Is There a Tooth Fairy for Goats?

In the past year and a half I have gained an unfathomable amount of knowledge about all things "goat" - I can intelligently discuss such topics as caprine gestation, castration, vaccination and elimination...I understand dire maladies like bloat, urinary calculi, slab-sidedness and meningeal worm...I am well-informed on the nutritional needs of the animal and I am absolutely wicked at hoof-trimming. Last year I even wrote an entire blog about goat teeth.

But...if there is one truth about goats, it is this old cliche - Expext the unexpected. Admit you know nothing, and just wait for the latest goat craziness.

Yesterday I was giving the boys their afternoon bowl of apple chunks, when Elliot suddenly spewed a mouthful of mushy apple pieces all over the top of the house (where he eats his portion). Cleaning up the slimy mess, I discovered one "chunk" that was harder than the rest - only to realize this was no semi-chewed Red Delicious but instead three tiny goat teeth still attached to a piece of jawbone! What on earth? I know that goats normally lose two baby teeth each year, one from each side of the mouth, so clearly this is not right. I saved it in a ziploc bag and added it to our collection of "goat parts" (because someday there might be a museum seeking broken-off scurs or dried goat testicles, you never know...). No obvious bleeding, he is still eating, and I really don't want to put my hand in that mouth...I have no idea what to do here. When I mentioned this event to a friend, she asked (totally serious), "What will you do - take him to a goat dentist?"

Now there's a career I bet my college-bound daughters have never considered!

The other question is, of course, what will the tooth fairy leave for Elliot?