Help! My goats are dieing!

I think someone mentioned probios above -- now would be a good time to give it to them, to make sure their guts have the necessary flora and fauna so they can digest food.

Kathleen

Well I usually want a dry toasted grilled cheese when I'm coming off an upset stomach but I don't think that's a good idea.

First things first......wouldn't be a bad idea to give him some Nutri-drench, it's full of vitamins, minerals, and other good stuff. I've also used Pedialyte (a drink used for little kids) and Gatorade to help them gain strength.

I would try giving him some hay first.

Glad to hear that your goats are doing better! Good Luck with them. BYe.

That is great! So good to know that the antidote may have actually worked! The "Probios" that people are talking about can be bought at a feedstore. It is in a big syringe type tube and the kind i have is a blue paste (kinda like tooth paste)..I just squirt some in their mouths, and inch or so of it out of the tube...to be honest, i never really worry too much about the exact amount, the point is to get some into the digestive track through the mouth. When the goat has a bad stomach problem (or if you give them antibiotics that kills the good germs in the stomach) it is good to give Probios to help get things going right in the stomach again. If you can't find Probios, you can give them regular people yogurt which has "live cultures" in it.

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Diane Rhodes
Feral Nature Farm
LaManchas, MiniManchas and Boers

Okay, well they are eating like crazy today. The male is up and about. They both ate alot of bread, goat feed and a little bit of cereal. I'll pick up the probios today. How important is it? Is it something that needs to be rushed to get done?

No rush, but watch what you are feeding them now......you said they are eating bread , goat feed and cereal..........they should probably just be eating hay...they can bloat and die very easily now...how about just hay for a week and then a tiny amount of their regular feed started out slow next week? You may be going to fast with the feeding...remember, they are just being goats, and goats always act starved....don't lose what you have gained here.

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Diane Rhodes
Feral Nature Farm
LaManchas, MiniManchas and Boers

Bread and cereal and grain? Not a good idea. A good clean grass/timothy hay is what they need right now. When a goat has gotten into poison or bloat do not worry about them eating right away. Their system needs to heal and the very basics - hay - is all they should be on for awhile. Probios is terrific as both treatment and followup to many illnesses. As goes the rumen, so does the goat. So glad to hear they're doing well but take it easy on the diet for now.

Think about what you eat for yourself after a long hard bout of stomach flu or food poisoning - you know, the spend the day in the bathroom kind. You start out with just chicken broth, right? Then maybe add some dry toast or crackers to the mix, and work up from there to make sure you don't set your stomach off.

The same thing applies to goats. Only for goats, the grass hay is the equivalent of chicken broth. Work them up to the goodies slowly once they're doing well on grass hay.

And hang a big sign on the fence that says

DO NOT FEED THE GOATS!

ANYONE CAUGHT THROWING FOREIGN
FOOD, CLIPPINGS, ETC. WILL BE SHOT ON SIGHT!

Just kidding, 99% of the population think that goats will eat anything including tin cans. They didn't know any better.

Thankful they're OK.

I'm glad they're doing better. You really need to get them on hay only. Not even fresh grass is a good idea right now.

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Sometimes the last minute is the best one.

Yeah, don't feed the bread and cereal right now. They can't deal with the yeast very well anyway.

Right now? Their gut is so out of whack they can't handle a lot. Plain hay, Pro-Bios, or YOGURT would be a better bet. NOT A LOT OF YOGURT, just enough to get the gut going.

If you have any other goats? (This is real icky/odd)... When you see them 'burp' up cud? Steal it. And give it to the goats that are having trouble. You are essentially re-populating their gut with the correct flora. Yeah, it's odd.

Again, DO NOT GIVE THEM BREAD AND CEREAL RIGHT NOW. You could kill them very easily right now. Good luck! You might want to tell your neighbor to NOT NOT NOT give them any clippings. That you appreciate it? But please do not.

My friend brought over an entire wagon load of sweet corn leavings years ago. Fed it to my horses and goats. Geez, what a scouring mess and upset guts. Because the stuff ferments in hot sun? Wow. What a mess. I also almost killed my goats with bread and baked goods... Please go SLOWLY with re-introducing their 'normal' food.

Think when you are recovering from being sick? Cooked white rice, etc. BLAND, easy to digest food. Same with goats.

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Radically conservatively un-biased liberal.

http://whitepinesoapworks.com/

I am SO GLAD to hear that they seem to be all right now, or at least doing MUCH better. CONGRATS! Good Luck. Bye.