Chapter 17. What happens when our animals get sick? Hi, it’s Sipho here. I am feeling much better. I had the whole week off school! The principal said no one must come to school sick because of the risk of swine flu. Nosipho looked after the goats while I was sick. It seems she was right about the worms. How did you find out Nosipho? ‘Well Sipho, I watched the sick goat and its kids carefully. I noticed that they did have diarrhoea and it was mixed with blood. The inside of their mouths and their eyelids were almost white. That also showed they were losing blood.’ ‘They look much better now, Nosipho. What did you do?’ ‘I treated them for worms!’ ‘By yourself? Where did you get the money?’ ‘Mom said she would not have money until month-end. She tried to sell a chicken but no one wanted to buy. But I sold my chicken nesting box and we used that money to buy worming tablets. Mrs Mchunu wanted to treat her goats for worms too. When her son went to buy the tablets, Granny asked him to bring some for us.’ ‘Nosipho, why did you use your money? Your goat is healthy.’ ‘Sipho, worms spread, so my goat could get sick at any time. If any of the goats dies, we will all suffer.’ ‘Well, I am very happy the goats are all fine. Now I hear there is a problem with one of the calves. Xolani says it is covered in lumps.’