28/08/2026
💙 Sven’s Journey — A Very Difficult Week, and a Little Bit of Hope 💙
We haven’t posted an update on Sven in a while because, quite frankly, Sven has had a very difficult week.
This will be a longer update, but after everything that has happened, we wanted to share the whole story.
About a week ago, seemingly out of nowhere, Sven began declining again.
His temperature climbed to 105°F. His glucose levels began dropping. He stopped eating. He stopped staying with the herd and instead spent much of his time lying by himself.
Then came the glucose lows.
And more lows.
And more lows.
Sven’s continuous glucose monitor would simply read “LO,” meaning his glucose was below 40 mg/dL. For Sven, whose glucose we work very hard to keep within a safe range, seeing those readings over and over again was terrifying.
We stopped his insulin, but his glucose continued falling anyway.
We began giving him corn syrup by syringe just to keep his glucose from dropping dangerously low. Vaughn started getting up throughout the night to check him because we simply couldn’t trust that his glucose would remain stable while we slept.
At the same time, Sven developed a cough with what sounded like some fluid or congestion, and with his history, we immediately became concerned that we might be dealing with pneumonia again.
His fever was initially controlled with Banamine, and it would usually bring his temperature down for much of the day. But eventually the fever would climb right back up.
With our veterinarian guiding his treatment, we started with Nuflor for the respiratory symptoms.
It didn’t seem to be enough.
We switched to Draxxin, an antibiotic that has worked extremely well for us in the past.
Still, Sven wasn’t improving.
Finally, with our veterinarian’s help, we moved to a stronger antibiotic, Excenel.
And we waited.
Meanwhile, getting Sven to eat became nearly impossible.
For the past week, we’ve put seemingly everything we could think of in front of him. Foods he normally loves. Grain. Hay. Treats. Anything that might tempt him.
Most of the time, he would simply stand there and stare into the distance.
He just wouldn’t eat.
That may have been one of the hardest things to watch because anyone who has followed Sven’s story knows that this little goat has ALWAYS loved his food.
Last night, we also replaced his continuous glucose sensor.
There was something about the timing of his illness that had been bothering us. His decline began shortly after his previous sensor was installed. We hadn’t done anything differently during the application—it was applied using the same careful, sterile process we’ve always used—and when we removed it, the site looked completely clean. There was no redness, dirt, drainage, or visible evidence of infection.
It may be completely coincidental.
At this point, we simply don’t know.
Was there somehow a connection? Is the new antibiotic finally working? Is his body simply beginning to overcome whatever has been making him sick?
We don’t have those answers yet.
But then came this morning.
❤️ His glucose was 129.
For most people, that number wouldn’t mean much.
For us, after spending night after night fighting readings below 40, 129 felt like a victory.
He wasn’t bottoming out.
Then we checked his temperature.
100°F.
For the first morning in more than a week, Sven didn’t need Banamine to bring down a fever.
Victory number two.
He was still lying away from the herd, which obviously concerns us.
But he was chewing his cud like a champ.
So we got him up and offered him some grain.
And Sven ate.
Not because we syringed something into his mouth.
Not because we desperately tried to convince him.
He wanted to eat.
And he happily stood there munching his grain.
After spending a week watching him refuse almost everything we put in front of him, that simple sight meant more to us than we can possibly explain.
❤️ Another victory.
But we also need to share the hardest part of this week.
Last night, for the first time during Sven’s entire journey, we had the conversation neither of us wanted to have.
Were we reaching the point where euthanasia was the kindest thing we could do for him?
We have thrown everything we possibly can at helping this little guy. But he wasn’t improving, and we had to ask ourselves an incredibly painful question:
Are we continuing because Sven still wants to fight…or because WE aren’t ready to let him go?
Anyone who knows us knows that we don’t give up easily.
If an animal is willing to fight, we will fight right alongside them.
And Sven has fought harder than almost any little animal we’ve ever known.
But loving an animal also means recognizing that sometimes the most loving decision isn’t the one we desperately want to make. We will never allow Sven to suffer simply because we aren’t ready to say goodbye.
Thankfully, today we don’t have to make that decision.
Today, we have hope.
We’re also trying to keep that hope in perspective.
One good morning doesn’t mean Sven is out of the woods.
We don’t know whether the Excenel is finally turning things around. We don’t know whether changing the glucose sensor had anything whatsoever to do with it. We don’t know whether his body is finally winning this latest battle—or whether today is simply a good day in the middle of a very serious illness.
But right now…
His fever is gone.
His glucose isn’t crashing.
He’s chewing his cud.
And Sven ate breakfast.
So today, we’re going to celebrate those victories.
We’ll continue watching him closely, working with his veterinary team, and making decisions one day at a time.
Sven’s rare diabetes-like disease has thrown more challenges at this little goat than we ever could have imagined. And just when we think we’ve figured something out, another complication seems to appear.
But somehow, Sven keeps fighting.
So as long as Sven tells us that he’s willing to keep fighting, we’ll be right there fighting with him.
And if the day ever comes when he tells us he’s had enough, we’ll love him enough to listen.
But today isn’t that day.
Today, Sven ate his breakfast. ❤️🐐
And today, that’s enough.
Until next time… keep cheering for Sven. ❤️🐐
