Being ill is NEVER a good thing. Our first encounter with illness was when I went to the goat barn on December 17th and saw one of my weathers Red bloated, I panicked! He was down with his stomach looked like he had swallowed a balloon — obviously bloated. Bloat in goats is a life and death situation and an emergency. I gave him 60 cc of peanut oil and called my vet.

My regular vet, Rocky River Large Animal Vet Services, came out in about two hours. Fortunately, Red was standing up when Dr. Featherstone arrived. But he did his magic anyway and gave red more oil plus some shots for infection and pain.

On the 18th I became ill with a stomach virus and could not leave the house. So Bob took care of our critters. I ventured out of the bedroom on the 22nd then on the 23rd Bob became ill with the same stomach virus and was down for the count until the 24th. Needless to say, we had a different Christmas than we had planned.

Also not good news was Jewel, another goat, became a bit bloated on December 23rd but not as bloated as Red. I have her some peanut oil then went back to bed. What a trip!

Red was fine but now Jewel was not doing well. She went off her feed on January 1st. A goat off feed is never good. Sooooooo, I gave her some more peanut oil and a shot of B12 (goat stomachs are complicated because they have four; suffice it to say, long story – short, B12 stimulates their appetite). But it didn’t work this time. She was still not eaating. Now I’m panicking again.

On Friday, January 3rd, I called Rocky River again. The soonest they could get a vet out was Monday  the 6th at 11. Now we have the weekend to keep our lady alive. Saturday morning I gave her 170 cc of peanut oil, a shot for pain, and an antibiotic. Hopefully these meds would help her.

When our vet arrived, she determined that Jewel was no longer bloated but that she had  mastitis, a painful inflammation in her udder. Unfortunately, Jewel’s udder had become infected several months ago due to a bacteria that entered her udder, probably through a break in her skin. Her udder is hard in spots and only recently has it begun to drain. I left the drain alone so the puss would come out.

Again, long story-short, the vet gave her some pain meds along with an antibiotic, cleaned and drained a bit of her udder. The next day Jewel began eating and is going much better.

Clearly I don’t do well when my critters are doing well. What a Christmas we had. Bob and I are finally over our stomach virus, both goats are now eating well and on the mend.

Whew! What a trip!