Lost a baby goat to bloat

6e · #1 02/18/11, 05:29 PM

We have a baby goat that was about 4 to 5 weeks old. We noticed him just slightly fatter than the others and weak in the hind end. Went to work immediately. Gave him some oil while husband went to go get Pepto Bismol. We also made a baking soda paste and gave him that. It was a losing battle as he got bigger and bigger and nothing seemed to help. We tried everything. After he died we opened him up to make sure he didn't get into anything odd that we needed to guard the others from. Well, really not much in his stomach except a little bit of milk left from this morning. Nothing out of the ordinary. Any ideas? What could I do different should we have this happen again? Why would he bloat on that? We did not over feed. We only give enough till their stomachs are just slightly rounded, no more. He was a nice buck too and we're a tad frustrated.

Bearfootfarm · #2 02/18/11, 05:49 PM

They shouldnt bloat on just milk

You can try tubing, or as a last resort, a large bore needle directly into the stomach to let off pressure

http://www.boergoats.com/clean/articleads.php?art=346

Quote:

In the desperate stages, puncturing the rumen through the skin in the center of the usually hollowed out area 3 to 5 inches behind the last rib (depending on the goat). The instrument used is called a trocar which accomplishes the puncture and allows for gas to escape. This is a last hope medical procedure when all else has failed. I've never done this one, but my vet did it on one of my kids last year. Unfortunately, she died a few moments after the puncture. In the absence of a trocar, a sharp instrument can be used and a tube inserted -- puncturing the hide and rumen is harder than you'd think.

6e · #3 02/18/11, 05:56 PM

We tried the puncturing too with a 16 ga needle on the upper side about mid way between the last rib and the hip. Found a site that told us where, but still wouldn't release. :-( It was the strangest thing. There really wasn't anything in there that should have caused bloating and what was in there was very little. It was the strangest thing I've ever seen and haven't had that happen. The only thing we didn't try was swinging him around by his back legs which I've heard will help...but didn't try that. We did just about everything else though, although I didn't tube as I didn't have the right size diameter tube here. I was afraid he had gotten into something he shouldn't and that's why I opened him up, but there was nothing in there.

nehimama · #4 02/18/11, 06:40 PM

I'm so sorry for your loss, and certainly understand your frustration. Been through it here. I think I would have tried an emergency dose of C & D Antitoxin. 3 cc sub-q. I think I've even seen it suggested to administer orally in extreme cases.

If someone else has better input, I hope they'll correct me if I'm wrong!

BTW, were you feeding MILK, or MILK REPLACER?

cjb · #5 02/18/11, 07:17 PM

I'm sorry.

6e · #6 02/18/11, 07:21 PM

Just Vitamin D milk. No replacer and this is what he's been on all along. It was a strange occurrence and from the time we first noticed him starting to bloat to the time of death was only about an hour.

They have had their CD&T's already. The only thing out of the ordinary was we have been treating them for Coccidia the past couple of nights with their bottles. That's the only thing that's been different. This is the second strange occurrence that we've had since we started the Cocci treatment. We had one that was fine and started scours after treatment, so I'm really wondering if this batch is any good, but then what we gave to him last night wouldn't really cause problems today I wouldn't think.

Oat Bucket Farm · #7 02/18/11, 09:55 PM

Sometimes they still need C&D anit-toxin. I am so sorry you lost the little guy. What cocci prevention are you using?

6e · #8 02/18/11, 10:27 PM

12.5% Dimethox concentrate that we got from Hoeggers. We've been following the directions for goats. Next time I'll remember the C&D. I don't know that it would have helped at that point. There was almost nothing in the rumen for it to blow up.

CarolT · #9 02/19/11, 05:31 PM

You did check to make sure his gut hadn't twisted further down? Sure am sorry it happened

That's a horrible thing to happen but sounds like you did everything you could think of and it was just going to happen. I never would have thought it would be so fast either

6e · #10 02/19/11, 05:56 PM

Yes I did check that......all his intestines looked red and healthy. Nothing blue. But I did notice some blood spots on the inside of the large intestine. Not really knowing what I'm looking for, I don't know what that was from.

motdaugrnds · #11 02/19/11, 08:32 PM

I don't know anything that might help you; however, I did want to let you know I understand how difficult it is to lose a little goat without understanding why. I am very sorry you lost him.

Kshobbit · #12 02/19/11, 08:33 PM

He might have had an allergic reaction to the coccidia treatment. You never know when that might happen.

6e · #13 02/19/11, 09:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kshobbit

He might have had an allergic reaction to the coccidia treatment. You never know when that might happen.

I thought it might be that too. It crossed my mind. Just not totally sure. Just sort of aggravated at myself that we lost him. It was one that we were going to keep. Sigh.

PaulNKS · #14 02/20/11, 12:16 PM

I'm also sorry to hear that you lost him... Sometimes an animal just up and dies for what seems like no reason. It's just a part of farm life.

I never treat for coccidiosis unless there's a problem. The biggest cause of cocci is stress and mud... If you can keep down the stress, you have won most of the cocci battle before it starts. Stressed animals are the most susceptible to cocci.

I don't believe in giving a kid a lot of "stuff" other than the vaccinations unless a problem develops. In a healthy environment, and with a healthy herd, you've won most of the battles.

I'm also a big believer in NOT using store bought milk for baby animals. All the nutrients that a kid needs are missing. The only vitamins that are in it are added back after the pasteurization and homgenization and the vitamins added are usually synthetic (and minimal) which is not as readily available to the little guys. If I have to give milk and have no goat's milk, I go with Purina Mills Goat Kid Milk Replacer which I think is the best on the market. It's pricey, but goes a long way and is worth the "insurance".

If you couldn't find the cause when you opened the kid, I would have had a vet look at it..... just so I would know what happened.

6e · #15 02/20/11, 12:24 PM

Thank you. I doubt our vet would be any help. He's a cow vet and takes little or no interest in goats at all. I've never even seen the Purina milk replacer. We usually use raw Jersey milk from our cows, but unfortunately this year no one was in milk at the right time.

Before this year we never routinely treated for Cocci and never saw symptoms, but a lot of people told us that if you don't, you'll experience stunted growth which doesn't usually show up for awhile and by then it's a little late, so we thought we'd do it routinely. That may have been a mistake in judgement on our part. We just about had another one go down yesterday, but we caught it really early and treated him and now he's fine. Still haven't figured out why other than the cocci treatment and the one that died and the one that started to go down came in at a later date than the first bunch and didn't get vaccinated, they also had been on doe milk rather than store bought, but they've been here for a couple of weeks at least and were doing fine. That's the only two things that have been different. They're definitely not stressed. Very happy little goats and hopefully we won't have any more problems from here on out with them.