Discharge during pregnancy

[TennesseeMama23]

I have a first freshening doe that is 100 days pregnant and for the past few days she has had a clearish-brown discharge. Her tail is all nasty. We have looked around and haven't found any babies or such. What do you think?

Any advice? This is our first year of babies-we got them all last march, so this is all new to us.

[~PrairieGirl~]

I am new to this too , but I would think she is miscarrying. Sorry. If it is early on ,the doe can just reabsorb, and you won't see to much other than a discharge. I don't know how far along they have to be where they would have to pass the babies. Do you have other does expecting also?

[Blossomgapfarm]

I am new as well but my first freshener lost her baby yesterday. The only sign she had was a wet tail at feed time the night before. In the future, if I see a wet tail on a bred girl, she is going in a pen alone. Some good advise was given to me on my post "Help! First freshener just lost baby."
Good luck.
Dawn

[Sweet Goats]

Yep TennesseeMama, I hate to say it, but I bet she is aborting the baby for some reason. Have any other goats been butting her around that you have seen? I would seperate her also, and keep a eye on her. There is nothing you can do about it if she is aborting.

[Jcran]

I have had does with discharge during pregnancy and were fine...but it does matter if its a LOT of discharge or a little...my does have little bits and their tail gets sticky along the edges, sometimes even a bit clumpy...but if its a lot of discharge then perhaps she is aborting. My one doe is due anywhere from end of Feb to March 20th. She has a whitish discharge showing on some days on the tip of her vulva. Kind of like when some does are in heat; but she's bagging up so I know she's bred.

[Sweet Goats]

So, how is your doe doing? Any changes? Keep us posted.

[TennesseeMama23]

There is no change. She is eating fine and acts normal. I didn't see any thing that looked fresh this morning, but it is hard to tell. Her tail area is still nasty looking.

If she has passed babies, wouldn't her "area" look swollen or irritated?

[radar]

My apologies if I don't post correctly, I am new on posting etiquette.

I have just experienced a similar issue with my first freshener. Mavis was due some time between March 7th and the first week of April. I believed she was pregnant because the buckling I have in the group never showed any interest in her, just the older doe when she went into heat. I also never saw Mavis go in heat and I checked her backside almost daily as she is new to me.

Wednesday morning when I let the group out I saw a string of clotted blood hanging on her vulva, there was also a little bit of yellow mucous. She seemed perfectly happy, eating and chewing her cud, she also had no temperature. I checked her throughout the day and while I found on several occasions a few drops of blood I never found anything more definitive. I also looked in the bedding for any kind fetal tissue and never found anything. The next day, Thursday, I again saw a few blood droplets and she continued to look healthy and spry.

The vet came out today, bumped her and couldn't say she was empty because there was some sort of mass but it didn't bounce back so she thought it might be the rumen. The vet is great, but is not a large animal expert. She checked with a Reproductive Endocrinologist for large animals and he said if Mavis was looking fine 2 days after first having the blood that he believed she definitely did not miscarry because she should be very sick at this point with an infection. He believed instead that she had had a false pregnancy and the blood was from the corpus luteum failing.

The vet also did a finger exam of the vulva and found nothing of interest, ie no protruding tissue. There was a clear mucous on her finger and no blood. I considered doing a urine pregnancy test, but I believe it can't be accurate since a false pregnancy would also register positive since it tests progesterone levels.

So at this point I'm hoping Mavis had a false pregnancy in which case I have no concern for an infection and she will come back into heat in the next couple of weeks. The other scarier option is that she did miscarry and possibly still has fetal tissue inside her, so I'll continue to keep a very close eye on her.

I would love any thoughts or recommendations that the group might be able to contribute to this and other poster's situation.

Thank you.

[TennesseeMama23]

I hope everything works out well for Mavis.

I just wanted to give an update. Yesterday afternoon she had something hanging out and I checked and it was a baby (about 1 pound, no hair, head was a little smaller than a golf ball). I looked everywhere and couldn't find another one. Today she is eating good and acts like nothing is wrong.

If a goat has a fever will it go off feed? What are some signs I can look for to be sure she is ok? What should her discharge look like, if any?

I can't keep this doe up, she is a jumper, I put her in the kid stall with 4 feet walls and she jumps it without a problem. She also jumps the fence to get back in. This goat is one you can't keep out--she never jumps the fence to get out, but if you get her out by herself she jumps to get back in. (We are in the process of building a kidding stall that she won't get out of, but it isn't ready yet)

Thanks for all the helpful advice.

Melanie

[goatkid]

The best way to know if your doe has a fever, take her temperature. I use one of those digital thermometers made for humans. I would also check for smelly discharge and to be certain your doe keeps eating. Most does do NOT get sick from aborting. Most conceive and carry to full term with subsequent breeding.

[Blossomgapfarm]

I am sorry about the lost baby. My doe miscarried a couple of days ago. I have given the link to that post below. Also, on the advise of her breeder, I started her on penecillin. The vet agreed with that and said 4 cc for at least 8 days. Hope all goes well.

http://homesteadingtoday.com/showthread.php?t=164075

Dawn