Help Goat Owners! Can a goat vomit?

[cheeps]

I have (well had, hard to change tenses) two pygmy goats, Dexter and Yoda. They were born in March so they are about six months old. Last week in the middle of the night we had a horrible dog attack on our farm. Two crazed dogs came through, killed several of my neighbor's cats, and before they left they attacked my boys. Dexter was so horribly wounded the vet said we had no choice but to euthanize him. Yoda survived. The majority of his wounds were to his butt, belly, and neck. They are healing well. The doc put him on penicillian (sp?) injections once a day, and I scrub his wounds with betadine scrub and put salve on them. Since he's alone now (untill we find him a new friend) and in such bad shape I couldn't bear to put him back outside, so he's been living in my rottweiler's crate in the house with us for the most part. About five hours a day I do put him outside to graze. Today his appitite really seemed to be getting back to normal, so I let him stay out for about 8 hours. I just went outside to see him, and he was standing in a patch of dirt with some green stuff on the ground in front of him, it was dry at that time but you could tell it had come from him because he still had frothy stuff on his chin and his nose was red from the dirt (guess he was trying to wipe his face off, lol). So my question is, can a goat vomit? I know they chew cud so they have to be able to regurgitate, but I've never seen actual throw up on the ground. What could be wrong with my baby boy? Could he just have ate some green stuff that didn't agree with him? Of course I'm prone to panic at this point after the traumatic events of last week. I hope I'm overreacting!!

Here he is the day after the attack, hanging out in the dog crate. I got his "good side", lol

*edited my bad link

 

[cheeps]

Just went and checked on him again, and he is actively drooling right now. He is still eating and drinking though. What could cause this?

 

[kbhear80]

oh that poor little guy. im sorry for your loss and i really hope your little guy gets better!

 

[ksalvagno]

Your poor little guy. I sure hope he does ok. What is in the area that you let him graze? Yes, goats can vomit but it isn't often and usually it is associated with choking. I would be very careful with his diet. You may even want to just give him hay for a few days and see how he does. This could be associated with the dog attack. Are you giving him Probios? You may want to start giving him some probiotics daily for a while.

 

[Crazyland]

He is so cute and tiny!
Sorry I don't know anything about goats. Hubby won't let me have any.
Hope he gets better real quick.

 

[cmjust0]

Yes...they can "vomit," and it sounds very much like that's what he did. Lots of times, you'll hear it referred to as "slinging their cud."

Generally speaking, it's the result of eating something bad...like milkweed, for instance. If I had one who'd slung a cud and still seemed to be a little weird (and "actively drooling" = weird), I'd go ahead and administer some activated charcoal right away to catch whatever toxins that are still being released by whatever it was he ate...and I'd call a vet.

 

[cutechick2010]

Yes, like cmjust0 said, do call and tell your vet about it, even if he looks better by now. Goats can vomit, but it is NOT a very common thing, so does need to be checked on.

 

[CaGoatLady]

Make sure, with all the antibiotics, you are giving him some probios and check his temp. Mine aren't ever sick, but once in a while, when they've eaten more than they can handle at one time, they'll spew out the green slimy cud chunks, but never foamy...that would suggest over eating or bloat.

 

[ruth]

Quote:
I really, really hate to say this because I'm only taking a horrible guess - but have you thought about rabies? Did the vet say anything about a possibility? If it was a couple of "crazed" dogs coming through attacking and killing everything I would be very concerned. I'm so sorry. He is so cute.

 

[pardygwyn]

Only a week after the attack, it wouldn't be rabies. So we can lay that thought to rest.

It does sound like he's eaten something nasty though. You've been given some great advice on how to deal with it. Hope he feels better soon!