Diarrhea in very pregnant goat.

[homebirtha]

I'd appreciate any thoughts or suggestions.

We have two very pregnant does, due any day. Actually the vet assured me that they would kid last week.

Anyway, this morning, one of them has diarrhea. I'm debating worming them, but I'm really hesitant since they're so close to kidding, supposedly. History, we just got these goats (fainting) about a month ago. The person we got them from didn't know when they were bred, so was guessing on when they were due. They had been wormed a few months ago, not sure with what. We had the vet do fecals two weeks ago. No high loads, but suggested worming with ivermectin. We planned to wait until right after kidding. We did give them corid at her suggestion because the fecal showed a fairly high number of coccidia. We gave them the corid about 10 days ago.

Oh, I should also mention, these girls were in the field up until the vet visit two weeks ago. We penned them in the barn at the time, and have kept them in there, figuring they were going to kid any day. (they're very skittish, and very hard to catch.) I think we're going to let them back out in the field today and see if that helps.

So, any suggestions? Should we go ahead a worm with the ivermectin. If we do, should we worm again after they kid, even if it's the next day or two? I was thinking I need to give probios now. Anything else I should give her?

[Denwally Farm]

If you just got them, and penned them in when they were used to being in the field, then a change in diet could easily be causing the scours. Are you giving them any grain? If so, then stop. Their systems may not be used to getting grain. Dry hay should be alright if you want to keep them in. Probably it is better to keep them where you can keep an eye on them than to put them out where you may not see if they are exhibiting any other symptoms. Notice if they are eating and drinking.

[Vicki McGaugh TX Nubians]

First if you read the boards very much you know you should always worm a goat after the stress of a move. You get a fecal done and the vet says the loads aren't heavy but to worm, so instead of worming to get the numbers down, you then moved them into a pen in the barn, a small pen that now is loaded with worm eggs and larve. So they are actaully now more infested than when they started. If you let the kids be born in this small pen and stay there for any length of time, the kids will not be able to recover from the cocci or worm burdens in this pen because of the moms levels in their manure. It will take 21 days from the time the cocci or worms are ingested until you will have very sick animals again.

Worm them, after about 12 hours, completely clean out their pen. Once they kid, worm them that day again with the same drug (even if it was just a week before the hormones of birth activate arrested larve in the goats system, larve your wormer can't touch when it is arrested), and get them and the kids out of that pen 12 hours later. I would do a third worming with the same drug 10 days after they kid. Worm the kids and put them on Corid for 5 days when they are 3 weeks old. It's tough being born in this heat, the pastures and pens are saturated with manure that has spread cocci and worms all thoughout it. The older kids and goats on the place have built up by now a pretty good immunity to it, least wise they would have much higher levels of cocci and worms than the brought in goats with no symptoms of diarrhea or anemia. With the stress of moving these new does bred, they simply don't have the immunity to recover without being wormed.

Good luck with your goats! Vicki

[homebirtha]

Thanks for the info. Believe me, if I had known it would be another two weeks and counting from when we put them in the barn until them kidding, I would have wormed them that day. But the vet thought waiting until after kidding was fine, so we went with that. (Actually, I would not have even kept them in the barn at all.)

This is a newly fenced pasture, so there have not been in any others goats on it. I'm still thinking they'd be better off being allowed out of the barn now?