Elevated body temperature above the normal 101.5 to 103.5 degree Farenheit body-temperature range indicates infection. To do otherwise is to overuse antibiotics, thereby increasing resistance to their effectiveness when they really are needed. This happened to penicillin in human beings. Always take a sick goat's temperature with a rectal thermometer. Body temperature indicates the direction to follow medicine-wise.
Fever indicates infection or inflammation.
This type of pneumonia is a rapid killer. One morning the goat appears healthy, and a few hours later it is down and dying. No runny nose, no coughing . . . The onset and progress of Interstitial Pneumonia is rapid. The only diagnostic symptom is high fever.