To read Leonard’s story up to now, please go here.
This is the best photo I’ve been able to get of the boys recently. They move around a lot! Boyd is eating some grain and Leonard is looking at the camera.
Yesterday, I posted on Facebook that I was feeling hopeful about Leonard’s prognosis. In the past ten days, he had only experienced two moderately wobbly episodes. One was caused by being startled by a loud noise. I left him with his mother and brother and monitored closely. He was able to quiet himself and didn’t require any intervention from me. The other occurred just after meal time. Meal time is a stressful time for him in general, but there was nothing abnormal about that feeding that I could see as a trigger for an episode. Again, I was able to keep him with his mother and brother while I monitored and made sure that he quieted down. This is a significant decrease of episodes and severity from the previous two weeks.
I’ve spoken with my veterinarian every time Leonard experiences a wobbly episode. I’ve also spoken with a veterinarian at UC Davis who specializes in small ruminants. Both veterinarians agree that Leonard appears to be experiencing a pinched nerve in his neck. The veterinarian at UC Davis said that, statistically, conditions like his get worse as they grow. She also said that a lot of this depends on whether the pinching of the nerve is related to an alignment problem that can hopefully just work itself over time or whether there is a structural abnormality. The structural abnormalities tend to be worse as they grow.
I am an incurably curious person and tend to want to know details and fully understand things that I encounter. Because I was still having some difficulty understanding what was actually happening, my veterinarian explained further. This is my current understanding of what she told me. When the nerves in Leonard’s neck get pinched, the whole spinal cord is not pinched, only part of it. The nerves on the outermost part of the spinal cord control movement in the hind end. The next layer of nerves control the front of his body. The deeper layers control things such as involuntary movement and organ function. Until today, Leonard’s wobbly episodes affected his whole body. That meant that the spinal cord was being pinched deeply enough to effect both of those layers of nerves.
The bad news for today is that Leonard had another severe wobbly episode. I was later than usual in getting out to give them breakfast. I knew that this may be stressing him out, but hoped that it wouldn’t cause him to get wobbly. I was very upset to see that he was, indeed, wobbly when I got out there. As soon as I appeared, he was able to wobble over to me and drink his bottle. I gave him an injection of steroid to help relieve any inflammation that may be causing the wobbling, as my vet had instructed.
By the time he finished his bottle, he was unable to stand up. I, of course, was very concerned and upset. However, needing to also be a mindful caregiver, I was observing him very closely. His front legs and head were not wobbling. Only his hind end was wobbly. When he wasn’t able to stand up, he actually was sitting like a dog. His front legs were straight, controlled, and supporting him. It was only his back legs that wouldn’t work.
As I always do when he gets severely wobbly, I scooped him up, laid him on my lap on the couch, and helped his body to quiet down. As soon as I had an available hand, I called my veterinarian.
I told her that Leonard was wobbly again and that it was a severe episode. I also explained what was different about this episode and my thoughts about it. She agreed with me. Since only Leonard’s hind end was affected in this episode, that indicates that his spinal cord is not being pinched as deeply as it had been in past episodes. Given that we’ve seen a decrease in frequency, a decrease in severity, and now even an improvement in types of symptoms over the past 11 days, she and I are both hopeful.
It is possible that he may be either recovering over time or outgrowing whatever is causing the pinched nerves. He is 5 weeks old and growing very quickly. If his condition was going to worsen due to growth, it makes sense that it would be worsening right now. Given the fact that it is actually improving, I feel that there is more likelihood that he will outgrow this problem than not. I can’t express to you how happy that thought makes me.
Of course, Leonard is still not out of the woods. Because we still don’t know the actual cause of the pinched nerves, we have to make educated guesses as to prognosis. It’s possible that he will play too rough with his brother and make his problems worse. It’s possible that he’ll be jumping and kicking all by himself and make things worse. However, if things continue as they have been, I feel hopeful.
A few weeks ago, I made the difficult decision to disbud and wether Leonard. Disbudding needs to be done before a kid is a few weeks old or it becomes more challenging to do well. I do not disbud kids who are conscious. This procedure is done by using a hot iron to burn the cells that make their horns so that they will not grow horns. I will not do this unless the kid is sedated. Not knowing what Leonard’s future will be, I had to think things through with a lot of “what ifs.” IF Leonard improved and IF he lived to grow into an adult, he would need a home. In this region of the country, a dairy goat without horns is much more likely to get a home than one with horns. Most dairy goat farmers here do not want their goats to have horns. Many dairy goats that have horns end up being slaughtered. I don’t like this fact, but I have to keep it in mind when making decisions.
Also, it is likely that his pinched nerve problems are a result of poor positioning in the womb and/or the birth canal. However, it is possible that they are caused by a structural deformity that may be hereditary. Even though he is unlikely to carry any genetic predisposition to this problem, I feel that it would be unethical to breed him in the future. There are other, wonderful bucks to use for breeding that are less likely to pass on an abnormality to their kids. So, I decided that I wanted to neuter him. In goats, that process is called “wethering.”
I knew that the sedative needed for disbudding would be risky. I knew that, because we don’t know the definitive cause of his problems, giving him a sedative could kill him. I felt that, if his condition was so severe that he may die from a sedative, it would likely be severe enough to impact his quality of life long-term. Of course, this isn’t an absolute rule, but it makes sense to me. So, knowing that the sedation could kill Leonard, I still decided to go through with the procedures. I did this because I felt that doing so gave him the best chance of a good, long life if he makes it through the next few months.
He tolerated the sedative well. My veterinarian disbudded him and wethered him. For those who are interested to know, she uses a burdizzo.* I feel that banding is likely to cause more pain and complications than burdizzo as does my veterinarian. There have been no apparent side effects of the sedative and the procedures.
For now, Leonard will continue to live and grow here. I will continue to give him time, care, and love. I will continue to monitor him and make decisions as needed. Today, I feel very hopeful that this problem will resolve over time. IF Leonard survives, he will either have a permanent home here or he will be placed in a home, as a pet, with only a few goats. He won’t be used for breeding and he won’t be slaughtered for meat. He will be loved and cared for as long as he continues to have a good quality of life.
I will continue to update. I will admit that I make smaller, more frequent updates on my Facebook page. www.facebook.com/meadowflyfarm You can check there if you want to get those updates, too.
*Banding is a common method of wethering a goat where a very tight rubber ring is placed at the base of the scrotum. The band cuts off the circulation to the scrotum. Without a blood supply, the tissue composing the testicles and scrotum die and fall off. I can’t comprehend how painful this process must be, at least until the tissue dies. Using a burdizzo entails pinching the blood vessels and spermatic cords leading to the testicles. This damages the vessels and cords enough so that the vessels and cords die, cutting off supply to the testicles. The testicles die and eventually deteriorate. The scrotum is left intact. There is no incision, so infection is rare. It simply seems to me to be a less traumatic, safer means of wethering.
Filed under: Compassionate Farming, Dairy Goats, Homesteading, Natural Living, pregnancy / kidding / freshening Tagged: dairy goat kid, dairy goat kid pinched nerve, goat medical mystery, goat pinched nerve in neck
