C-Sections and Blood Transfusions

 

 

One hates to breed yearling goats as a general rule, but bucks and fences being what they are, occasionally it happens. Most times, all goes well with perhaps a little assist at birthing time, and a little TLC for a few days afterwards to make sure that mama and baby are well bonded and milk flows freely.  This year , as fate would have it, a small yearling got bred. At only 40 pounds,  she was a setup for problems.  She grew huge and round and I watched her carefully. 

 

One morning I found her acting like a mama in early labor, walking stiffly and keeping herself separate from the herd.  So I put  her up in a pen and watched her carefully throughout the day.  No baby.   The next day she began pushing half heartedly, but only at intervals.  I went in to investigate and could feel nothing but a closed cervix. The pushing went on periodically throughout the day with no signs of advancement.  I called the vet. “Bring her in and we’ll look” . So I made a comfy bed in the back of the truck for her and away we went.

 

Examination at the vets office revealed again a closed cervix. “Are you sure she’s pregnant?” he asked with a straight face , and I shot him a scathing look.  “Pretty sure “ I replied  as I looked at the distended udder with beads of colostrum forming at the tips  of the nipples.   “Ok, lets see if we can get things going” and he gave her something that guaranteed we would have a baby on the ground within 36 hours.  Back home we went. 

 

For three days we waited, with no change in her labor , until a dark red discharge appeared . That , I knew , was NOT a good sign.  In addition,  she was suddenly extremely anemic (which sometimes happens after parturition, when hormone changes signal encysted parasites to suddenly hatch).  I called the vet and told him we were coming in for a C-Section and that we had a new complication with the anemia, which I knew would put her at additional risk for surgery. 

 

Poor little goat: suffered for a week trying to birth her kid , not eating well, and now this sudden explosion of parasites.  She was weak and listless. The blood counts were worse than we could imagine at about 25% of normal and her mucus membranes were blue-white. I knew she would never survive the surgery.

 

“Have you ever done a transfusion from goat to goat?” I asked . “ I have heard of it ... and I could supply a donor goat”.  Of course, in fairness, my local veterinary clinic is not the university and the only goats my vets generally see are  mine every couple years when I come up with a problem I can’t handle.   “No” was the answer; “and we’re not sure we have the equipment to do it”.  They assured me that this attempt would be expensive and the goat would most probably not survive the effort”  The little goat was certainly going to die if I did nothing and had a slim chance of survival if we tried .... so even though we had no way of typing the blood,  I opted to give her the chance and they agreed to try.

 

At the vets, while the groomer cleaned up and prepared  the doe for surgery,  we poured over the books (including my Goat Medicine book by Smith & Sherman) searching for  proper technique for blood harvesting and administration in goats.  My book indicated the safe amount that could be taken from the donor and the amount needed to bring the little doe’s blood levels up to low-normal.  The vet found an old blood adminstration set (donations from a local hospital) with a filter for clots and we emptied a bag of IV solution to hold the harvested blood.

 

At this point the vets partner had returned from his field duty and joined in the effort.  The plan was to C-Section the goat, remove the now dead baby, stitch her up good and tight, THEN administer the heparinized blood.  While the first vet performed the surgery, I assisted the second vet with the donor goat.   I held the donor (on his feet) with his head turned around my leg to allow the vet good access for a central line.  He then withdrew about 350 cc of blood from the goat in a heparinized syringe, injecting it into an emptied IV bag. As we got towards the end of the harvest, the donor goat got a bit woozy and I could feel him sway and lean against me.  With the blood in the bag, being mixed with the heparin by another assistant, we hooked the donor goat up to an IV of fluids and perked him back up in short order.

 

While the donor goat was getting his IV fluids, his blood was rushed into the operating room and administered slowly to the still anesthetized goat, followed by 250 ml of IV fluids.  The usual antibiotics, and pain relief medications were dispensed for my later administration  and instructions given.   I believe the vets were both surprised that we had made it this far... but held out little hope that she would survive the day.

 

A short word of praise for my vets is in order. Not only did they have the courage to TRY, but they went above and beyond in my opinion.  This entire effort took two vets and two assistants in addition to myself. All working hours past their usual going home time.  The lead vet sacrificed a planned fishing trip with his brother (who waited patiently in the waiting room as a beautiful sunny afternoon passed them by).  When he and his brother finally got out of the office, it was late in the afternoon... but more on that later

 

So back to the goat: I took her home and left her on a blanket in my kitchen while I dashed off to work . I was fully prepared to find her dead when I returned, but instead she was on her feet and eating like there was no tomorrow!   The small sprinkling of goat berries on my kitchen floor were a good sign that all was well and easily swept up

 

The following day, I put her out in a portable pen so she could graze and lie on clean grass in the sunshine. Each day I moved the pen. She received antibiotics and B vitamins to keep her appetite up. She was wormed and deloused carefully to eliminate any further drain on her system.  She continued to gain strength and at the end of the week, she graduated to a small paddock.  Her hair started falling out  in clumps and I sheared it down to the skin and watched over the next week as shiny new mohair took its place.  Within two weeks she was able to go out to graze with the rest of the goats which made her immensely happy, although I put her up in a stall at night to feed her separately.   One month after the event and you would never know that she was ever that close to death.  She jumps like a kid and kicks up her heels: a very lucky goat to have such a dedicated veterinary team.

 

I still have not seen the bill.... they tell me they had to send out for a bigger calculator.... but I did ask the vet if he caught any fish that afternoon.  He told me that he and his brother caught  FIFTY crappie in an hour and a half!  I told him it must be Karma... a cosmic gift in return for his gift of life to my little goat.