A six-week-old Boer Goat kid has joined the LGRS family. She came to us a week ago as a “bottle baby” from a local couple here in Bosque county. She’s still on the bottle but growing stronger each day. “Gypsy” cannot be integrated with the other goats or sheep at present because she is not as sure-footed as she needs to be for that. In fact, she needs help getting up. Once erect, she has no problem getting around as you can see from the video. She will gambol and sometimes attempt a small rear kick, but if she loses balance, she will easily fall over.
If she’s tired from running around, she’ll plop down, close her eyes and take a nap. If she’s not yet tired out and she falls down, she’ll kick and fuss until she gets some help to stand up again. We are feeding her milk replacer, vitamins and minerals, and introducing her to hay and goat pellets. She is trying to nibble the hay, but she’s not quite ready for outright munching. We are considering a mash of pellets for her as we slowly wean her off the bottle.
Our vet believes Gypsy’s trouble in getting up on her own is a congenital, neurological problem. We are hoping that as we fatten her up and put more muscle on her, that she may overcome the problem. At feeding time we are also manipulating her legs and massaging her muscles to stimulate blood flow and tone her up a little. We are not sure if this treatment is effective, but she tolerates it well and we con’t think it’ll hurt to try.
Gypsy also seems to have vision issues. She can clearly see, but it doesn’t seem that she can see you from across the room. If any volunteers are interested in visiting Gypsy and perhaps feeding a bottle to her, let us know and we’ll make arrangements for your visit.
