Goat Diseases

Acidosis

Cause

• Overconsumption of, or unaccustomed access to, high risk grain such as wheat or barley

Clinical signs

• Mildly affected → diarrhea

• Severely affected → stop eating, cow-pat feces, scouring (diarrhea), slow/no rumen movement

• Can be fatal (don’t die from actual acidosis but from secondary diseases); other slow recovery

Treatment

• Remove animals from grain, feed good quality hay, and provide access to water

• Treat with a paste of sodium bicarbonate (bicarb soda) at a dose of 100g/goat

Barber Pole Worm

Cause

• Blood sucking Barbers Pole (Haemonchus contortus) is a common worm in goats; lives in abomasum 

Clinical Signs

• Anaemia, lethargy, failure to gain weight and bottle jaw; death can occur; severe anemia  

Treatment

• Drenching with an appropriate and effective drench

Botulism

Cause

• Clostridium botulinum 

Clinical Signs 

• Loss of appetite, excessive salivation, labored breathing, paralysis of limbs 

CAE (Caprine Arthritis Encephalitis)

Cause

Viral disease of goats

Vertical transmission

Clinical Signs 

Arthritis, lameness, pneumonia, hard udder, encephalitis (generally in kids 2-4 months), hindlimb paralysis, death

Treatment

None, affected for life 

Cheesy Gland (CLA)

Cause

Bacterial infection that causes abscesses in the lymph nodes and lungs

Abscess of the lymph nodes may occur in the head, neck, shoulder, flank or udder

Treatment

None

Prevention

Vaccination

Coccidiosis

Cause

• Caused by a protozoan parasite which invades the cells of the intestinal walls

Clinical Signs

• Severe diarrhea, straining, generally a disease in kids, can occur in adults due to stress

Treatment

Sulpha drug, electrolyte therapy

Copper Poisoning 

Cause

Accumulation of copper in the liver to the toxic level

Clinical Signs

Sudden death, jaundice, red urine

Flystrike

More common in sheep than goats

Clinical Signs

• Flystruck animals will generally appear sick and restless and will often separate from

• Flystruck areas will be damp and foul smelling with maggots

Treatments

• Shear hair, remove maggots, apply flystrike dressing, cull infected goats

Footrot

Cause

• Highly contagious bacterial disease of goats

Clinical Signs

• Lameness, mild redness, alopecia, putrid smell, no swelling or pus

Treatment/Prevention

• Foot baths, antibiotic and vaccinations

Hardware Disease

Cause

• Swallowing hard metallic objects such as wire, needles or nails. The object perforates the reticulum or rumen and causes leakage of gut content into the abdominal cavity; rare in goats 

Clinical Signs

• Loss of appetite, fever, low respiration

Treatment

• Magnents, antibiotics 

Hydatids

Problem

• Fatal disease in humans

Cause

• Hydatids are the cystic stage of the dog tapeworm Echinococcus granulosus

• The larval cyst forms in intermediate host animals such as goat

Treatment

• None

Johne’s Disease

Cause

• Also called paratuberculosis

Clinical Signs

• Severe wasting (major drop in body condition) leading to death

Treatment

• None

Listeriosis

Cause

• Bacterial infection caused by moldy silage or spoiled hay

Clinical Signs

• Head tilt, facial paralysis, abortion, high mortality rate

Treatment

• Antibiotics

Mastitis

Cause

• Inflammation of the mammary glands

• Caused by bacteria, fungi, or mycoplasma

Clinical Signs

• Swollen, hard, red udders, drop in milk yield, abnormal milk color and texture

Treatment

• Antibiotics

Milk Fever

Cause

• Calcium levels in blood fall below normal; last few weeks of birth, or the first few weeks of kidding

Clinical Signs

• Staggered gait, muscle tremors

Treatment

• Calcium injections

Polioencephalomacia (PEM) 

Cause 

• Deficiency in thiamine (B1); could be due from high grain diets or diets with plants that contain high amounts of thiaminase 

Clinical Signs 

• Blindness, star gazing or lowered head, convulsions, downed goat has head and neck arched back stiffly 

Treatment 

• Thiamine or B1 injections 

Pregnancy Toxemia

Cause

• Common disease of ewes in the last six weeks of pregnancy and immediately after kidding

• Doe breaks down her tissues is too rapid, toxic wastes from the breakdown process accumulate and pregnancy toxaemia occurs

• Seen in either very thin or very fat does and does carry triplets or quads

Clinical Signs

• Swelling of lower limb

Treatment

• Most goats die even with treatment

Pulp Kidney

Cause

• It is a clostridial disease that mostly affects kids grazing lush feed but can occur in all ages of goats that are heavily grain fed
  

Clinical Signs

• Most are found dead, initial signs convulsions and frothing at the mouth

Treatment

• None

Salmonellosis

Cause

• Salmonella bacteria

Clinical Signs

• Fever, diarrhea

Treatment

• Antibiotics, electrolyte therapy

ZOONOTIC

Selenium Deficiency 

Clinical Signs 

• Generally seen in spring born kids at 3–4 weeks of age

• Affected kids walk with a stiff gait and appear weak

Treatment 

• Selenium can be administered to affected goats by injection or as a drench

Tetanus

Cause

• Tetanus is a clostridial disease that mostly affects kids within three weeks of marking

Clinical Signs

• The main signs are muscle spasms including head tremors, restricted jaw movements, dilated nostrils and pricked ears

• The tail is generally held out and there is stiffness in the legs

Treatment

• None

Prevention

• Vaccination

Urolithiasis

Cause

• A common ailment of male goats

• The calculi form when minerals in the bladder precipitate to form crystals

• The crystals grow in size as more minerals are deposited

Clinical Signs

• Urinary calculi can’t pass, the urine will become backed up and will start to be absorbed into the blood stream and the bladder may rupture

Treatment

• Urinary calculi are lodged in the tip of the penis, it can sometimes be milked out or the worm like structure removed from the end of the penis with scissors

• Surgical removal however this is rarely economical