Hypocalcemia Event!

Three days ago I noticed my 8year old Saanen doe looked a little ‘off’. She was kind of quiet, and her ears weren’t perked. The next morning, she did not want to get up. I finally did get her up but she was very weak and uncoordinated, with no appetite. She was slightly bloated, which I chalked up to a new feed mix I had introduced a few days ago, and on top of that, the new hay bale was mostly coastal hay instead of the normal ( and greatly adored!)perennial peanut…must have been from the edge of the field. At any rate, the herd was not impressed with it, and my Saanen must not have had any. She did love the new grain, though, and her milk production increased by 1/3 when it was introduced to her.

I began treating her for bloat, enterotoxemia, and tetanus, just in case, but she got weaker throughout the day…refusing to get up at all, moaning, labored breathing. I just did not know what was wrong with her, at all. Evening came and I went to sit with her. Her eyes were half way rolled back in her head, she was having a hard time breathing, she was trembling, and she was drooling on my arm as I cradled her head. I believed it wouldn’t be much longer before she was gone. I kept thinking of an e-mail that someone had sent me earlier that evening, that mentioned ‘milk fever’ a.k.a. hypocalcemia.…but they dismissed it as what could be wrong because though the doe was lactating, it had been over three years since she had freshened. Hypocalcemia is associated with animals who just began a heavy lactation following giving birth. I decided to look up the symptoms, and what I read made me get out my 23% calcium gluconate solution. I injected 20 cc’s sub q along her ribs, slowly, in several different locations. A few minutes later, I did it again. About five minutes later, I noticed her ears were pricked up for the first time in 36 hours. About five minutes after that, she laboriously got to her feet, urinated, and then laid back down again. I went inside for a couple minutes, and when I came back out, she was looking much more alert and interested in her surroundings. I fed her a few peanuts, her favorite treat. I then went inside to get my husband to have him see the improvement, and when we got back out to the pen, the doe was eating hay at the hay rack, head butting the other goats out of her way! I gave her 40 more cc’s sub Q an hour later as a follow up. About 2:30 in the morning, I went to go retreat her again, but when she saw the second syringe, she said ‘No thanks!” and got away from me. I gave her about 20 cc’s sub Q later in the morning. She was still not 100 %, but fully alert and picking at food, though that was minimal at best. I began to give her 30 cc’s of CMPK orally, and the next day ( today, actually) she is eating browse, and peed and pooped. I learned several lessons out of this adventure, more to follow up, but I am very grateful to God for still having my herd queen!