Young Goat with Scours

[6e]

OK, I have this rule that I don't buy animals from auctions, it's just asking for trouble, but last night I broke that rule and I wish I hadn't. We went to a local auction and there was a red Boer doeling that went through that I couldn't resist. She is about 3 months old I'm guessing and in a lot worse shape than what I could tell from our seats. She's skin and bones and she has the scours that's almost a gel consistency. Yeah, I know....bad news! I can't get her to eat anything, but I did get her to drink some goat formula. She was so thin and weak that I had to get something into her, even if it was a bad idea for the scours. I couldn't get to the vet today and I can't get there tomorrow either and I need some quick ideas for what to do for the scours. Can you give a goat Pepto Bismol or anything like that and if so, how much? I would say she probably only weighs about 20 pounds at best. She is seperated from the others.
Any help besides not buying critters from auctions????

[dkdairygoats]

Yes, you can give Pepto Bismol. I would give her about 45 cc's every 12 hours. Also, keep getting the formula into her. This is only short-term relief!! It is important for her to have some type of nutrients. Call your vet. My guess without knowing much about her would be a coccida infection. This is relatively common in goats that age and not hard to treat. It is diagnosed by a fecal examination.

[Debara]

well, I have pygmy goats and am totally new at all this, but when we brought our babies home just a couple of weeks ago; one of them developed scours the next day. we figured it was due to stress from the long drive home, a new home, being taken away from their mom, eatin grass for the first time... etc. anyway, we gave him.. pepto bismo - - 2cc per day. he weighs 7lbs. that was until we could get di-methox. then we started to give him gatorade so that he would not dehydrate. he loved it. the pepto bismo helped a great deal..so didnt the di-methox. he is all better now. i think that is about it... just make sure she does not get dehydrated. gatorade will for sure help!! good luck. let me know how she is doing.

[6e]

OK, we're going to give it a try. I can't get to the vet until Friday as I have an appt. with my midwife tomorrow. You know, I think I have some of the medicine needed for coccidiosis. I may put that in her water, although I'm not sure she's drinking any water. She's just drinking the formula out of a bowl, she won't take a bottle. Sure would hate to lose her even though all I paid was $25 for her. I guess that should have told me something?!

[Freeholder]

You could put the medicine in her formula. Or do you have something to drench her with?

Kathleen

[6e]

Update: We lost the little doe during the night. The way she was acting yesterday, it's not really a suprise, but it is frustrating. I'm going back to my strict rule of not buying animals from auctions!
So.....if anyone has any nice little Boer does for sale around Kansas, let me know. We're wanting to expand our herd.
Oh, does anyone know a good way to sanitize the ground in the pen she's been in? I'm not sure what we were dealing with and in the middle of May we were wanting to put all of our weaners in there to finish them out, but I don't want them maybe picking up what she had.
Thank you for all the advice. I guess that's the way it goes, but it is irritating that people will take animals to a sale that they know is sick, or weak or that they know probably won't make it. And I saw goats there with their hooves so overgrown that they couldn't even hardly walk. And they were still getting over $100 a head for them. I can't even imagine.
Well, thanks again.

[gccrook]

Un fortunately, that is what most auctions get. Animals that cannot be sold otherwise. Unless you go to a specialty auction. There are several boer people down in SE Kansas. You can look on the KMGA website for members, or go the Kansas Meat Goat list http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Kansas-Meat-Goats and ask there.