At just a few days old Frostie’s pitifully little bleats pierce the ears and the heart just like the cries of a human baby. And just like human babies, baby goats otherwise known as kids, long for the company of their mother. They yearn for her sweet life sustaining milk and have the strongest desire to be safe and warm. Yet poor little Frostie had none of these things. What he did have was one of the worst cases of lice infestation we have seen coupled with severe dehydration, yet these were not the worst of his woes as they were all issues that could be readily addressed. It is was his debilitating and life threatening condition known as joint naval ill that sent our hearts racing.
Joint navel ill is a disease that is seen in very young calves and kid goats and results from an infection entering the body via the umbilical cord soon after birth. The causes are often insufficient or poor quality colostrum (a mother’s immune building first milk) or a dirty and hygienic environment. And in Frostie’s case the bacteria had spread via his bloodstream and settled in the joints of his hind limbs – his joints becoming swollen, hot and painful and rendering him unable to use them. Necessity becoming the Mother of invention as they work to save and enrich the life their newest little rescue , watch what happens next….
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