Thursday, March 27, 2014

Hardest kidding season yet

If yesterday's blog posting made you want goats, today's post may change your mind.

When I woke up this morning Lulu's eye was not only cloudy but it was swollen.  I called the vet and they said they could squeeze me in at 4:00.  I had also noticed that Lollie's eyes were crusty and stuck shut so I was assuming Lulu had pink eye and had passed it along to Lollie.  LG's eyes still look fine.

Lily is the only doe I kept from last year's kids.  I couldn't wait to see how much milk she produced because her mom, Luti, is my biggest producer.  For some reason I didn't write down Lily's breeding date so I had a 3 week window for when she was due.  Her ligaments in her back end got soft a few weeks ago and I was having a hard time guessing when she would kid.  Her body behaved very different than all my other does pre-kidding.

I spent a few hours cleaning out the barn this morning so I had plenty of time to watch her.  I was sure she was going to have kids today.  I was right.  She went into labor about 45 minutes before it was time for me to take Lulu to the vet.  I knew that would happen.  The last kid showed its face a few minutes before I should be leaving.  When I saw the afterbirth after delivering twin boys I breathed a sigh of relief - good, no triplets.  Then she had another contraction and screamed as she pushed again, hard.  What she pushed out was not a kid.  It was her uterus.  James and I stared at it in disbelief.  It looked like a giant jellyfish and I couldn't tell what was what.

I quickly called the vet and told them I was due there in 20 minutes but had another emergency.  They asked if we could drive her there.  James wrapped Lily and her dangling uterus in a blanket and we were able to lift her into our station wagon/farm mobile, along with her twins and Lulu.  The vet showed up a little after we did.  He was out on farm calls.  He was so matter-of-fact and relaxed about it all.  Everything he did to Lily was done in the back of our car.  He kind of cleaned up and then with great effort pushed her uterus back in and then explained to us that he still had to turn it right-side-in.  I hadn't thought of that.  As he did all this he kept talking and answering all our questions.  After he got it turned right he got a hose and pumped water into it to weight it down.  Then he stitched her vagina closed with "the purse string suture".   The thread he used looked like a shoelace.  I couldn't see all this because I was in front of Lily holding her in one place.  James was in the back holding her backside up by her tail so he got to watch it all and asked plenty of questions.  He pulled some of the afterbirth out but told us to expect a little more.  He didn't pull the suture too tight that she couldn't pass the rest.  He told us not to forget to cut the suture sometime after 2 weeks.  I assured him we wouldn't be forgetting this.  A shot of oxytocin and an antibiotic and he said she was good to go.   Now we watch her and wait to see how she heals.  She doesn't seem at all interested in the twins.  I have her locked in a stall with them and I gave them their first colostrum I had in the freezer from the other does.  Lily didn't want to stand to let me milk her or let them nurse.  I gave her a shot of Banamine for pain hoping she comes around and warms up to her kids when she feels better.  I found her eating when I checked on her last so that was a good sign.  I also noticed the twins hooves are very soft like they're not fully developed so I wonder if they're a bit premature.  They're also slow to stand.  They're 5 hours old and I haven't seen them walk yet, though they are alert and wiggly.

The vet gave Lulu an antibiotic and sent us home with a syringe for the other two girls too.  He also put some terramycin in her eyes and I did the same to Lollie when I got home.

Right now I have 3 little diapered goats on the couch with me and that's nice.  We're all tired.  

6 comments:

  1. Oh my goodness. What a day! You are a trooper. Hang in there, it can only get better- right?

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  2. Hope you get some good rest tonight. I need rest too. Spent the last 3 days with a friend who had hip surgery in SC. I slept in her hospital room last night on one of those chair/beds. Watching anyone you love go through all that medical intervention is exhausting! Her surgery went well too.

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  3. Amazing . . . hang in there. what a story.

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  4. Oh my gracious Karen! How is Lily now? And the babies? What a scare. Love,
    Phyllis

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  5. Oh my gracious Karen! How is Lily now? And the babies? What a scare. Love,
    Phyllis

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  6. I saw Dr. Pol, on television, handle the same event with the same sort of non-plussed attitude. Shove it in, lots of water, antibiotic. Must happen frequently. What an adventure! Hope she eventually takes an interest in her babies.

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