A Question of Testing
Did I OVERREACT and put Natasha and Chloe down prematurely?
Johne's
disease can be tricky to find and get a definite diagnosis. When I learned
about the positive test result I acted to defend my herd. I didn’t want a
questionably sick goat pooping all over my property and getting the rest of my
herd sick. Should I have taken a fecal to confirm the diagnosis? Yeah, probably.
The thought did cross my mind when we went to put her down. I was also advised
that a necropsy would have been best to get a 100% diagnosis, but again, I was
trying to act in the best interest of the rest of my animals.
One thing that I really wanted to know was, to what degree
was Natasha infected?
The lab that tested her blood didn’t give out numbers to give me an idea. That didn’t sit well with me, so I decided to request to have her serum shipped to a lab that would give me those numbers. I shipped it to the Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory and with in a week I had the sample retested. The results gave me a number 40.79, and on the sheet someone had written “Very High”. I was pretty sure that wasn't good, but I decided to give Mike a copy of the test results and have him take a look. He pretty much confirmed what I was suspecting.
The lab that tested her blood didn’t give out numbers to give me an idea. That didn’t sit well with me, so I decided to request to have her serum shipped to a lab that would give me those numbers. I shipped it to the Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory and with in a week I had the sample retested. The results gave me a number 40.79, and on the sheet someone had written “Very High”. I was pretty sure that wasn't good, but I decided to give Mike a copy of the test results and have him take a look. He pretty much confirmed what I was suspecting.
"The test result from WVDL is exceptionally high and in my experience this means it is virtually certain that this goat had Johne’s disease. As I explained, a 100% guarantee of the diagnosis is only possible with a fecal or tissue sample from the goat.”
Mike
In
conclusion, yes, there were things I could have handled better when it came to testing. I can't say 100% that she was infected, but with the information I was able to obtain I feel she was. I am
confident that by putting both Chloe and Natasha down I was doing what was best
for them. Given Natasha’s high numbers, I would guess that it would not have
been long before she began showing symptoms and probably suffering. If I hadn’t
tested her, I would have had her bred and she would have probably spread the
disease to her kids and the kids of my other goats.
Chloe was more
than likely infected and may have lived a few more years, but it would have
been only a matter of time before she started spreading the disease as well. This information will also prompt me to take measures that assume she was infected, I figure better safe that sorry.
I have also been in a situation where I felt I had to act quickly to defend my herd. One of my wethers had an abscess that had all the characteristics of CL.
ReplyDeleteBetween questioning myself and the many people who just seem to know better than I (even though they're not living my adventure), I thought I'd go bonkers.
After much agonized soul-searching, I finally came to the conclusion that it is more important to lose an animal or two to ensure the safety of the rest of the herd.
Not an easy decision (and in my case, the animal in question tested negative for CL), but if I had to do it over, I can't say that I would have done it differently.
In future, however, we will have an isolation pen (which we didn't have at the time).
Raising goats is a learning process, and sometimes, there are some hard lessons.
I agree. It sure can be a hard one once you are in that position!
ReplyDeleteI would have to say I functioned in a pretty steady state of confusion for a few days when this whole situation started.
It sounds like your rationale was pretty much the same as mine, even if it was heart breaking for me, I did what I had to do.
I also had to consider the tab I was running up at the vet and I was considering the fact that I would have to invest in MORE fencing!
It sure is an adventure! At least we all have good stories right?
In the fall of 2010, I noticed the 9 yr old CAE+ doe had a hole in her udder. There was pus, so I called my vet (works on a cow dairy and loves goats) and he took a sample. I was thinking the CAE caused an abscess that broke. It turns out it was from the pseudomonas aeroginosa mastitis she had. She lost that half.
ReplyDeleteIn the spring of 2011, I noticed an abscess in that dead half & called the vet. He was out of town on vacation, so I lanced & cleaned it myself. A month later it was back, so asked if he would take care of it this time. He came to my place cause he was suspecting CL. It came back cause I didn't lance it in an "X" pattern & I cleaned it for several days, introducing bacteria back into it. He took a sample and sent to UC-Davis. He called asking if I used wood shavings for bedding....nope, straw. He said I HAD to have used wood chips or something woody. A light bulb went off...the fall previously, the power company came out & removed 4 Linden trees from under the power lines. They chipped the limbs & I used that for bedding. The bacteria in the abscess was Klebsiella...from using wood that wasn't heat treated.
Raising goats is a life long learning process!