Monday morning, I discovered Buttercup, away from the rest of the herd, walking circles around a tree, looking upward. At first, I thought she was looking at a bird in the tree, or maybe a snake. I went out to her, and discovered, to my dismay, that she startled by my sudden appearance. Now, Buttercup is our herd queen, and she knows she is the ONE in charge. Usually, she tries to assert her position over onto us humans as well. She has ALWAYS been a bully at first greeting of the day, running to me to ram me in the hip, if I'm not paying close enough attention to avoid it. As I watched her more intently, I became convinced that she couldn't see me out of one eye - I was right. She could not do anything BUT walk in a circle.
I quickly finished up the outside chores, and came inside to filter the milk from our Jersey. I searched and searched the internet, coming up with much of nothing at first. I got in touch with a dear friend that raises dairy goats as well, and she couldn't say exactly what the problem was, but she remembered it being some sort of intestinal problem, possibly a parasite. That was enough information to set me on the right path as far as diagnosing the problem. I also called the vet (this is not something I normally do, as most of the time, we handle things on our own). I had narrowed the problem down,and the vet confirmed, that it was 1 of 2 things, neither of which were an easy fix, or good problems to have. The vet gave us an original diagnosis of goat polio, possibly from sudden grazing changes from hay to grass only. Jimmy went and picked up some vitamin shots, and an antibiotic (If you know me at all, you know how much I despise antibiotics, but it was that or be certain to lose the goat). Monday came and went, and Buttercup was able to stand and eat grass, we were just having to lead her to water.
Now, Tuesday, she seemed a little better, as she was eating more, and helping herself to water, though she spent a good bit of time during the day leaning against trees, stargazing. Tuesday evening, as Jimmy and I went out to milk the cow, Buttercup fell down, and we couldn't get her back up. She was SUPPOSED to be getting BETTER, not WORSE!! We nearly had to drag her into the barn for the night (she is very heavy, and expecting to kid in about 6 weeks). I called the vet again, and she said it must be goat Listeriosis, rather than polio, which she could have gotten because we had not yet cleaned up the hay leftovers from the winter - she must have eaten some. The vet came out Wednesday morning, and said that she could be doing much worse, she had no fever, and she would eat and drink if we brought it to her. We gave her another type of antibiotic (ugh...), and refilled the b vitamins for a once daily shot for a few more days.
Most of the day yesterday, she couldn't bear her own weight, and would try to stand, only to fall. I decided late afternoon, that I'd attempt to trim her hooves while she couldn't fight me. I got 3 of 4 trimmed, and she suddenly jumped up, and hasn't been back down since!! YAY!! This morning, she even bleated at me quite a bit until I let her out of the barn. Hadn't heard that in a few days! She's still walking in circles, but at least, this is an improvement from yesterday!!
Now, about the Spiritual Lessons - As I've been collecting leaves, and new, easy to break limbs, full of new foilage for Buttercup to eat every few hours, as well as drenching (shooting down her throat with a BIG syringe) her with milk and nutri-drench for extra energy every 2-3 hours during the day, God has shown me how faithful He is to always tend to His people. He NEVER fails to feed me when I can't feed myself, He is always faithful to give me Living Water for my thirsting soul. Praise the Lord!! He alone cares for His sheep, never complaining with sighs that He has to do this again! At first, I was grumbling that this goat was taking up all of my day, messing up my schedule with schooling the kids, and baking. Then, as always, the Lord chastened me, and showed me in His gentle Spirit, that I'm supposed to be Holy, because He is Holy. The Lord gave me a sudden desire to be thankful for the sick goat, and bond with her in her time of need. He always comforts us in our times of need, why must I feel that I could treat the goat, that He provided for us to have milk for Justin from, any differently? Again, Praise the Lord, for showing me my selfishness. :)
The vet seemed to feel that she will have full recovery, within a week or so, and her babies should be fine, and ther should be no issues with drinking her milk once she kids again! :)
Now, I must go feed and drench Buttercup again!
Love in Christ,
Terri
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