BottleJaw in the Goat

Severe Intermandibular Edema

Seemingly healthy goat with good appetite continually gets thin and unthrifty - is anemic and begins to show signs of bottle jaw..Why?

Well there are a few reasons for this to happen.. 

Copper deficiency,

Coccidiosis,

Bracken fern poisoning,

Inadequate protein synthesis due to liver damage,

Mycotoxins (a toxin produced by an organism of the fungus family, which includes mushrooms, molds and yeasts.)

Stomach worms especially Barberpole worm (Haemonchus contortus ),

Johnes Disease 

and Liver Fluke  all can cause bottle jaw in the goat:

Animal ID:      CU  Misc
Species:     Goat
Tissue:     Head, Jaw, Intermandibular Space
Morphologic DX:     Severe intermandibular edema
Etiologic DX:     ACUTE HEMONCHOSIS
Lesion or DX Name:     Bottlejaw
Lesion Description:     Soft fluctuant mass of the intermandibular space.The ventral curve of this animal's jaw region is because of marked subcutaneous edema in this region.
Remarks:     In many instances, when anemia is seen in sheep and goats, acutely and severely, it is often due to Hemonchus contortis, the large stomach worm (barber pole worm). The parasites cause the lesion as a result of hypoproteinemia as they destroy the blood in the abomasum. It should also be noted that many times "rats leave the sinking ship" so to speak, and so the worms leave the abomasum and they will disintegrate in the small intestine from the change in pH from acid to base. Thus, in some cases of acute severe hemonchosis, one may not find any parasites in the abomasum or small intestine which caused the disease, because they were destroyed. Many sheep do have a few hemonchus in the abomasum, but without anemia it should probably not be called hemonchosis, a disease caused by hemonchus. At a later date, though, this may be true and proper treatment used.
© Cornell Veterinary Medicine

Here are some examples of what Bottlejaw looks like..:

This is what good inner eye membrane color should look like- from a goat who is not suffering from heavy wormload.	This shows a very anemic goat suffering from heavy wormload- the inner eye membranes are white- this is a possible fatal situation.
The "bottlejaw" edema has traveled to the eye area in this photo- this goat is suffering from anemia due to coccidiosis	This photo shows the bottlejaw of this goat who has severe anemia due to coccidiosis- improperly diagnosed by the vet who did the fecal exam. This goat died a week after these photos were taken- Lesson: Adult goats CAN get coccidiosis- it is Not just a neonatal disorder-a second fecal exam was taken at the time of death showing a very heavy cocci load.
A sheep showing signs of bottle jaw due to heavy internal parasite load	Again, a sheep showing signs of bottle jaw (Severe Intermandibular Edema) due to heavy internal parasites 'wormload'
This photo show what happens inside the heavily infested goat if the worms are killed off too quickly  via oral application of dewormer- oral application kills too quickly and all the worms let go at once, causing internal bleeding and possible death of the goat- on heavy infested goats you should always administer your dewormer via SubQ injection as it goes into the system slower and works for a longer period of time therefore eliminating the possible (let go internal bleed-out)	This angora wether was missed on a second application of deworming schedule and because (before this photo) he was in full fleece it was missed that he had begun bottle jaw which as you can see has traveled to his extremities- this goat is alive today after a long term process of eliminating the wormload and electrolyte therapy

This photo shows Inside the Abomasum- the goat Haemonchus contortus (Barberpole worm) is attached to the inside muscosa sucking blood and proteins from the animals system, causing severe anemia and bottlejaw.