PLEASE HELP!! New Kind of Scours!!!!

xoxoGOATSxoxo · #1 08/07/06, 02:37 PM

I NEED help!!! One of the 3 month old kids has scours,

and the fair I'm taking them to is next week! I've had some kids with scours before, (a few years ago) but they were just brown liquid. This kid is the only one so far, and yesterday was the first day she had them. They were just brown smudgies yesterday afternoon and this morning, but I just went out just now and she streched and scoured brown smudgie stuff with white mucus! Eww, but I'm very scared. It was slightly more liquid, and the mucus is new to me.

Does she need antibiotics? Quarantine her? Pepto Bismol? Worm her?

She's a good baby, and I don't want to lose her. We did get new feed a couple of days ago, and I couldn't mix it with the old feed because my dad fed the rest to his sheep, because he thought I had more feed somewhere else. This feed is not that much different, though! All the other goats are fine and they all liked it. She also had a watermelon slice yesterday morning meant for her mother, but it wasn't a very big slice. We tagged her ear yesterday too, but stress wouldn't cause scours for this long, would it? (Since late yesterday afternoon) She is in good spirits and nobody would guess she had scours if not for her dirty bottom. She jumps and leaps and frolics with the rest of the babies, but I know she could go down fast. PLEASE PLEASE HELP ME!!!!!

susanne · #2 08/07/06, 03:18 PM

do you have her on cocci prevention? what is her temperature? still on milk?
what else do you feed her?

xoxoGOATSxoxo · #3 08/07/06, 04:22 PM

No, not on cocci prevention. We've never had a problem with it. Ever! She has had the normal "kids vaccinanations" that we give all the babies, though. She eats about a half-flake to most of a flake of hay per day, more or less, and about a bit more than a "pot" of grain. (sorry, I haven't measured the volume of the pot for a while, not since I started using it as a scoop, but I will see tonight.) I haven't checked her temp properly, but she doesn't "feel" warm and doesn't act sick. She has been off milk for about 3-4 (5?) weeks, since her mama started kicking her away. I'll look for a goat thermometer and use it if I find one tonight. Sorry about the lack of details...

that was stupid of me

SherrieC · #4 08/07/06, 04:48 PM

the first thing I think of if a baby has scours , is worm them and treat them for cocidiosis. Get some Sulmet, or sulfa's, or corid, or dimethox from your vet and start her on the treatment. Good luck with her.

You are in the area of the states where you need to have your kids on cocidiosis control.. Often when you buy a farm where there weren't goats before, you can go for some while with seemingly no problems until your adult goats start spreading the cocidia and then out of no where WAM! severe diareaha. Been there done that. I hadn't used control or heard of it the first 5 years of my own goating experience. I wouldn't even Think of raising kids without it now. Make your decision for your kids what you will use and faithfully use it. I use Dimethox every 21 days for a 5 day treatment, others use, Decox M, or corid in the water.

susanne · #5 08/07/06, 05:28 PM

i am in michigan and like sherrie i use di-methox as cocci prevention every three weeks for five days. you can get it from your vet or jefferspet.com where i buy it. your best bet is get some fecal sample to your vet and find out what you are dealing with.

AllWolf · #6 08/07/06, 10:53 PM

If I where you I would put the goat on a cocci prevention because you may not ever had that trouble before. You now can get it alone with the way the weather is this time of year.

Good Luck

copperpennykids · #7 08/08/06, 02:24 AM

Actually this sounds like a change in feed kind of thing.

Do not give her any more grain. Alfalfa/grass hay mix would be best.
Give her some baking soda--a pinch directly into her mouth, several times a day. This will help balance the Ph in her rumen. Then I would give some probios.
If you really think that the change in feed didn't do this (just because none of the rest seemed affected doesn't mean this little doe wasn't) then I would try neomyicin sulfate, which is for e-coli, which you could have given a foothold with the change in feed.

Let us know how she does.

Camille

xoxoGOATSxoxo · #8 08/08/06, 09:47 AM

Well, we've been here for 15-20 years, and the guy here before us was a vet who had horses and built the house and barns himself from scratch. Some goats have been off the property to be bred last fall, and we've gotten some new ducks and a few lambs this spring. Those are the only new animals on the property. (Lambs in the same barn, but ducks on the other side of the yard, a few acres away.)

I have not given her any grain at all since she first scoured, but the same amount of hay as usual, and nothing but the hay. (yes, alfalfa) She always was a sensitive goat, so I wouldn't be suprised if it was the new feed...

We tried to go to Tractor Supply Co. last night, but they were closed so we went @ about 8:30 this morning to get worm meds. We also called the vet, who recomended pig scour medicine, (sounds weird, I know, but he is a good goat vet!) 1 squirt of the red stuff twice a day per 10 lbs. She actually seems to like it! We wormed her this morning after we got back from TSC. She liked that too. Weird goat!

She is in the same condition as yesterday, with no change in the scours- except no mucus! Hooray! This can only be a good sign, I think.

susanne · #9 08/08/06, 10:15 AM

good to hear that the diarhea is getting better.
a good goat vet would ask you to bring a fecal sample in.
i still would do that.

SherrieC · #10 08/08/06, 10:33 AM

A vet should be able to do a fecal for you for $10 -$15 and sometimes when there is a problem that they are dealing with a feed change will bring on too much stress and lead to diareaha. Worst case senario he doesn't find any cocidia! If it's cheap and you can afford it, I'ld take in somebodie else's sample as well!

Egypt Run · #11 08/08/06, 01:35 PM

fecal sample is your best bet. No more grain until scours stopped. cocidia is in the soil almost every where and with the spring and summer we had it is bad here this year.

Steve

xoxoGOATSxoxo · #12 08/09/06, 10:40 AM

Okay. He lives about an hour and a half away, (the vet) so he doesn't often ask us for samples. He's the only vet around here who knows anything about goats. Anyway, she's SO much better! It's like regular feces, only stuck together. On the down side, though, is that we wormed the others when we wormed her, and now her mama has scours. Last night was when they came about, but this morning they were more the consistancy of cow pies. I'm pretty sure it was from the worm medicine, because she gets sick more often than the other goats. She's sensitive! Anyway, they are both doing much, much better, and I'm not quite as worried. If nobody else in the showstring gets sick, I'm almost sure I'll be able to take them to this show!!