[Ag-eq] A day of horrors

[Jewel via Ag-eq]

Peter , as is becoming the usual state of affairs with a rabbit of his adventurous spirit, is safe 
and well.  Sam, my honorary shepherd, caught him this morning in, what used to be and will be again, 
the milking shed.
I think that, probably, he had been trying to get back to the enclosure to which he had returned 
after his last walk-about, but all the gates were closed.
When Sam caught and delivered him back into my care, such as it is, we talked for a while at the 
front door and, when Sam left, I took Peter through the house, which, to him, must have stunk of 
dog, a stench that was to be avoided at all costs, and then, compounded to phat, I attached his 
collar chain to the place in the living-room, which must have been even more redolent of the feared 
smell as it is where I tie Guideon up when there is food that can be snatched;  however, he may not 
have been as stressed as I thought he might have been because he eat a cauliflower stalk that Pearl, 
my homehilp put on the hearth in front of him.
Now, coming to the death of Heidi.  Today, being a public holiday, Queen's Birthday, the fecal 
matter that Joel, the vet, collected will not be sent to the lab for culturing until tomorrow, and 
we will not expect the results before Friday, at the earliest.
Joel is,fairly sure that Minstrel and Heidi's  killer was salmonella.
Apparently, it has been, particularly, prevalent in the Gore area for the past 2 years, and the 
danger times for it to strike are between the months of January and June, so that, certainly, ties 
in with the sudden death of the goats.
It, really, is just about impossible to spot as the animal, usually sheep or goats, looks, 
perfectly, well but is dead within 24 hours.  It's only manifestation, and one that is not a 
manifestation at all and is readily misread,  is the the animal looks a little puffed out which can, 
and usually, does mean that it has had a good day's grazing.  It strikes, mostly but not 
exclusively,  animals that are in good condition rather than those that are not!
The next thing is, and you have to be johnny-on-the-spot to be aware of it is that the animal will 
start to have diarrhea/scour.  This scouring may contain minute portions of gut tissue.
If detected in time, a hefty dose of penicillin may stop the advance of the condition, but, on the 
other hand, it may not.
Joel said that Heidi's temperature was well down, but here is the interesting fact, when I found her 
dead, and she must have died a very short time before I went out to the barn to give her another 
drink of dexalite, I found that her nose and tongue that had been very cold were back to normal.
Joel's explanation of this phenomenon was that it is rather like what the human body does to protect 
itself against hyperthermia;  warm blood is drawn away from the extremities and reserved for 
supporting the brain and internal organs, but when death is near, that warm blood flows back to the 
nose, ears and   feet, thus they return to near normal temperatures.

Salmonella is a condition for which there is a vaccine, and, indeed, Heidi and Minstrel had been 
vaccinated against it when they were kids, but, from the evidence, it needs to be boosted every few 
years.

       Jewel
from
--------------------------------------------------
From: <nfoster at extremezone.com>
Sent: Monday, June 02, 2014 1:17 AM
To: "Jewel" <jewelblanch at kinect.co.nz>; "Agricultural and Equestrean Division List" 
<ag-eq at nfbnet.org>
Subject: Re: [Ag-eq] A day of horrors


Hi Jewel:

I'm so sorry to hear about your goat and your rabbit.  It always seems that bad
things happen all at once.  I hope the vet is able to find out what happened to
the goat.  A few years ago one of my mules suddenly died and the vets had no
idea why.  She was fairly young and healthy.  We never figured it out and it
still bothers me.

Good luck catching that rabbit; you are always having a rabbit adventure.  I
wonder if you could get a live trap.  I've used them for catching cats, so
maybe it would work for a rabbit.

Please keep us posted.

Nella




Quoting Jewel via Ag-eq <ag-eq at nfbnet.org>:

> My remaining goat, Heidi died today in, precisely, the same way as her
> brother, Minstrel, did a week
> ago:  absolutely no sign that there is anything wrong and then:  WHOOSH:
> they are down and there
> seems nothing that can be done.
> I called the vet, but he didn't have any idea, but made some suggestions:  an
> infectious disease as
> the 2 goats had died within a few days of each other, salmonella or some
> such, but, personally, I
> think that it was my old nemesis of Clostridia, which is a
> naturally-occurring soil organism which,
> usually, is quite innocuous, and then, for some unknown reason, it goes manic
> and strikes at the
> speed of light and without any warning.
> The vet took a fecal sample which will be cultured and then he might be able
> to find out what it
> was/is.
> I have had goats die of gastro-enteritis which is caused by the C organism,
> but not for many years.
> When the vet came, Heidi's body temperature had dropped markedly, but on my
> last trip out to the
> barn to give her her next lot of dexalite, and found her dead:  she had died
> not long before I got
> out there, her temperature, judging from her nose and tongue, was normal:
> very strange!
> Not only did I lose Heidi, but my dog killed and eat one of my rabbits.  They
> had escaped: god knows
> how:  from there night shed and had come through into the backyard.  Guideon
> has been waiting since
> January for just such an opportunity and he took it, but Peter, the veteran
> escapee got away.  I
> don't know where he is now, but he was under the house.  I don't know how we
> are going to catch the
> little bastard, and I have to keep the dog on a long line until we do or I
> give up.
>
>          Jewel
>
>
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