Orion

We lost Orion this past week.  He was walking slow and seemed uncomfortable so I took a look at him.  By the time I got to him he was down and I couldn't get him up.  My brother helped me get him into the goat box on the back of my truck and I took him to the vet.  My wonderful vet, Dr. Michael Ridlen diagnosed him with pneumonia.  Orion was running a fever over 107 degrees (102 to 103 is normal) with shallow breathing and a runny nose. My first reaction was - give him a shot of Amoxicillin or the goat version of same and he'll be fine.  No. Pneumonia in goats and sheep doesn't respond that easily.  

I looked it up.  Pneumonia is caused by several agents but is more commonly found in animals with bad water, bad hay and bad living conditions none of which are true for my goats.  But stress can also put sheep and goats at risk and our current stress has been a huge parasite bloom that jumped up and bit my goats.  The whole herd has been wormed a couple of times in the last few weeks including immediately after Orion's diagnosis.  We have been running fecal checks regularly and when a goat goes from 1+ to 4+ in just a couple of days there is an issue.

I had a great picture of Orion's nose sticking through the fence that I can't find.  It breaks my heart that he's gone and that I can't find the one totally perfect picture of him.