Nappy-wearing Wellingborough goat 'acts like dog'
A sickly baby goat being nursed back to health has started behaving like the dogs she shares a home with, her Northamptonshire owner says.
Lily the kid collapsed near her mother three weeks after birth and was taken to a vet in a critical condition.
Owner Rebecca Mineards hopes Lily, who has to wear nappies in the house, will soon be able to return to her mother.
Meanwhile, she is learning to play "just like my dogs" and wrestling their toys away from them, Mrs Mineards said.
Lily collapsed on 22 January and a month later is still living in the Mineards' lounge, with her owner sleeping on the sofa.
"Initially I was told she was critical and not to get my hopes up, but after she was given steroids and I noticed some twitching of her nerves, I just thought, 'Come on, you can't go, you've got to stay'," said Mrs Mineards.
"My husband Sid won't allow her in the bed, which I can understand, and if you walk away from Lily she does cry an awful lot, to the point that she would wake up the whole house," Mrs Mineards added.
"Unfortunately she has to wear a nappy because unlike a dog you cannot train a goat.
"It's not ideal so I'm keen for her to get better and return to being with her mum and brother (Dexter) as soon as possible."
Mrs Mineards carries out light physiotherapy on Lily daily to improve her mobility.
"I've become her mum for now, but she's well cared for by the dogs as well.
"She really does think she's a dog. She plays with them and unfortunately head-butts them, but they don't mind at all," she said.
Vets treating the pygmy goat are still not sure what caused Lily's illness but she has come on in leaps and bounds since moving in with the Mineards.
"Lily's doing miraculously considering she couldn't sit, stand or walk and now she's doing goat behaviour like jumping and leaping.
"I know some people will say she's just a goat but she's actually more than that, isn't she? She's special."