The week of March 18 started with joy and excitement for Mary Ann Bucklin and her family, when, in the earliest hours of Monday morning, their goat Ivory gave birth to a doeling. But things soon took a turn, leading to five days of ups and downs (and ups) for the baby they’d named Daisy.
“On Monday morning, we heard sounds coming from the barn and found Ivory had given birth overnight,” Bucklin explains. “We noticed the kid wasn’t nursing, and she fell over whenever we helped her stand. Following our veterinarian’s advice, we tried feeding her with a syringe, which perked her up but not for long. Our vet told us to take her to the New Bolton Center emergency room.”
Penn Vet admitted both goats.
“We did a complete work-up of each one. Ivory was healthy. Daisy’s heart rate and breathing were ok, but she was weak and had a low body temperature,” says Michelle Abraham, assistant professor of clinical critical care medicine. “Her mucus membranes were congested and blood sugar profoundly low. So, we administered an antibiotic to clear potential infections and helped her nurse.”
“New Bolton Center called us that night to say Daisy was improving, and we went to bed hopeful,” says Bucklin. “But the next morning we got a call that she wasn’t doing well and had a 50/50 chance with intervention.”
Abraham gave Daisy an antitoxin, an aggressive course of antimicrobial medications, and constant infusions of fluids and medications to help her heart beat and maintain her blood pressure.
Read more at Penn Vet News.
