to health. And it all payed off. We still have our baby goat. Even her eye is beginning to look better. The white mass seems to be getting smaller and less opaque.
I felt that I had to put our story out there for others to see since I found almost no information on a timeline or possibility of recovery. I'm so sorry for you if you're experiencing what we went through. But know that you can beat this. Just like we did. It's just going to take a lot of hard work and determination.
Symptoms began on a Thursday afternoon. We noticed that our one-year-old Boer goat, Clare, was not feeling well. She had some diarrhea a couple days before, but now just looked sick. We hoped she had just gotten into something that disagreed with her; and that she would snap out of it soon.
Friday morning when I went down to feed the animals, the goat was really wobbly and then fell over and needed help getting back up. I watched her for a while and she was very unstable and couldn't walk in a straight line.
So I called our vet. She had me take her temperature which was 106 degrees. The vet came around 2pm that day and we gave her 2 liters of IV fluids and started her on penicillin and Betamine. The fluids and meds helped drop her temperature. Our vet left us more of the penicillin that we were to inject twice daily, and the Betamine to give as needed for fever.
A couple hours later when I got her back into their sleeping area in our garage, she collapsed on to her left side... and did not get back up for two weeks.
Saturday morning came around, she was refusing to eat or drink anything. Just layed there on her left side unable to even lift her head up. The vet called us with the results of the bloodwork she had done. She told us that in her opinion, everything points to listeriosis. And that most of the time this bacterial infection is fatal in goats. That they usually die within the first few days. But that the longer she stays alive, the better chance she has.
So we kept giving her shots of penicillin and Betamine. By day three we looked like she was losing the fight. She hadn't had anything to drink in days, the only fluids she had was the IV that the vet had given her. My husband (a firefighter and paramedic) decided he'd try to buy her some more time. He was able to get some equipment and managed to start another IV in the goat's neck. He was able to give her another 2 liters of normal saline. Crazy right?
Day three had our goat still on her left side, unable to get up or lift her head. At this point, her fever had gotten better, but that's about it. Even her left eye began to develop a white mass on it. We thought for sure she would lose it. I began frantically searching the internet trying to find anything else we could do to help her beat the infection. I found a blog post that mentioned adding a homeopathic supplement of Usnea to her water and even topically to the back of her spinal cord.
Day four showed no change. We were having to move the goat every two or three hours and placing her on fresh bedding to keep her clean. We had to forcibly roll her over to her right side and hold her down just so we could clean her, and cut matts out of her hair. As soon as we let go she would kick her legs frantically until she was able to flip back over to her left side. We got the Usnea from a health food store and started adding a few full droppers to her water. We would have to suck up the water solution in a syringe and squirt it into the back of her mouth while holding her head up. We also applied a few drops of Usnea to the back of her neck on her spine twice daily. This was one of the only "tips" I found from scouring the internet and I found it in this blog post.
Wanting her to have something in her stomach, we bought some grass/alfalfa pellets and would soak a bit in some warm water to create a slurry. We'd then suck it up in a turkey baster and slowly feed her the wet food, just a bit at a time.
Another day and we began feeling like she could beat the infection. But wondered if the effect the infection had on her central nervous system was going to be permanent or not. Would she ever stand, or even be able to feed herself again? She was so miserable and so dirty. We did our best to keep her comfortable. Moving her every few hours, grooming and cutting hair away to keep her from getting soars. We even draped her in our old Anthropologie duvet cover to keep her warm. Spoiled goat! Ha! Also, she was screaming all day long because she was lonely. I stayed with her as much as I could but could not be with her 24/7 so I get a Bluetooth speaker and played music and podcast for her so she wouldn't feel alone. Dax Sheaperd's "Armchair Expert" was a favorite of hers as well as Eminem.
We got some old sheets and fashioned them into a sling, and hoisted her from the roof of the garage into a standing position. We thought maybe if we could just get her legs under her she'd start to try to use them again. Kind of a goat physical therapy session. It didn't work at all. She wouldn't put any weight on her legs. They just hung there until she was too uncomfortable in the sling and we had to put her back down to the ground on her side.
We didn't know what to do. Sure she may beat the infection, but what would her quality of life be like if she was never able to regain the ability to stand or feed herself? We wanted to know if it was time to call it quits or not. I even asked a goat owner's facebook group that is run by vets who are there to offer advice and expertise. No luck. Thankfully someone saw my post and messaged me and told me about their goat who had gone through the same thing, with the same symptoms. She told me that it was a long road with their goat. That it took a lot of time and energy to care for her. But that after two weeks their goat was able to stand and walk again. This woman I am eternally grateful for since it was her that made me decide to keep trying to save her life and knowing there was a light at the end of the tunnel!
So we stuck with it. On day six we spoke with the vet again and she recommended we also start giving her shots of vitamin B; and she gave us an ointment for her eye that still has the large white mass on it. Being that my "inner hippie" is into homeopathic remedies, I have a large supply of coloidal silver at our house. We began adding a few drops to her water twice a day, as well as directly to her eye. The Colloidal Silver was just a shot in the dark and I figured it can't hurt at this point!
On day ten we finished the pennicillun shots. We were still giving her vitamin B, Usnea and Colloidal Silver in her water, ointment and silver to her eye, and Usnea to her neck. We're delivering about four or five turkey basters of water every few hours. She can now eat leaves that we hand feed her. And when we lay her head right on or in front of fresh grass/alfalfa she's able to nibble at it.
Around day 12 my husband was able to pull her into a standing position. She wasn't able to stand on her own without support. And she could only take about two supported steps before she'd fall back down to her left side. But we began noticing that occasionally she'd keep her self in an upright laying position with her head up every now and then.
The miracle came on day fourteen. Two weeks from the time she fell, and had been unable to get up... we went to go feed her and she stood up! It was the exact same amount of time that the kind lady on facebook told me it took her goat to stand again. Our goat still wasn't able to walk without assistance. And even when she would occasionally stand, it would only be for a minute and then she'd fall over again. But we were making progress for sure.
Day fifteen came and she had gotten even better. We helped her to her feet, let go, and she took a few wobbly steps on her own over to her water trough and began to drink. We couldn't believe what we were seeing. We helped her walk out into the yard and let go. She kept walking over to some food and began eating. After a few minutes, she would lose her balance and fall back down. We'd help her back up and she'd continue doing what she wanted to do.
Another day or two go by and now she's able to stand up on her own, walk without losing her balance, and feed herself. Around day nineteen the goat began running around the yard. That's when we knew we had beaten this thing once and for all. She was so happy to be able to get up and move around again. Our other goat was also excited. She was so happy to have her friend healthy again. She walked over to her and started rubbing her head against the head of her buddy.
Difficult doesn't even begin to explain what it was like to deal with a goat stricken with listeriosis. It was so hard to see her in such a miserable condition. We dedicated so much time and energy into nursing her back to health. And it all payed off. We still have our baby goat. Even her eye is beginning to look better. The white mass seems to be getting smaller and less opaque.
I felt that I had to put our story out there for others to see since I found almost no information on a timeline or possibility of recovery. I'm so sorry for you if you're experiencing what we went through. But know that you can beat this. Just like we did. It's just going to take a lot of hard work and determination.
Thank you for your post. I have one of my girls that we have gone through the exact same thing with. She is just now standing and walking again. She has good days and some bad days. On the bad days I worry she is relapsing and not going to make it after all. But with lots of prayer and continued support we are hoping for a full recovery. Thank you for your post, it gave me more hope that my sweet girl will be ok.
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