Lucas' Selenium Deficiency

February 20th my oldest son and I went late to tend the critters and do the chores. I always make a point of doing a head count on the animals to be sure everyone runs up to eat. We did not see Tsica's little buck, Lucas. We got a flashlight and went into the goat pen to find him. He was down inside a dogloo house and was not able to stand on his own. He was cold, wet, shivering and in need of help. As you can see from the above photo of the following morning, it was COLD.

We brought the little guy into my truck, wrapped in my jacket, and turned the heater on to get him warmed up and dry. Even then, he was unable to move his back legs. I suspected either an injury or a selenium deficiency. He was about a month old then and that's when kids tend to start on hay. Sometimes a selenium deficiency becomes aparent at that age when there were no previous signs. My goats do get free choice minerals but the vet explained to me that because that is mixed with salt, sometimes they just don't eat enough of it.

 Here he is the night we found him. It was nasty and snowy out, so I was very thankful I was watching my neighbor's house and pets. When I got out on the road to drive home, the snow was so bad I couldn't see so we ended up staying the night at her house instead.

Her dog thought the goat was interesting and sniffed him. She accompanied him outdoors when he had to go potty too.

Here he is the following day waiting to go to the vet to decide what was wrong. She checked him out and decided it was a selenium deficiency. The following morning he received a BoSe shot. Within a few days he showed huge improvement and was able to return to the herd where his sister and mom were happy to see him again.

Here he is the day before he got to go back to his family. For three days we had to help him nurse from Tsica and since she's a fusspot to be milked, it was not an easy ordeal. Lucas is doing better. His back legs still look a little stiff, but he's nursing on his own and keeping up with his sister as best he can.