# Dental care for older goats



## Qvrfullmidwife (Oct 25, 2007)

Mishaels post elsewhere prompted this question...

I have an almost 9 year old doe. About a year and a half ago we had cause to have her head x-rayed and at that time the vet pronouunced her teeth to be in great condition.

She seems to be eating fine, etc, nothing to indicate that there is a problem. She is a bit thinner that I would like, we have fecaled and all seems well, we have been told that much of it cold just be that, well, she is almost nine years old!

I want to know, though, what should I be looking for to indicate that her teeth are still working as they should. I assume that checking teeth periodically is reasonable when you own an older animal, but my question at this point is what exactly so I look for?


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## Sondra (Oct 25, 2007)

a piece of pvc pipe if your going to do this yourself


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## Qvrfullmidwife (Oct 25, 2007)

LOL but beyond that, what? I dont even know what to LOOK for! I assume that we could tell a gross abnormality but I want to make sure that we are staying on top of this for her for she is SUCH a special doe to us, gives us SUCH nice babies!


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## Sondra (Oct 25, 2007)

I really don't know and have been wondering this myself so hope you get some answers.


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## Halo-M Nubians (Oct 26, 2007)

I have an almost 10 year old who twice last year got little lumps right along her jaw where her molars come together-same place right behind corner of lips, on both sides. Pretty classic symptom of long teeth causing her to bite her cheek, bacteria gets in there and starts an infection. First time the infection came to the surface and broke open, second time I noticed lumps again and started thinking I would have to take her in for floating, and they subsided and no sign since. Now she never showed any problems eating..I still haven't done anything with her yet but now that I've had 2 with teeth problems I'm looking for a mini horse speculum and rasps. It is a ROYAL pain to try and look in a goats mouth...they're lips come down so far!


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

Commonly here you start with a tooth abscess, then dental points start on the tooth above who lost it's grinding surface from the one we pulled. Then they will drool, or they will not eat hay or will drool out their grain....like their teeth hurt to chew.

Then you notice they are getting thin.

But older does don't keep the body wieght. They also look horridly thin when in later pregnancy the kids drop, it seems to really pull down on their body and make them look raggedly thin over the back. They can still have good weight over the ribs while they look like this.

It's actually much better for them to be lean than fat.

Make feed changes slowly if you are going to up her fat and calories. Vicki


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## Qvrfullmidwife (Oct 25, 2007)

"But older does don't keep the body wieght. They also look horridly thin when in later pregnancy the kids drop, it seems to really pull down on their body and make them look raggedly thin over the back. They can still have good weight over the ribs while they look like this."

Yeah, it really seems like this is what we are dealing with, in the end. Fecals are good, eye and gum color good, eating well, seems fat and sassy in every other way, she just looks so GAUNT around her hips and I remember loving how she looks at this point in pregnancy when she is sleek and filled out. Just a few more weeks now...I can't wait to see another year's kids form her, every year they have been wonderful.


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