# Coughing and Sneezing without temp or wheezing, by Sue Garvin



## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

If you are a goat or a pig or a dog or a horse or even a human, a cough or a
sneeze is a great (normal, natural, healthy) way to get rid of irritants. If
your goats, or pigs, or dogs, or horses seem healthy otherwise, let them
cough.

They live in barns, which are dusty, and sometimes dirty and seasonally
moldy. (. . .Even on the cleanest of farms.) We routinely bed them on straw
and/or shavings and/or sawdust. All of which create more dust. Even sand
bedding contains irritants (silicea).

And we feed them hay (which has pollen, seeds, dust, mold) which can easily
irritate them. And mixed grains can contain irritants (dust, mold and other
small particles.)

You will probably never be able to identify the exact culprit, but I suspect
your cough waxes and wanes as circumstances change on your farm. Everything
impacts coughing- from the weather, to their feed, to their bedding. Let
them cough to clear their throats!

Nursing kids cough to clean out their respiratory tract when they swallow a
little 'down the wrong hole.' Bottle babies are more prone to coughing then
nursing kids, but they will all cough to clear their throats.

The important part is: IF THERE IS NO SIGN OF ILLNESS, please don't use all
the antibiotics. They won't help your goat. You are wasting your money. And
you stand a good chance of encouraging the growth of antibiotic resistant
microbes on your farm! If the goats cough, but continue to eat, drink,
play, reproduce and make milk/meat or fiber, just keep an eye on them. If
there was an obvious change right before the cough started (change of feed
or hay, new bedding, or a strong ammonia odor from old bedding, etc.) try to
remedy the situation.

If your goats get a fever, go off feed, get apathetic or exhibit ANY other
signs of illness, then get serious and work out a treatment plan. It sounds
as if you've done a really through job of ruling out all the really noxious
problems. That should give you some peace of mind while they act like
healthy goats and cough.

Best,

Sue Garvin


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