Bloat in Kids

[dkdairygoats]

I have a doe kid, 3 1/2 weeks old, being bottle fed pasteurized goat's milk. She bloated last night, didn't want her bottle. She has diarrhea, no fever or other signs. I left her alone, went out this morning, bloat was down but only drank 1/2 bottle. I had this happen last year, two kids died and one lived after a very long fight. These kids have not been in any areas where my last year's kids were, so it can't be anything contagious. I have not changed the feed in any way. They are vaccinated for CD/T. Anyone have any ideas?

[homebirtha]

Are you doing anything for cocci prevention? I didn't think bloat caused diarrhea???

[dkdairygoats]

They've been treated for coccidia with amprolium. Bloat doesn't cause diarrhea. She has some type of intestinal upset causing both.

[Blue Oak Ranch]

My first guess would be coccidiosis too.

At almost 4 weeks, they'll be sampling a wider array of solid food - and nibbling on stuff like dirt and wood for the minerals. That's how they pick up things like cocci. Give 'em loose minerals in a feeder they can't tip over.

Amprolium helps prevent cocci - it doesn't do as good a job at curing it once it has reached infestation stage. Use Co-Rid or Sulmet (I've used Sulmet with good results) to treat an active case like yours. Sulmet's cheap, and available at almost any feed store.

Cheers!

Katherine

[Westwood]

The rumen is developing, try probios. Pritchard nipple or what on the bottle? If she's sucking air, she'll "inflate".

[TexCountryWoman]

If the diarrhea is black and not super smelly and foul, it may be from too much milk. That happened to mine and I cut the milk down and they recovered real quick and were back to normal. Also, mine sucked in air also and I had to watch for that. The Prichard Nipple doeswork better than a human baby bottle nipple, I agree.

[goatkid]

I had a diarreah problem this year. The babies would be a bit off feed, then would get the runs and begin eating better. At the onset, some of them would have rounder bellies. I took a fecal to the vet and there were cocci present. He said it could either be coccidiosis, an infection or a viral thing. He gave me some liquid sulfa to administer orally the first day 1cc per 5 lb. then 1cc per 10 lb. for 4 more days. He also gave me something called Diarsanyl to give, 5 cc twice a day to stop the diarreah, provide electrolytes and coat the stomach. Most of the kids only needed one or two doses of the Diarsanyl. I also gave the powdered Probios in the morning bottle.