Bloat-like, but not??

[belinda]

Hello all you wise, experienced goat lovers,

Has anyone seen a left side so large that you swear the goat has bloat, but there is no distress, she eats, she passes perfect poo and goes normally about her business!!

She has been to the vet. She has had bloat remedy followed by paraffin on the following successive days. She's on antibiotics in case of 2ndry issues.

That belly is not budging. I don't think she has eaten anything unusual. Perhaps a little extra grass with the Spring (Australia here) growth.

Would love to hear from anyone with similar experience

Cheers and pats for your pets

B

[debitaber]

New green grass, will some time give bloat. I nevr give new grass to mine, it also causes, the runs some times. or to much grain, I would stop the grain, and see what happens over a weeks time. and worm, wait ten days then worm again.

[lgslgs]

Originally Posted by belinda

Hello all you wise, experienced goat lovers,

Has anyone seen a left side so large that you swear the goat has bloat, but there is no distress, she eats, she passes perfect poo and goes normally about her business!!

Ours look like that every afternoon and evening after spending the day browsing in the overgrown woods and engaging in "competitive rumen stuffing". We have one that seems to feel her whole purpose in life is to see just how ridiculously large she can expand her rumen. She's lean and muscular everywhere else, but from midday on we just marvel at the fact she can even walk with all of the rumen weight.

We don't see this as cause for worry because they have perfect individual nannyberry style poops and except for 1 cup of grain shared by 8 goats at night, all of the food they eat is from browse and they have to work some tough terrain to get to it. We figure that if Big Sandy does start carry too much weight, the worst it will do is slow her down and make her browsing less efficient - sort of a natural, self-limiting approach to weight control.

In the morning, as we let everyone out from their night pasture and allow them access to their 15 acre browse buffet, every looks like normal sized goats. But by their 3 pm cud break, they start to look like cartoons with tiny heads on beach-ball shaped bodies. As long as the poops look good, there is no sign of distress, and the only diet changes they have come from the natural changes of the seasons (with full access to the land's browse every day), we aren't very worried about the likelihood of bloat. If we moved them from barn to pen to pasture to woods seasonally or on some other scheduled dictated by humans, we'd be more concerned because that would increase chances of introducing major diet changes.

Lynda

[Jen H]

It sounds like she just has a good sized rumen. This time of year, after a season of stuffing themselves with grass and browse, even my wethers look pregnant when I put them in at night. I just figure that'll give them a nice fermenting chamber to keep them warm this winter. At the end of winter, after months of hay and alfalfa pellets, their bellies will be back to normal size.

"Competitive rumen stuffing" I like that! I have a couple of top contenders here.

[belinda]

Thanks so much for your reassurance.
I thought it odd that she looks so well for a bloat goat!!!

If you guys all have lop-sided grinning grazers on a regualr basis I will back off and trust she is happy.

This is a particularly comforting thought as she was quite unwell and horrendously ill this winter and I thought we were about to lose the old girl.
- hence the tendency to suspect illness i suppose.

Thanks again, and I hope all your girls (and guys) are fatty and grinning through your coming winter

Cheers,

belinda