# Goat retaining cud



## ladyliane (Aug 21, 2014)

Hi-

We have a beloved lamancha goat that has been retaining cud for the last 6 days. She kidded on Valentine's Day, then two days later we had her out with the herd and she was fighting. The next day she started acting sick and she had a mild fever (105.5). We quarantined her, called our vet, and started her on Pen G. Her fever went away and she started acting normal. Two days later she started retaining cud. I immediately assumed she injured herself when she was fighting. I wanted to have my vet check for a broken tooth or something, but he didn't have dentistry equipment. I called another vet. He came out right away. By that time, there had been some drainage from the ear on that side. He checked her over and pronounced her mostly healthy until he got to her ear. He squeezed it and white junk came out. He didn't look in her mouth, declared that she had an ear infection caused by an internal abscess in her ear canal, gave me a mixture of different antibiotics and said she should be back to normal in a couple of weeks. The ear is no longer leaking fluid, but she is still retaining cud. The vet said she could have nerve damage from the abscess and that might be why she's retaining cud. I am starting to doubt this. We are able to push the cud from her cheek and she chews it up and swallows it. Then she'll shake her head/tilt it to the side, and bring up more cud to stuff in that cheek. She is still on antibiotics, yet she acts like she is still in pain and perhaps brings the cud up to deaden the pain?? We massage it out at least twice a day because we don't want any other bacteria to form up in there...

Anyone know what is going on??? Other than the obvious place where she is storing cud (which disappears when we make her swallow it), she has no external issues. Her ear doesn't smell and she eats and drinks normally. If she wasn't retaining cud, (and rubbing her head on me), I would say she was the picture of health. We are baffled!!! We are not entirely trusting of the vet that came out, since he is an equine vet that just happens to do goats (which is the case for all the vets in our area). He just keeps telling us that it will go away when the nerve damage goes away. How long can a goat continue to retain cud without causing other damage?


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## KJFarm (Oct 26, 2007)

She probably has some facial nerve paralysis. With Lamanchas it is harder to notice, but with Nubians the ear droops on the injured side. Can you tell if her eye seems to droop or look lazy on that side? This usually will self correct in time, you just have to deal with the cud issue until the feeling returns. Sometimes it is bad enough that the lip droops and their tongue may hang out the side that is paralyzed. 
Some Dexamethasone for 2-3 days might help with swelling in her head.


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## ladyliane (Aug 21, 2014)

Her eyes look normal and clear. No drooling, and as far as I can tell, she looks even in the face. If it is facial paralysis, how long should we expect before it fixes itself? Weeks? Months?


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## KJFarm (Oct 26, 2007)

You never know, just depends on how much nerve damage there is.


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## DairyFarmFresh (Sep 28, 2018)

ladyliane said:


> Her eyes look normal and clear. No drooling, and as far as I can tell, she looks even in the face. If it is facial paralysis, how long should we expect before it fixes itself? Weeks? Months?


I know this is an old post, but I am having the same issue with my Nubian doe. She had an ear infection, and as a result, she has facial paralysis on one side. It has only been a week. She is retaining cud on the one side. Did your doe ever recover???


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