Goat dying
 

Temp: 96.8
Born: Around 8:00 last night. One of twins.
Mother rejected this one.

So far:
Towels.
Space heater.
Bottle feeding milk from the mother.
Goat drench.
Vit B shot.

I know I don't come here often, but I need help. How can I save her?

She was swallowing a little bit, but now she isn't. She is not warming up. She is fading.

Heart rate: 140
Resp: 40

I don't have advice to offer as you've posted you're doing all that I would know to do. I pray she pulls through for you!

I guess if it were me I would wrap her in warm towels and hold her against me for body heat.

Good Evening Mrs. Hoppes, :)


I am so sorry about your new baby. I can`t give you much help because, there could be so many different reasons this is happening. I hope someone with more goat knowledge than myself jumps in and helps you.


I just wanted to tell you hang in there, and have hope. Until someone can answer you, do you have access to a vet? Maybe you can call one and they might be able to help you over the phone? Good luck and keep posting any changes.



Hugs,
Linda :)

Don't feed her if her temperature is low! Wait until fully warmed, then feed.

That temp is too low. Warming up towels in the dryer and wrapping her up might help. Also, I have heard that people put them in a plastic bag with their head out and place them in a tub of warm water to get the temp up. I'm so sorry you are going through this...prayers for you and the baby

If she is cold, a space heater isn't going to do much. Get her into a bucket of very warm water (it will feel fairly hot to you) and submerge her in it except for her head. You might need to change out the water if it cools down. Keep her in that hot water until she warms up.

The tricky part is transitioning them from the water to a dry state without losing heat. Warm up towels in the oven and dry her off vigorously with the warm towel, and then switch the damp towel out for another warm dry one, and keep her wrapped up in that.

I wouldn't feed her until she has recovered somewhat.

I am sorry about your baby. Use this link on baby goat chill. Do not feed that baby milk until its warm as it can not digest it.
http://goat-link.com/index.php?optio...d=27&Itemid=77

This is what we did. She warmed up to 103.3, let out a couple of bleats and died. I could not revive her. Not even with chest compressions.

I'm sorry. Best to you.
Paul

so sorry for your loss Mrs Hoppes.
:grouphug:

I am so sorry you lost her. This is a good time for having babies born but its also a risky time. There are a lot of babies dying at this time of year due to the cold and unsure does.

Aw, that's too bad. :Bawling:Better luck next time.

What could I have done differently?

If I had my baby carrier, I would have put her in it. But, it is on loan to someone with a preemie who needs the constant skin-to-skin contact for his own growth and development.

What else could I have done differently?

We've had goats born here. This is the third baby goat in two years that has died on me. I have yet to be able to save one that has been rejected.

I know I am probably over reacting, but there is good reason. Three human deaths in three weeks and today is my middle child's 4th birthday so having a baby goat die on her birthday that she had said as I was tucking her in "tomorrow when the baby is feeling better and isn't sick anymore, I am going to pet her."

So any advice on how to either prevent this from happening to begin with or something else I could do should we have another downed kid on our hands?

There are many reason baby goats die. Usually if the mother rejects it its for good reason. She knows something is wrong. Do they have access to good loose minerals with a high copper content? Are you in a selenium deficient area? Has the mother been ill prior to kidding?

I don't think you did anything wrong, in fact you did everything you knew to do and sometimes even with help and others knowledge the outcome is still grim.

Mrs. Hoppes, I'll leave the advice to those who have had goatbabies, but I just wanted to let you know how sorry I am.

I'm sorry for your loss.I am actually a "sheep" person, but I can tell you from my experience, that keeping the baby warm is much more important than the milk. We used the plastic bag technique, that someone else wrote about in a previous post, over a dozen times with alot of success. The main difference is that we used the bathtub in our house instead of a bucket. We also tubed them rather than feeding by bottle if they didn't seem "quite right".

I am so sorry to hear about your loss. YOu did everything you knew how. It was just nature. ((hugs))

Sorry to hear about your loss....

How much colostrum did you get in her and when was it given?

I know you you said she wasnt wanting the bottle... next time you might have to tube the kid to get them going....

Justin

Sometimes, they just die. We don't always know why and without a necropsy probably never will. A doe will reject a seemingly fine kid, you take it in and start feeding it and it goes down quick. No matter what we do, we lose them. It's just natures way. If by chance you keep that kid alive, you get attached and eventually it dies. I'm not saying that all rejected kids are going to die, but it is usually an indication there is something wrong. Once they go down, it is so hard to get them healthy again. Usually you have to be there the moment they go down and do exactly the right thing and then you may have a chance. It's natures way, not anything you did or didn't do. I always tell my son when one goes down to be prepared for the worse to happen. If they make it, its wonderful and usually they turn out to be great pets. If they don't make it, at least your prepared for that too. I'm so sorry you lost the kid, it's never easy.

Hugs to you and your daughter. I'm sorry this happened on her birthday, give her a hug and tell her they needed a kid in heaven and this one was so special that she was chosen.

I am so so sorry :bawling:.

I am so very sorry :( You did everything you could for the baby. Hugs to you and your family

sometimes it is very hard to understand that not all kids that are born, are meant to survive. maybe she has a defect?

Oh I'm so sorry she didn't make it!

I too am very sorry you lost your baby.

Probably nothing.
Sometimes they just arent strong enough to live.
The mother can sense there is something wrong, and that is why they reject them.
You did all the right things

Sorry you lost the baby. There can be different reasons for it. Sometimes a doe will reject a kid because she knows something is wrong with it. Other times, the doe kids in two different places and forgets to care for one of them - the baby gets chilled, it doesn't get colostrum and is already chilled and fading when found. I lost one kid last year who was born when I was running an errand. She was barely alive when I found her. Her dam was with her, but couldn't help her. She was bleeding from her umbilical and must have lost too much blood before I tied it off. I never could get her warm in spite of the warm water bath and tubing her. Poor mama goat mourned her until she found a little buckling to co-parent with another doe.

Good Morning Everyone, :)


Mrs.Hoppes, I am so, so, sorry that your baby died.
Sometimes even with our best efforts and doing everything we know how, we still lose them. It truly is heartbreaking. :(


Please wish your daughter a ``Happy Birthday`` from me. All you can do is be honest with your little one. Just tell her the baby was sick and died. Have her focus on the little goat that you have left.


Hugs,
Linda :)

I'm sorry you lost the baby. I lost one last week - did everything I knew how to do too, but he didn't make it. He was born early and I just think he wasn't "ready".

All we can do is our best. I agree with what someone else said - tell your daughter that they needed a special kid in heaven.

Sorry for your losses, both human and goat. ((hug))

You asked what you could have done different and I just want to make a suggestion.
When I had gotten the kid a little warmer... maybe 100, I would have tubed her with a little (1/4) strong coffee mixed in with the milk (3/4). For some reason, that coffee does jolt the system going. (whoever learned this, thank you again for the suggestion) I would then have continued getting the kid warm and tubed again in a few hours to make sure she was getting enough, possible a third time before trying to get her to take the bottle or nurse on Mom. (second and third tubing may or may not need the coffee) Tubing would have saved the energy the kid would have needed to suck. Once back with Mom (as soon as possible so Mom doesn't forget), a little sweatshirt sleeve sweater would be on until warmer.

I've saved a couple of kids over the years doing this and lost one...

It is always good to continually check for round tummies. Sometimes you can catch it earlier if the tummy isn't full.

Also I don't know what your pen looks like but it is good to have a small, enclosed resting area filled with hay just for the kids. The enclosed (three sides and top) keeps in the heat and they can snuggle together. If a kid is cold, it's not going to want to nurse. Doesn't nurse, gets colder... Again, I don't know if you do have, just a suggestion if you do.

In the wild only 20% of most baby animals survive to their first birthday. This is nature's way of limiting populations and ensuring only the strongest remain in the genepool. The mom doe likely instinctively sensed this kid would not make it. Of course we can't know for sure, but it's probably nothing you could have done.
Nonetheless, I'm so sorry for your loss; it sounds like it's been a very difficult time for you.