can you feed a goat dog food

Had a goat in to a large animal vet's office once for surgery -- emergency C-section and spaying. Offered to bring some hay, but he said he'd feed her.

Come to find out they'd been feeding her cheap dog food because it was "mostly corn and fillers" ... which kindof alarmed me, not because of the dog food per se, but because this goat was raised on 100% alfalfa + minerals. I never grain unless I have a reason to, like a doe in really heavy milk. (Even then, I tend to throw another flake of hay their way before I resort to grain.)

The vet assumed that I'd been feeding pellets like everyone else in the world does, in my neck of the universe. And he said pellets weren't much different than dog food and short term, cheap dog food wouldn't hurt the goat.

... I tend to disagree (and if I'd known what he was going to feed, I would have provided alfalfa pellets or cubes or something) but this was a large animal vet's opinion.

FWIW.

-- Leva

The goat would get no better care if taken by animal control. There are more goats tied to rusty dead pickups around me than living a good life, if I started turning them all in? I think in the end it's better to mind your own business, it's her goat, the goat can live fine on dogfood.

My first goat used to eat the dog food with my dogs, and there are thousands of LGD that are fed in the goat barn with the goats cleaning up their dogfood. I started feeding raw because of this. The goats will not eat raw meat and bones

There are lots of goats who don't have shelter, drink water only out of ponds and puddles, and have nothing to eat but dead leaves and frozen grass. At least this goat has dog food that gives her protein and energy to keep warm. Dogfood is also very high in fiber. Her rumen has obviously adjusted to not bloating on what she is eating, and throwing her secretly feed she is not used to can cause more problems than leaving her be, and there is very little meat except ground bone in most dogfoods, and bonemeal isn't going to kill the goat.

It takes alot to get someones animal taken from them, and it's alot more than it is eating dogfood and no hay Vicki

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Vicki McGaugh
Nubian Soaps
North of Houston TX
www.etsy.com/shop/nubiansoaps

A 3 decade dairy goat farm homestead that is now a retail/wholesale soap company and construction business.

Depending on the rules in your area, she may be meeting the goat's minimum needs by applicable laws and regulations because they are not specific. Isn't that sad? About the only way you can get any action to improve the situation by involving the authorities is to demonstrate proof that the goat is physically harmed by this lack of care. That is tough to do, especially as you said if others do it and the goats live. Nice, huh?

If you want to get adversarial with her, you could go to her supervisor and request she receive training in the care for ruminants and small livestock. You can suggest certain classes and schools she can attend, at her employer's expense. It does not set a good example to have an authority that does not know or care about how to take proper care of an animal. We have seen much of this locally and actually had two authorities LIE in open assembly meetings that they had attended training for large livestock (this came up because they were involved in a case where two horses eventually starved to death because of their failure to act). They claimed to have attended so-and-so school recently but when we checked up on it, that school did not even offer ANY large livestock classes! Pathetic.

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Heather Fair
Fair Skies Nigerian Dwarf dairy goats
All I Saw Farm
Wasilla, Alaska
http://HoofinItNorth.com
http://FairSkiesAlaska.com

It sounds like cheap dog food may not be that bad afterall. Not the best. Just not the worst.

My goats sleep outside in -30 F with no problem because they have access to food for heat at all times. Unless the wind is blowing they won't sleep in their shelter.

Maybe a good way to start the conversation as Pickles wisely suggested is to go over with a bit of goat minerals and tell her it's extra and you'd hate to see it go to waste.

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"Do you believe in the devil? You know, a supreme evil being dedicated to the temptation, corruption, and destruction of man?" Hobbs
"I'm not sure that man needs the help." Calvin

Wow, this is a tough one. It kind of goes back to a thread about some horses that was on here not too long ago. It was a case of outright neglect in that instance, as the animals' basic needs were not being met. An animal needs food, water, shelter. Even though I don't at all agree with the way this person is keeping her goat (and it makes me angry to read it), his basic needs ARE being met, which makes it very hard to push a case for neglect as much as I wish you could.

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Becky

Thank you everyone for the input i guess i will just step aside and let it go .. just upset me to see a animal tied out 24/7 and to be eaten dog food ..

Years ago my sister was given a buck and doe pair of Pygmy crosses. My aunt and uncle had them for a couple years before giving them to my sister. They kept them in a doghouse and fed them dogfood exclusively. They were very shiny and sleek. They converted to a "normal" goat diet very well and lived a long healthy life.
So no, its not a good diet....but it could be a lot worse.

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Emily Dixon
Ozark Jewels
Nubians & Lamanchas
www.ozarkjewels.net

"Remember, no man is a failure, who has friends" -Clarence

Well i guess i should give a update i spent all day and most of the night working on the lil doe she had bloat i did what i could and she died! funny how things work she didn't want to hear a thing till something bad happens i even called a vet in and was told it was bloat and it was the dog food she change the amount she was getting cuase it was cold and she was close in a 8'10 dog kennel ...thanks for all the help ..

Dumb woman, what they can eat and what they should eat are two different things. Poor goat.

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Sometimes the last minute is the best one.

Well, lets just hope she doesn't get another......

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Emily Dixon
Ozark Jewels
Nubians & Lamanchas
www.ozarkjewels.net

"Remember, no man is a failure, who has friends" -Clarence

I am so sorry this turned out this way. Kudos to you for trying your best. I hate to say, she learned a hard lesson at the cost of this doe's life. I hope if she gets another she will be more willing to listen to you.

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Becky

This is very, very sad

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Teach only Love...for that is what You are

u know i wonder if theres a case now the goat is dead maybe i should have done something i feel so bad i feel i should have push the issue i'm gonna beat myself up on this one!

consider it a blessing. not a nice way to die but it sounds like it wasn't a nice way to live either. sorry. don't beat yourself up. this was not in any way your fault.

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A mystery is not an explanation..... on the contrary....no sooner is a myth forged than, in order to stand it needs another myth to support it.

Sweetie, there was nothing you COULD do. Please don't beat yourself up over it. As stated, the poor critter had food, water and shelter; there wasn't a case to be made, unfortunately. Please, know that you did all you could do for her.

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Becky

it just hurts... i didn't even get a thank you i payed my vet 50 bucks for a farm call u think she even cared .. she didn't seem upset.. i was as the poor thing was looking at me ... i just want to say thank you everyone for being here to guide me .. how can i put pictures in front of my name ??/

you did the right thing. you really did all you could.

i am so sorry.

very, very sorry.

It sounds to me, that you did everything you could, and tried to do alot more, that the owner wouldn't let you. Please, don't beat yourself up over this.

Ditto to everything Becky just said. You did everything you could; you're obviously a caring, good-hearted person. Let's hope her little doe didn't die in vain and this incident will have taught this woman something valuable about the lives in her care.

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Beth ~ Old Church, VA
3 Nigerian Dwarf goats, 4 cats, 3 Pekin ducks and 7 chickens. One very patient husband~

That goat knew who was there to love on her and care for her in the end. And I bet, at the Rainbow Bridge when we all re-unite, she will be looking for YOU.

As for pics, go to UserCP and edit avatar, make sure your pics are small enough (I love Photobucket for this) and add the URL (I love Photobucket for this, too).

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Becky