# Spastic Paresis



## RGA (Jun 23, 2020)

Hi Everyone, I am new here. I have a hobby farm with a small goat herd that we milk for our own use. We have had a buck for a year and a half that we got as a kid and recently he began showing signs of stiff back legs, rocking from one foot to the other along with a few other symptoms has the vet saying it is spastic paresis. Not as well known in goats as it is in dairy cattle, resulting in a lack of information online about it. Even the vets in my area have not heard much about it, nor could they find more information on it. 

Has anyone on here heard of it, had any experience with it or know anyone who may? 

Thank you,


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## LisaDiane (Jan 21, 2018)

Stiff back legs can also be a sign of deer worm if I'm not mistaken.. Treated ASAP, it will stop it... treatment for that is mega doses of Safeguard over many days...There is no way to test for it, so you may want to look on YouTube for other goats who had this... and check out their symptoms.


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## LisaDiane (Jan 21, 2018)

Also, the damage is permanent and cannot be reversed.. If that's what it is... it will progress and you can't reverse it.


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## RGA (Jun 23, 2020)

As soon as we saw his legs were stiff we contacted the vet and they gave him a deworming regiment to take care of and rule out any parasitic cause including meningeal deer worm. Also, there are many more symptoms with deer worm that he does not have but he does fit all the clinical signs of spastic paresis. 
For some reason there is not many studies on it but seems to be out there more than people in the industry actually realize. One study I found from the Netherlands showed that between 10 and 20% of their whole goat population has it and it wasn't until they gave the farmers surveys on what to look for and if they have noticed it in any of their goats, did they start to realize there were more cases than they ever would have thought. I wonder if the same is the case for North America.


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## Angelia Gregg (Sep 8, 2019)

I have not heard of this myself or seen this in any of my goats. Sounds as if your vet may be correct. Is it treatable?


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## RGA (Jun 23, 2020)

I will try to upload the study. I have to post so many times before I can. 

There is no real cure there is mention of spinal cord surgery to repair the nerves but they figure it is genetic so that only fixes the one goat that you could not breed. 
It is seen in dairy cows more often and that animal is just culled.


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