Sven

Just last week I noticed that my LaMancha Goat, Sven, seemed not to hear me when I came in the shed to feed him.
I checked his ears again and they were goopy on the outside. I used my gloves to clear the 'Mancha ear wax goop' and he shook his head like crazy and moaned about it in his quiet Goaty Voice.

I'd love to put him and Lil' Richard together in the same pen. I think in the winter he misses being staked out near his pony pal. I'm just not sure that Lil' Richard will leave the Dog Fence and gate alone [it is part of a dog kennel that I used to make a Goat Gate] unless I put up a hot wire. I was thinking of putting them together earlier this year and just never figured out quite how to do it.
Sven would still have his little goat door to get inside to his warm comfy pen. Hmmmm. Need to think about this better.

So the next day, I see Sven ... he is staggering and can't seem to keep his balance. I brought him very warm water to drink and he downed half a gallon. He was eating fine and talking in his loud Goat Voice. I notified my neighbor. She was doing the chores while I was out of town. And since I got Sven from her farm, I figured if something was clearly off, she'd know it right away.

I cleaned his ears again. He protested. Everything else was normal so I went off for my two and a half day break.

While on my tiny break, I decided to start researching LaMancha's and ear goop and gunk. It takes several key words but eventually I did find some mention of ear infections that are rare that become extremely serious and cause brain damage and head tilting along with swelling of part of the goat's face. I take the verbiage and use that as another search and end up reading about this aliment on a Veterinary site.

Sven's tiny ears need a bit more care than the average goat. I'm okay with that.

So yesterday I took the 'boys' out for a nice walk and Sven still doesn't have his normal goat balance going, but he is so much better than he was on Friday morning. His temperature is fine and he has no fever.

Even though it was bitterly cold, we took off for a short walk to the creek and back. I found a rock to sit on in the late afternoon sun and Sven browsed happily and stretched his legs.

He tried a magnificent leap that ended up with him falling into the snow and looking rather surprised about it.
He adjusted quickly and didn't try and daring moves again for the rest of the walk.



I need to be more conscious of walking the goat as well as walking the dog. Sven can be outside now next to Lil' Richard so he can have 'the herd' company when Charlie and I are not available.
However, Sven is very endearing and very social with both Charlie and I. And that is what I wished for.

After a long day driving for appointments, I did spend some time with Sven at chore time tonight. His ears seem to be clearing up. Let's hope so!
Adventures with Charlie and Sven await!