grunting doe

[deetu]

doe is 1 year and pregnant, not sure when due.
she didn't eat this morning or tonight. Separated her in case she was going to kid... she looks little swollen but not lost ligaments totally yet.
she will lay and grunt but not pushing.
Occasionally grinding teeth.

I gave her some baking soda and noticed that she is pooping and peeing. When she stands, she isn't grunting as much. When she was standing, I rubbed one side, and then the other side of her stomach and she seemed to push against me a little on her right side. When I rubbed under her stomach between belly button and udder, she grunted more as in pain but each time I rubbed seemed to be less.

Gonna give her some Pepto... not sure what else to do.
Not sure if she is gonna kid and doesn't know what is happening or if it is tummy ache.

Any other suggestions.... unfortunately, my thermometer's battery died so cannot get temp.
She was wormed with Cydectin before breeding in October.

I didn't want to breed her yet, she was too young...sigh...

[manygoatsnmore]

A lot of mine grunt when they are very heavily pregnant. It's just hard to find a comfy spot to lie down, and all those little hooves kicking can't be very comfy, either. Maybe she's having some "Braxton Hicks" contractions!

[deetu]

know that but not this time

she is not eating
grunting as in pain
occasionally grinding her teeth

[CaliannG]

Is she yawning, stretching, etc.? If I were you, since I didn't know the due date and she COULD be kidding, with also a possible idea that she was bred too young, I'd treat it as a more than a possibility of a difficult delivery.

Have your kidding kit on hand?

[Goat Servant]

Deetu if she's not eating try some B complex if there are no rumen sounds?
Grinding teeth as you know, means pain, but some of mine will grind teeth a little before kidding.
So is the grinding constant or just a little know & then?

[deetu]

I am watching her just in case it is early kidding... alot of the signs are there

She is grinding her teeth only occasionally. Grunting more then anything. I am kinda thinking she is gonna kid and doesn't know what is going on.

Rubbing her stomach caused more pain at first then settled her.
Gave her Pepto just in case.

Keeping an eye on her tonight

Thanks for the answers so far. I appreciate them

[CaliannG]

Sorry I can't be of more help. Labor signs are so varied and can be so weird from doe to doe that, with a heavily pregnant doe, it is often difficult to tell if it is labor, or if you are unsure, if it is something else.

That's one of the weapons in doe's secret arsenal to fulfill their nefarious plot to make us crazy.

Does her butt look right for kidding? Swollen, flabby rear end? Steeply sloped spine-to-tail area? Ligaments soft/squishy/gone?

[manygoatsnmore]

My Nubian girl, Ariel, is ready to go - streaming goo, and she grunts and grinds her teeth occasionally, too.

The Pepto won't hurt her, and might help, if it's not labor. If she is in labor, she probably doesn't feel like eating, either. A nice soft belly massage feels pretty good when you're preggers. I don't blame you for being a little worried about her, since she was bred early. My buck managed to get in with my doelings last fall (several times, actually - grr), and I think he nailed every one of them. So far, 2 of 3 have kidded, one with twins, one with a single, and they came through the labor and deliveries just fine. The other one hasn't developed an udder, but she looks a little broad across the beam, so I suspect she was caught on the second or 3rd round. I really don't like doing the teen mom thing with my later born doelings. Even when you feed them well, it seems like they never quite grow as well as if they'd had longer to grow first.

[Alice In TX/MO]

I'd be thinking about calcium, too. Do you have any calcium drench or Tums?

[deetu]

I thought calcium was for after kidding...
my drench stuff exploded but I have tums

She got up and greeted me this morning and nibbled at her food.

[mary,tx]

My concern would be with her not eating. Is she eating her hay? Alfalfa pellets? I'm also concerned about calcium.

[deetu]

Okay, gave her some calcium and after, noticed she wanted to chew the wood on the wall so brought her some birch branches and she ate them. Seeing this, I gave some minerals and she went for that too... made sure not to give too much.

I used to mix sweet feed with pellets and was going to be moving so to make things easier, I went to only the pellets and wonder if it wasn't as good quality as mixing had been.

I stopped feeding alfalfa pellets when they changed the texture and I couldn't find smaller pellets, like rabbit pellet size. Did not want to feed flakes because of the waste. (used to give the waste to the horse but no longer have she passed at 34)

These goats are Boer and have done well in summer on grazing alone.

Update:
She is now moving around freer and is starting to nibble on the hay more. She was also upset that the others were outside without her so gave them hay inside to encourage her to also eat more. She is drinking alot of water.
She is still laying down (but so are the other girls) and grunting but sounds slightly different. She is no longer grinding her teeth but not chewing her cud either, that I can see.