I haven’t gotten any new photos of my goats since Nationals, mostly because they haven’t been looking their best. Nibbles brought home a cold and gave it to Cuzco. He got it bad, probably because he’s never been exposed to goat germs in his life and had no resistance. I’ve watched carefully for any rise in temperature or sign of pneumonia, but it seems to be staying in his nose. It sure is lingering though. He’s a lot better than he was, but two weeks later he’s still blowing white snot (just not as copiously as at first).
Nibbles recovered quickly from the cold, but then she started with diarrhea for over a week. I’m not sure what caused it, but she seemed fine otherwise, so I dosed her with Pepto-Bismol for a few days until she got over it. Then just as Nibbles recovered, Cuzco got diarrhea and I was very nervous that his would last for a week too. It’s easy to force medicine into Nibbles, but Cuzco is another matter altogether. I gave him Pepto-Bismol for two days and there was pink stuff everywhere–on me, on the goat, all over the back patio, the basement door and window. I was beginning to think that the cure was worse than the disease and we would all be happier to just let the problem run it’s course when it ended as quickly as it began. Phew!
On the sadder side of things, Cuzco has been diagnosed with arthritis. He came up very lame about a month ago after he’d followed me on a horse ride the day before. His left foot was hot and ouchy between his toes. I took him to the vet for x-rays, and he has a bone spur growing between the toes. I was told to make sure he took it easy for a few weeks, give him Bute on the bad days, and start him on Cosequin. Well, it’s been about a month and he’s only had to have Bute a few times, and the Cosequin seems to be helping. But then the other day when the weather was changing he came up lame again. I guess we’ll have to be careful how far he’s allowed to hike from now on because it might cause a flare-up.
Even with all these ailments, though, Cuzco hasn’t lost one bit of his feistiness. He’s in excellent weight, eager for his food (a little too eager most days), wants to go for walks, and won’t stand for any nonsense from Nibbles. He’s such a goofy goatie, it’s hard to watch him growing older and having to slow down. I think the coyote attack took a lot out of him. He still starts coughing if he runs even a little bit. The vet checked his lungs and said they sound great, but I know there’s got to be damage there somewhere if he still can’t trot without coughing. Of course, lately his cold has been exacerbating the problem, so it’ll be easier to see how he’s really doing once he kicks the virus.
Here’s a goofy photo of Cuzco from last spring, before he was troubled with coyote attacks, arthritis, colds, or pesky young goatlings named Nibbles. It’s all out of proportion… his ears look small and his nose looks huge, but the goat grin is unmistakeable. 
