what went wrong

[Va. goatman]

I lost a 3 week old this week I was bottle feeding and dont know why. She was doing good Sunday I had her out in the field with the other goats she was running playing on rocks. I put her in her pen about 8:00 gave her a bottle at 8:45 Monday mourning she was dead. I have never seen a goat doing so well die so suddenly and I have raised a bunch of goats (we keep between 15-35)

[AllWolf]

Just to ask do you think your goat could had ate something and it was poisonous to it?

Or could your goat had ate something like a small rock and you didn't know it and that night it started choking.

Just trying to fingure out what might had cause it's death.

[Jillis]

So sorry, goatman...do you give the CDT shot? I've heard that the disease one portion of that prevents can cause death overnight. I forget the real name, but it is called "overeating disease."

[Va. goatman]

I usually give the shot at 2 or 3 months

[mygoat]

I've always given my shots at 4 and 8 weeks of age, because just one doesn't cover it. Some even do 3, 6, and 9 weeks of age to make sure they're covered. Did thier mother's have the shot? They should have gotten thier yearly booster one or two months before kidding. I give mine thier boosters exactly one month before kidding to ensure that some of the shot carries over to the kids, at least long enough to wait till 4 weeks of age.

[Jillis]

According to the goat health seminar I attended a few months ago, given by a vet raised on a goat farm, you should give the CDT within a few days after birth unless you are dam-raising them and she had the shot at least 2 weeks before giving birth. If you are bottle raising them, you give the first shot withint the first week of birth, and a booster 6 weeks later. Dam raised should bet the first shot at about 6 weeks before you are planning to wean them, and then get the booster after weaning.

After that they should get the CDT once a year---if they are breeding does, that yearly shot should be given a few weeks before giving birth.

Again, I am so sorry you lost your little one.

[AllWolf]

I didn't think about the over eatting disease but of course I have never delt with that type of thing but I have dealt with goats getting stung by bees or with Cocci but so far not over eatting disease..

The other name for overeating disease is.. Enterotoxemia

Vaccination doesn't always work for this either.

Reason I said about plants is because some can kill a goat fast. Oh well I tried to help

good luck with your goats.

[Jillis]

AllWolf, it is a reasonable assumption. But if there was something poisonous I'm not sure that only a 3 week old would eat enough to kill it w/o any symptoms...and then wouldn't the older goats have eaten even more than a bottle-fed 3 week old? Usually when a goat eats something poisonous, there are symptoms before death...
So went my thinking on that.

[AllWolf]

Jillis I had a baby goat to die from eatting a deadly plant and didn't have no signs of being sick at all until it was dead. It don't take much to kill a baby goat. I have had plenty of expierce on that. That was why I was asking if it could had ate something deadly.

[Va. goatman]

The only time it was out I was there With it other baby goats were in same field

[moonspinner]

Sometimes certain strains of pneumonia can strike down a kid in a heartbeat with no overt symptoms.