MENINGEAL WORM INFECTION IN GOATS

If  you raise goats  in areas with lots of trees and accompanying leaf litter and  the land retains  water   and  whitetail deer are abundant, you should be concerned about Meningeal Worm infection  in your  goats.

Meningeal Worm Infection is probably the most difficult goat illness to treat successfully.  It requires alert, dedicated, intensive, repeated daily care  to get the goat back on its feet and well.  But it is possible.  The quicker diagnosis is done and treatment begins, the less time it should take to get the goat well.

Sometimes called deerworm or   brainworm, the roundworm parasite Parelaphostrongulus tenuis  uses the whitetail deer as its host and passes through the deer's body without harming it.    Goats are a "dead-end" (aberrant) host for deerworm, so  the worm's  life cycle is interrupted, and the worm seems to "get lost," winding  up in the spinal canal and eventually the brain.  Symptoms include hind-leg dragging,   progressing to weakness and unsteadiness,    inability to walk in a straight line,  head wobbling from side to side, tremors, eye twitching, and inability to stand.

Once the larvae migrate over the body,  the goat oftentimes experiences intense itching and may chew  holes in its hide.    Shaving the hair off  the sites where itching and chewing are occurring will usually reveal a straight line of  hard nodules  over which the skin has thickened  leading to the spine.   These are the subcutaneous larvae migrating throughout the goat's body.    Pregnant does may abort from either the stress of the disease or the treatment given.

Once the worms reach the brain, successful treatment is unlikely.  Early diagnosis and early treatment is critical.

Goats  develop Meningeal Worm infection by ingesting slugs or snails  or by licking their slime trails  when browsing leaves  in low wet areas  like  shallow marshes and ponds.

A wet summer and fall, warm weather in early winter,  and  lack of snow cover  have made this disease  common in the eastern and northern parts  of the United States.  If you  raise alpacas or  llamas,  you  will find that these camelids (pseudo-ruminants having three stomachs) are even more susceptible to Meningeal Worm infection  than goats or sheep.

You  should suspect Meningeal Worm disease  if the goat begins to drag a hind leg, as this is usually the first symptom.  As the disease progresses,  symptoms include the appearance of bare patches of hide from quarter to palm size,    bloody holes  chewed in the hide,  and/or neurologic  problems  involving the spinal cord such as eye twitching and the inability to get up.  The disease can be a slow progression of symptoms or can strike suddenly.  However, the  goat maintains  a good appetite.     Most animals do not seem to be in pain (other than the itching), and  most eat and drink well  until they die.  Pneumonia is a common secondary problem because the goat is down and inactive.

The curative   treatment for infected goats displaying symptoms requires very high dosages of  fenbenzadole (Safeguard/Panacur),   orally   dosing at  ten (10)  times the label dosage.   Liquid Safeguard's label dose is 2.3 cc (ml) per 100 pounds bodyweight, so you must dose at  23 cc (ml) per 100 pounds bodyweight.   You can use Safeguard paste, also dosing at ten times the label's dosage rate based upon the goat's body weight, but it is much easier to accurately determine dosage using liquid Safeguard.  Treatment with Safeguard is given orally once a day for five consecutive days.   Follow up with 1 cc per 50 lb bodyweight  dosage  of 1% Ivermectin given by injection SQ   (under the skin)  for three consecutive days.

Depending upon the severity of the worm infection, you may have to repeat this treatment.  If the goat is not completely well, do not stop treatments.   More than one or two rounds of treatment may be necessary.

I  am aware that 1% Ivermectin was eliminated from the curative   treatment protocol  by  researchers at Ohio State University who decided that it didn't penetrate the spinal column to kill the worms.  Once neurological symptoms appeared,  they concluded that using 1% Ivermectin was ineffective.  However, I have spoken with  goat raisers who have extensive in-the-field experience with successfully treating goats that have contracted Meningeal Worm infection and they  tell me that it is necessary to add 1% Ivermectin injectable given SQ to the curative treatment protocol because it can kill the worms that haven't yet completed their migration to the spinal column.

Dexamethasone injections should be used for at least seven days, starting at a dosing rate of 6 per 100 pounds bodyweight and stepping down daily to 5 cc , 4 cc, 3 cc, 2 cc, 1 cc, 1 cc, given SQ  to reduce swelling in the brain stem.  Dex can cause abortions in pregnant does, but you must use  Dex to reduce brain-stem swelling in order to save the goat's life.

An anti-inflammatory drug like Banamine can be useful in alleviating the inflammation of nerve tissue.   If the goat is down and can't get up on its own, the chance for recovery  is  not good.

Vitamin E given orally (stick a pin in a Vit E capsule and squeeze it in the goat's mouth daily) serves as a membrane stabilizer and helps healing.  Supportive care is vital, including making sure the goat is adequately hydrated with electrolytes.

This treatment, if  utilized early in the disease, can stop its progression but cannot undo any nerve damage.  Permanent spinal damage (including curvature), hindquarter weakness,  and/or inability to deliver kids  may be the residual effect of Meningeal Worm infection.  Once the spinal cord is damaged,  treatment can only do so much and the goat will never be back  to full health.    Hence the urgency of immediate diagnosis and treatment.

In the northern and eastern parts of the United States, most Meningeal Worm infections occur in late summer/fall or early winter, following a wet summer and mild fall.  The larval migration of P. tenuis can take from ten days to over three months, so PREVENTATIVE treatment needs to start on a monthly basis when Spring arrives and continue through Fall to early Winter.  The only time Meningeal Worm isn't a threat is during cold Winter.

To PREVENT Meningeal Worm Infection in goats, establish a MONTHLY dosing protocol beginning in the Spring and running through Fall until Winter's freezes begin.

The preventative   treatment  for goats showing no symptoms whatsoever involves  dosing  1% injectable Ivermectin given by injection SQ (under the skin)  followed by  oral dosing of   Safeguard/Panacur.    Ivermectin paste or pour-on are NOT  effective in preventing Meningeal Worm infection.  One-percent (1%)  injectable Ivermectin  should be given SQ at a rate of 1 cc per  50  pounds bodyweight for at least three consecutive  days,  followed by a double-the-cattle dosage (4.6 cc per 100 pounds bodyweight) of  fenbendazole (Safeguard or Panacur) for five  consecutive days.   Using  1% Ivermectin preventatively (prophylactically) or to treat pre-neurological symptoms is effective. Give the 1% Ivermectin injectable via SQ injection. This  SQ injection gets the 1% Ivermectin into the body tissues to attack the migrating worm larvae.

ALERT:    Frequent use of dewormers can result in the blood-sucking barberpole stomach worm  developing resistance to the dewormer's ability to control  Haemonchus Contortus, so you must regularly do FAMACHA field checks and monthly do random fecal counts using McMasters gridded slides to keep this strongyle-class of  stomach worm under control.  You have to know which dewormer works to kill Haemonchus contortus in your goats, and resistance can happen fast.

Although laboratory testing of the cerebrospinal fluid  produces an accurate diagnosis, it is too time consuming.  The key to successful treatment of Meningeal Worm infection is early aggressive treatment.    If all indications are  that the goat is infected with P. tenuis,  forget  testing and  immediately start  treatment.

The only proven preventative medication is  sub-cutaneous  dosing of 1% injectable Ivermectin  in combination with oral dosing Safeguard/Panacur monthly  during slug and snail season.   Fence off ponds and swamps, if possible, so goats don't have access to slugs and snails.  Remember, however, that slugs/snails travel, so fencing isn't a total solution.

Some goat raisers run chickens and ducks with their goats in hopes that they will eat  the slugs.  But raising birds  and waterfowl with goats brings new predators onto your land, bringing new problems for  which you will have to develop a strategy  to prevent their deaths.    Beware of unintended consequences.  Every "solution" comes with its own set of drawbacks.

Treatment can be unsuccessful, even when the disease is caught in its early stages.  Prevention is the key to avoiding this devastating disease.    Remember that goats are a dry-land species, and other than needing to drink clean uncontaminated water,  moisture is the goat's enemy.

Suzanne W. Gasparotto, Onion Creek Ranch, Texas   12.1.23

The author, Suzanne Gasparotto, hereby grants to local goat publications and club newsletters, permission to reprint articles published on the Onion Creek Ranch website under these conditions: THE ARTICLE MUST BE REPRODUCED IN ITS ENTIRETY AND THE AUTHOR'S NAME, ADDRESS, AND CONTACT INFORMATION MUST BE INCLUDED AT THE BEGINNING OF THE REPRINT. We would appreciate notification from any clubs or publications when the articles are used. (A copy of the newsletter or publication would also be a welcome addition to our growing library of goat related information!)

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