Drenching A Goat

I thought I would do a post about how we give medication orally to a goat. I saw someone trying to use a regular disposable luer lock syringe to administer medication to their goat, and I wondered why they didn't use a feeding syringe with a drench nozzle. Now if you like using the disposable syringe, that is fine. We used to use one in the very beginning because we didn't know about a "drencher" as we call it. That is the purpose of my post....to let those who may not know about drenching a goat.  We very rarely have to medicate our herd since we have culled out the weaker ones.  We do a monthly FAMACHA scoring on our does.  These scores are logged down on a spreadsheet and will help you see which ones are the weaker ones. 

Crazy Horse was our "volunteer".  If you will notice the syringe in Shane's hand.  It is called a feeding syringe in the Jeffer's catalog.  This particular one is a 20 mL.  ( I am not getting any sort of discount or kickback from Jeffer's by mentioning their products or company name.  We just happen to order from them most of the time. )

After pulling up the medication in the syringe, you just open the goats mouth, and put the nozzle to one side on the back of the tongue.  ( Be sure that you do not put your fingers near the goats back teeth because they are very sharp.) 

Once the nozzle is in place, slowly administer the liquid.  It's that easy.  Hopefully you will not have to do this very often, but it is better to be prepared about the how-to's.

When it comes to medications and administering them, you should consult your local veterinarian should you have any questions or concerns.  I just wanted to share my opinion on how we administer medications to goats.