I am reading a book a cousin bought me for my birthday (I think?). It's about the prairie. I had almost decided the weather people were paid a great deal too much to give us the weather because it was always wrong. Well, now I know why in this part of the country. According to my prairie book we get winds from 4 directions-wet SE gulf winds, dry SW winds, wet NW winds off the pacific and dry cold winds from Canada. With winds coming from 4 directions, I guess it's safe to assume it's hard to tell what the weather will be. I'll give them that.
However, yesterday was lovely and the rest of this week is supposed to be nice too. Monday we're expecting snow again but I'll soak up what we've got for now. Although, today was supposed to be warm but the wind's pretty bitter.
Some of my does are nearing the end of their pregnancies. Poor Fluer looks like she should have kidded weeks ago and she still has quite a few weeks to go. She looks like she swallowed a hot water heater sideways! Every move for here takes much effort and she grunts and groans with every step. I didn't want to be the bearer of bad news for her that she's not right around the corner from the finish line.
PJ is not settling. I took her to the vet yesterday and the initial prognosis is metritis (uterine infection). I kick myself for not catching it sooner though I did suspect it 2 months ago and treated her nearly a month ago after was sure she was not pregnant as the antibiotics I would have given her would have been very very bad for a growing fetus. But I've got/had a few forces at work against me. For one, she's not had a normal cycle all year with the last few being very very far apart. Most dairy goats cycle every 18-21 days so they're ready for breeding every 18-21 days. PJ's started out short cycling willing to breed every 5-6 days for about 3 weeks, then went to a 22-23 day cycle and now I am concerned everyone is going out of season. Most dairy goats in the Northern Hemisphere only breed from around Sept. to January (sometimes earlier, sometimes later). Some do cycling all year long but normally there's a certain window in the fall/winter.
I am waiting for lab results to come back early next week and it's almost as if no news is good news. No bacteria present may mean either I was able to kick the infection "in house" (great news) but it may also mean endometritis which is no more of a good thing than having the infection at all. Endometritis means they don't now the cause. No bacteria present (but still not settling) could potentially mean she'll need further evaluation, surgery, be 100% sterile or very hard to breed in the future. Bacteria present means I wasn't able to kick the infection but there is at least another option that's somewhat of an easy fix potentially.I can't imagine she'd have no bacteria present though unless I cured her since there was discharge. More on that later.
Are you appalled yet or enthralled? This next bit gets better. If reading about goat reproduction and body parts grosses you out, best to skip the rest of this post.
Q: How did she get it? A: I have no idea. I'll have to check back through my records but I don't think I had to go "in" and rearrange kids on her last kidding season. Which doesn't mean anything but more often than not, when you have to manually go in, obviously it opens up a lot of opportunity for bacteria and nastiness to enter the uterus. The infection It could be fairly recent from a breeding this season. It's very hard to say. There would have been no reason I wouldn't have given her antibiotics though after having to go in as I am aware of the potential for major infection. However, after doing some research on the subject, if I ever do go in to another goat again, I will immediately be infusing antibiotics directly into the uterus instead of giving it by injection.
Q: How did you know she had an infection? A: I didn't specifically. It was almost like hindsight is 50/50 thing though and makes me want to bang my head against the wall now knowing what I know. When she started the season off short cycling I thought it was peculiar but it can be normal when their bodies are trying to "figure things out". When she went from short cycling to long cycles I didn't think much of that either until I tried breeding her in Oct. (I believe) and she didn't settle. Tried breeding her again in Nov. thinking it may have been the buck I was using because he's still young and not proven, maybe it's him. She didn't settle again and at this point I was really thinking there was a problem and started looking at possible causes. I know it seems like I would have had a lot of opportunities to figure this out, but in all actuality, you don't really have that much time especially when their cycles are longer than average. And trust me, I didn't miss any. Know my goats and you'd understand, you don't miss a heat.
So anyway, about the end of November, first of December I thought she had what looked like urine scald (when urine sits on your skin and irritates it causing soreness, redness and sometimes even "burning" of the skin). I couldn't figure out exactly why there was urine on her back parts all the way down her udder. I mean, I know WHY it would have been there given the fact her urinary exit is there and all but why it was dribbling down there was beyond me. Long story short, it wasn't urine scald, it was actually vaginal discharge from an infection. I hadn't known because I've never dealt what that sort of thing before. Practically from Oct. on when I thought there could be an issue I have researched. Believe me, I have researched. I've run the gauntlet of reasons from worm load to mineral deficiency and in Dec. thought perhaps a uterine infection. Perhaps I mentioned that on the blog already. Early in Dec. she was in heat, so I bred her but at the same time contacted a goat mentor of mine who advised putting her on antibiotics.
So, just about 2 weeks ago I finished up her round of antibiotics. Still no sign of heat and she's way overdue at this point. The only thing that makes sense is that the season is over for her or it could have something to do with infection. The whole reason I took her to the vet in the first place was because, at the time I didn't know 100% for sure it was an infection, and I figured instead of wasting time in the event it was something like cystic ovary which usually is something simple to fix with an Rx injection, I would take her in and see if I could get some expert advice.
The vet wants to wait until the test results to come back before we go any further but says an intrauterine infusion would be the most likely option. He's not convinced, and understandably, that the antibiotics I gave her will due the trick. I have good reason to hope they may have as I received the advice from a long time breeder who has had luck on 2 occasions with it. I understand the vet's point of view. many studies have been done in regards to this (on cows) and because the uterus is a formidable wall, it's very difficult for antibiotics not directly infused to do much good. So, without the vet knowing it, we're butting heads on this one.
It's not that I mind having her infused, minus the fact that it's expensive and while it would be nice and rosey to think that all my goat's are pets and they just LIVE here and I just FEED them, that is not the case. Everyone who lives here must provide. If you do not provide, well I am sorry, such is life here on the farm...I think.
The bad thing is, is that, like I said, we are running out of time. We could very well be out of time. Unfortunately the vet doesn't know dairy goat. I guess he does see some boer herds (meat goats) but they are a totally different animal in regards to breeding. Most of them can breed all year round so to think we've got all the time in the world is quite wrong. And I expressed my concern here. And if she comes into heat, my plan is to go ahead and breed her, vet approval or not. If she settles, great! If not, then we deal with it. The problem is, getting her into heat. I asked him for some Lutalyse to artificially stimulate heat and he didn't seem enthusiastic about that option...again, he wanted to wait and see. So, I will give him his time to get the results back and, providing they are negative for bacteria (which, again, couldn't mean good news and it could mean somewhat bad or potentially very bad news) and I respectfully explain that I have reason to hope that my antibiotics did help her and that I would like to hold off on any infusion and go ahead and try to breed her but would like some Lutalyse to artificially stimulate her into season. In the mean time, I would like to have some blood work done to make sure we are also not fighting some type of mineral deficiency as well. Goats, I swear!
As far as the infusing, I could potentially do that myself. It doesn't mean I will, but potentially I could and I am seriously considering it. I would need some tools, and the tools for artificial insemination- which I plan to get into someday- would be about it along with some antibiotics which are OTC. The money I'd pay the vet to come out and do what I potentially could, well heck, I could pay for my A.I. kit! I know, I know...first it's goat breeder, then goat obstetrician, then goat gynecologist and some day goat fertility expert.
If the test comes back positive for bacteria, there's not much I can do other than infuse, It means I was not able to kick the infection. However, I cannot infuse without her being in standing heat. Her cervix needs to be open and this does not happen unless she's about to give birth or is in standing heat. So, just infusing her with some antibiotics vaginally won't do it. So, I'm a little worried about that, perhaps unnecessarily n regards to being able to get it done this season. I guess there's a few ways of looking at it that all make logical sense. The first one being, what's done is done. If it's ruined her, it's ruined her and I cannot do a thing about it. Secondly, it's possible the uterus has walled off the infection and it will just sit there, encapsulated until something comes to kill the nastiest which is not unheard of. Thirdly, it could get progressively worse which is why I am trying to be very aggressive about it but careful at the same time. Yes, we could manually open the cervix to infuse but then that opens a can of worms potentially by scarring her and while she may be healed from infection, the chances of leaving her scarred and unable to conceive are a possibility too.
I am hoping, if we cannot induce heat, and cannot infuse the uterus that we just wait it out until next season and can take care of it then. In all the reading I've done, not one bit of any research could give me a definitive answer. One would think it would get progressively worse, but no one can really say. They can only speculate.
Thinking about this more Thursday morning (and I wrote this post Wednesday morning), I could artificially simulate darkness and trick her body into thinking it's not as late in the season as it is to try to get a few more weeks out of her. This would be quite an undertaking really and not one that I'm really prepared for. Quite honestly, if we could hurry up with the Lutalyse I think that would be better. Although, I will discuss it with Jeremiah. Basically it would mean constructing something at the back of the barn where she could be in near to total darkness for a few more hours a day. Possibly in the afternoon when I put them away. I won't put her in the milk room, that would be a mess but I could construct a box of sorts...the back of the barn is rather dark already...hmmmm, my wheels are turning. At any rate, like I said, I will give the doc. his time and then figure it all out and hope between now and then she comes into heat.
So, that's been my life, or an aspect of my life. I really didn't think my post about PJ and her female problems was going to be that long but I figured I may as well educate you :o). It's all really quite interesting. Frustrating, but interesting. I'll be the first to admit that while this may be expensive and time consuming, I am learning a lot so it's not just a wash.
I/We will do as much as we possibly (financially) can for her, but past a uterine infusion and trying some homeopathic medicine here and if we can't get her to settle this spring waiting until the fall to try it again. If she is still the same in the fall, I'm afraid there is not much more that I am willing to try. I am hoping, if she doesn't settle, a good long summer rest on good pasture will do her well and we'll just wait and see. I am not giving up before we know for sure what's going on.
Anyway, I'll leave you with a couple goat photos.
(PJ in the foreground and Loli, Apricot and Granite in the background. Maybe that's Mea and not Granite, hard to tell but anyway...)
(And here's Fat Fluer)
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