Doe off - any ideas? (long)

[GoldenWood Farm]

I don't post here much but I am looking for some thoughts on what could be wrong with my mom's doe.

Let me give you a background on her. She is a 4yr old LaNubian this is her 3rd kidding. She kidded with triplets a week ago no problems or anything. She has always carried some extra flesh even when she was milking. We where glad when she had triplets because we figured this year she could finally milk it off (This doe can gain weight on air no joke). She has been getting grain since about 3 weeks before kidding along with alfalfa pellets (along side of course her usual hay and water).

Everything was looking fine until yesterday morning when I went out to milk. She wasn't to happy about me getting her up to grain her and milk her (to keep her even). So this all started yesterday morning that I can tell.

Her symptoms far as I can tell

- No appetite
- Milk production down (udder isn't hot or hard though so no abnormal symptoms besides less milk than normal)
- Wants to lay down a lot which isn't normal
- Yesterday she was stretching a lot. Kind of like when a cat stands from sleeping and stretches out her back legs and back?
- Acted like she might have been in slight pain
- Temp was 102.3 that morning and then when I checked a little later it was down to 101.7
- She has lost a lot of flesh in the last couple of days. She isn't skin and bones by any means but it was weird to see her loose weight. We pegged it to the kids drinking more but now I am not so sure

Honestly she is just acting off. She is bright eyed and I checked her gums/eyelids they are nice and pink. First thing I did was check for signs of bloat which I found none. I took her temp of course. But she doesn't want to stand for long periods of time it seems and when she does she is always stretching. We are treating her like she has ketosis as it isn't going to hurt her to get nutri-drench or molassas/karo water with probios in it (that is what I have read on how to treat it). We gave her some Calcium Gluconate 23% Solution SQ just in case she had milk fever (with the dropping temp I didn't want to risk it).

I have dealt with Milk Fever before and this just isn't presenting like that but I wanted to be safe rather than sorry. My mom has started her on some herbal remedies (no nasty comments on that please it works just fine) for infection fighting as it won't hurt her any since we are not exactly sure what we are dealing with. I am going to have my mom worm her today with Cydectin. We where waiting to get our herbal wormer but I want to worm her now. I don't think this is caused by worms but I am not ruling that out.

We prefer using herbal wormer her hence why we where waiting so no flames about that people.

Her symptoms just don't seem to be adding up. She seemed to feel a little better after we treated her like she had ketosis but she still isn't feeling good. I haven't been out to the barn yet to check her temp again this morning. I know she has been nibbling at hay since last night but not with vigor so her appetite isn't all back. We are supplementing her kids and probably pulling two off so she isn't dealing with feeding them. I hope this info isn't too disjointed.

She isn't on deaths door by any means but she isn't well either. She is bright eyed but there is something off about her. I can't for the LIFE of me figure out why she keeps stretching! That is what is throwing me off! I don't know is that is connected to her not feeling well or not. She was fine two days ago and now she is off. Any ideas would be awesome. I know you can't give a for sure answer on what is wrong but any thoughts would be awesome!

Justine

[susanne]

have you done a fecal check?
how much grain? could this be acidosis? strange enough this will make her feet hurt and why she does not want to stand. (just me thinking) is she still drinking?
i would give fort. b.comp, bo-se and keep baking soda out. cut back on the grain and offer fresh clean straw and grass hay. see if she likes it. i would check for ketons in her urine too. do you see her cudding?
how does her lochia look like? smells normal? are you sure she passed the after birth complete?

[GoldenWood Farm]

Originally Posted by susanne

have you done a fecal check?
how much grain? could this be acidosis? strange enough this will make her feet hurt and why she does not want to stand. (just me thinking) is she still drinking?
i would give fort. b.comp, bo-se and keep baking soda out. cut back on the grain and offer fresh clean straw and grass hay. see if she likes it. i would check for ketons in her urine too. do you see her cudding?
how does her lochia look like? smells normal? are you sure she passed the after birth complete?

have you done a fecal check?

I have no way to do a fecal check

could this be acidosis? strange enough this will make her feet hurt and why she does not want to stand. (just me thinking)

You know I am not sure. She doesn't appear bloated at all to me but is in discomfort. Yesterday she did do something odd when laying down. She started kicking at her stomach for a few seconds groaning and then stopped. I haven't seen her do that sense but my mom has been taking care of her also.

is she still drinking?

I haven't seen her drinking but I haven't been with her 24/7. So she very well might be and I am not seeing it. When we offered her water she wasn't interested so this could be due to her already have had water or just plain doesn't want it.

cut back on the grain and offer fresh clean straw and grass hay. see if she likes it.

I haven't offered her any grain. She is more interested in clean straw than hay. I am going to have my mom put some baking soda out to cover all the bases.

would check for ketons in her urine too.

I have no clue how to do that.

do you see her cudding?

Yes she is cudding. Not as often again as I would like to see but she is cudding. I was worried most about that when I didn't see her cudding for a while but I have seen her doing it.

i would give fort. b.comp, bo-se and keep baking soda out

Mom has been giving her a liquid Vit. B complex with her herbal meds. I was just thinking about the BO-SE when I was out in the barn milking.

how does her lochia look like? smells normal?

That was the first thing I checked actually...I should have said that. It looks normal to me compared to everyone else and I haven't noticed any smells.

are you sure she passed the after birth complete?

I don't honestly know. I wasn't there during the birth (actually neither of us where) but I am assuming yes? Honestly though I can't say for sure yes or no.

I did just take her temp while I was out in the barn and she was at 102.3 so no fever and it isn't too low. Mom say's she looks a bit better than yesterday and I do agree a little bit but still she is off. I am kind of at a loss to what could be her problem. Her symptoms don't add up. Oh as for her grain my mom grains her in the morning so I am not sure how much she gives her but when I grain her at night I give her probably 1 1/2 of grain. I don't exactly measure out the grain with my does. I go by how their weight feels and how they are milking. I try to stick around the 3lb a day but if I feel one needs more she will get more or if one is rather fat and not milking a lot she will be cut down a bit. Not very scientific I know.

Justine

[susanne]

if you don't know how to do fecal, how do you know your worming protol is working? i would bring some to the vet to have it checked.
acidosis is not the same as bloat.
uterine infection does not always has fever.
you can check for keton with keton strip from the pharmacy.