legnth of goat miscarriage?

MamaDee · #1 09/22/08, 08:27 AM

We bred our 9 year old Kinder doe on August 18th. Three weeks later she started with a red looking discharge. I assume she is miscarrying, but how long can the bleeding/discharge last? It's been almost two weeks...a few days ago I noticed what I thought was clear discharge and I thought maybe she was going into heat already again. But last night there was evidence of rust looking stuff on her back end--like dried bood. I never did see red blood, but just the dried looking rust color stuff.

How long should this go on? Do you think this might have happened b/c of her age? How old do you breed goats?

Thanks,

Dee

susanne · #2 09/22/08, 08:30 AM

a doe that miscariage after three weeks bred, might show a little bit of wet tail, no blood.
i think what is going on with your doe is an uterus infection and needs to be treated before she can get pregnant.

MamaDee · #3 09/22/08, 02:12 PM

I looked this up, but didn't find too much. I did find something that said the milk could be unsafe for consumption. Should I dump her milk until I find out what's going on? How can I know for sure if that's what is wrong?

Dee

susanne · #4 09/22/08, 02:23 PM

the vet can do a swap and have it cultured.
i do not see why the milk should be unsafe if the infection is not systemic yet and not used heavy medication. as soon as you start systemic antibiotic, you can not drink the milk.
how was her last kidding?

Alice In TX/MO · #5 09/22/08, 03:17 PM

I think you mean a swab.

susanne · #6 09/22/08, 03:33 PM

yep, swab. rose the teacher got me again. LOL

southerngurl · #7 09/22/08, 03:56 PM

LOL, yes a goat swap would cure th problem too.

MamaDee · #8 09/22/08, 04:20 PM

I wouldn't mind swapping her, actually. But I'd like to get one more doeling from her before that. ; )

Her last kidding went fine. She only had a single, but it was healthy and she had no problems. That was in January. But, she is getting old.

Could the breeding a month ago have anything to do with her having a uterine infection? If she had an infection, would the breeding not have taken?

Dee

susanne · #9 09/22/08, 04:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MamaDee

I wouldn't mind swapping her, actually. But I'd like to get one more doeling from her before that. ; )

Her last kidding went fine. She only had a single, but it was healthy and she had no problems. That was in January. But, she is getting old.

Could the breeding a month ago have anything to do with her having a uterine infection? If she had an infection, would the breeding not have taken?

Dee

dee i certainly didn't want to make fun out of it. sorry.
yes, she might have conceived but not able to let the fertilized eggs nestled in the uterus because of infection.
was that a buck you used before?

MamaDee · #10 09/22/08, 09:25 PM

No, we hadn't used the buck before. Is there any danger to him if he bred with a doe who had a uterine infection?

And....exactly how do I go about swabbing her? All I ever see on her is a rust colored old looking, dried discharge on the hair under her behind.

What causes that anyway? She seems otherwise healthy. Are there any other symptoms? I tried a bunch of google searches, but just didn't come up with much info.

Thanks.

Dee

susanne · #11 09/22/08, 10:09 PM

dee the vet needs to do the swab and have it send to a lab to do a culture.
yes the buck could have done that if he was used on other does that where not healthy. sometimes the only symptoms you see, is a non breeding doe that had kids before.

MamaDee · #12 09/23/08, 07:54 AM

Oh, great. We live way out in the boonies and to get a vet out here is very expensive.

Should I say anything to the lady I rented the buck from? I guess her buck might be o.k., but one of her does might be sick.....or maybe it might come across better to say I'm concerned that he might have bred with someone else's doe with an infection and could get one of her does sick, too?

Does anyone know if I should be drinking her milk for sure?

Dee

MamaDee · #13 09/23/08, 02:04 PM

I just happened to think.....I bred three does to this buck. The other two are fine. Don't know if that means anything or not, but thought I'd mention it.

Dee

Vicki McGaugh TX Nubians · #14 09/23/08, 09:35 PM

The infection did not come from this buck breeing the doe. The infection, if there is one, is from the previous kidding. Maybe she didn't clean correctly or had a small tear or rip, now with the cervic open for her first heat you are seeing the rusty dead blood dead infection (or it would smell like death around her). We have an article written by Sue Reith in goatkeeping 101 of dairygoatinfo.com entitled Getting that Doe bred (or something like that) in it she tells you how to infuse a doe....doing it right now while she is discharging so her cervic is open, you can't just flush the vagina but have to get the tetracycline into the cervic. I would also put her on systemic meds (In this kind of instance pennicillin is fine) and if you can get banamine I would use it to keep the inflammation down in the uterus. Then get her bred. Read the article, email me if you need more help. Vicki

MamaDee · #15 09/23/08, 10:24 PM

The infection, if there is one, is from the previous kidding. Maybe she didn't clean correctly or had a small tear or rip, now with the cervic open for her first heat you are seeing the rusty dead blood dead infection>>>>

This could be from her kidding back in January? Does that mean she could have had an infection all this time?

She did have a heat cycle before this one that appeared normal. We didn't have a buck then so we waited until the next cycle - which was the middle of August. That's when we bred her and 3 weeks later we started seeing this discharge. If she had an infection from a previous kidding wouldn't we have seen some sign on her first cycle in mid/end July?

I will read the article, but thought I would also mention the first heat cycle.....since I don't pretend to understand any of this. Not yet, anyway. I'm finding the way to learn about goats is to live it and learn. ; )

Dee