Casper was born on my friend Tracy's farm and went into the brush herd when he was old enough. He retired from the working life when Tracy left the business. We have always jokingly called him the unfriendly goat because he is very skittish and always acts like we are there to eat him, not feed him. She called me the other day because Casper had been off his feed for a couple of days and was now down, and she had no idea what the problem was. I went over with some antibiotics, because he had gotten a pretty bad cut on his ear and Tracy was worried it had gotten infected and gone systemic. That didn't turn out to be the problem.
He was lying down by himself and doing a strange hiccuping thing that neither of us has ever seen a goat do before. His pupils were super contracted, which was another strange symptom. I have him the antibiotic injection and then went home, because we couldn't think of what else to do. Once I was home, I was reading about the ocular system in my goat medicine book and had a brainwave. I called Tracy, who said she was just texting me to tell me that Casper is blind. I was calling her to tell her the same thing. There are several reasons a goat can suddenly go blind, but I think he has developed polioencephalomalacia, otherwise known as goat polio. It is not viral like the human version, but basically results from a thiamine deficiency. Goats manufacture their own thiamine in their rumen, which is the first of their four stomachs. The bacteria in the rumen produces the vitamin, which is essential for proper nervous system function.
Goats can have a similar reaction if they eat bracken ferns, because the ferns contain a chemical called thiaminase, which mimics thiamine and prevents the brain from absorbing the real vitamin. This happened to another of the brush goats a few years ago, but Carl didn't go blind, he was paralyzed. The treatment for both bracken poisoning and polio is the same: massive doses of thiamine. We don't have just thiamine on its own, so we had to give Casper a B complex injection, and it was a big one. He has gotten a dose twice a day for three days and is back to eating, although he is still blind.
Of course, all this came about on a Saturday, and although our wonderful vet will answer texts on weekends, Tracy didn't want to bother her. She called on Monday morning, and the vet said we were doing everything right based on the symptoms. There is no way to definitively diagnose the polio without sending a poop sample to a lab, and since the treatment is relatively simple and not harmful, we decided we didn't need to bother. It's only to satisfy my own curiosity that I wish we were sending in the sample. I guess we'll never know. And we'll probably never know what upset his rumen bacteria so they stopped producing thiamine. The bracken ferns are all dead now so they can't be the culprits.
So that's the story of Casper and his medical mystery. I'm sorry for going full nerd there, but I found the whole situation really interesting and a great learning experience. His vision should gradually improve, and hopefully it will go back to normal, although some permanent blindness can occur. For now he's getting probiotics to jump start his rumen and probably a week with brewer's yeast in his food to deliver extra B vitamins. And we're keeping our fingers crossed.
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Poor Casper! Well, at least he's not going to be a friendly ghost! Hopefully, he'll get his eyesight back and be himself again in no time.
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Poor Casper! I am so glad you are on top of this for him!
It has been an adventure for sure!
A similar thing can happen to humans if they eat too much horse tail as a supplement.
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Horsetail is really bad for goats, but I've heard it can be used for humans. Horsetail roots go down so deep into the ground that they suck up a lot of silicates, which can give goats urinary stones, which are often fatal for boys. We try to keep them away from it as much as we can. Good to know about the side effects for humans, though.
Horsetail is good for energy and hair and nail growth. But it can reduce certain b vitamins as well in large doses.
Wow - what an adventure. I'm glad that you're so quick to look things up though and figure out the answers. I hope Casper regains his sight soon.
I hope so too. He's an odd goat but so beautiful, and he really means well!
Poor Casper, although seems he might be on the mend soon? If he has any lasting vision-loss might I suggest some spectacles. Now that would make a good post! 😃
Hahahaha! That would make an excellent post! We'll keep an eye on him for the next little while and hopefully he'll be okay.
No disrespect to the old boy, but I've got my fingers crossed for some spectacle action...🤞 😁
You can go full on nerd anytime as far as I'm concerned. That was a very interesting post!
Thank you! I have been obsessing about this for days, and wasn't sure how interesting it would be to non-goat people. I really like the challenge of a differential diagnosis, and I learn so much every time I have to do one.
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@goat-girlz Poor Casper, I do hope he gets his sight back.
I hope so too!
Your knowledge of goats and their aliments are impressive. 😊
Thank you! I learn something new every day. The more I learn, the lower the vet bills get.
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Full nerd? No way, I totally enjoyed the goat story! Not having the good fortune to own any goats, I'm always finding reasons for kitties' behaviours... Theories and deductions about their well-being interest me greatly! :) But I do hope Casper regains his eyesight...
I'm glad you enjoyed the story. He is doing much better now, but his eyesight hasn't returned yet. It can take a few weeks. I do the same thing as you do with all my animals; trying to figure out why they are doing whatever it is they are doing. How is CC?
Poor Casper. I'm glad you got to the bottom of it. Nobody wants an unhappy goat!
No indeed! Unhappy goats have a way of spreading their unhappiness around!
Very interesting ... greetings and good wishes to the cool unfriendly goat :)
Thank you! I will tell Casper you said hello!
You're sorry for going full nerd? Never! This is one of your most endearing qualities!! I'd never heard of a goat suddenly going blind with goat polio. Or the fern that mimics thiamine. I'm oddly reminded of the explorer Doug Mawson and husky dog livers... but that is a long awful story!
Mawson and Mertz: a re-evaluation of their ill-fated mapping journey during the 1911–1914 Australasian Antarctic Expedition
I'm so glad you find nerdiness endearing! I checked out the story about the dogs, and I think I will skip both the book and the movie. I don't think I could handle reading such a horrible story! I can see why you thought of it, though, with the vitamin A theory.
The book was horrific - I will spare you any further details.
Did the husky livers poison the explorer who died and drive Doug Mawson mad? All these years later, theories continue to be improvised and revised.
Mawson lived for many decades after that. Anyone with the fortitude and courage to attempt such an expedition in the first place if made of better stuff than I am!
Ooh, glad I googled it - I didn't know there was a movie! https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0357613/
The book was a brutal, brutal read.