Nursing a baby goat with swollen joint issues is very time consuming. I have now been at it for three weeks. Angel, one of triplets born on January 11th seemed to be doing well, especially since we had entered February, but she wasn’t. She had Joint Illness; so I became her nurse and her prayer warrior. DMSO had to apply to her knee joints, wrapped with gauze, and vetwrap morning and evening. Then I had to give her injections of antibiotics and pain medicine. She was still nursing on her Mom, but that soon fizzled out. Her days consisted of laying on pillows of hay in our shower, warmed by a heater, moaning but mostly crying out in pain. She welcomed our loving arms.
The day before she passed, she was quite vocal and lively. I dressed her little feet with stool leg footies, to prevent her from sliding on our ceramic floors. She would come to meet Randy and I in the kitchen and talk to us. By late evening, she was not interested in eating or drinking, even by bottle or syringe. I started praying extra hard for Angel.
The morning of the 17th, I woke to find Angel stiff as a board, and cried my eyes out. I was not worth much for the rest of the week, and Randy gave me plenty of hugs.