Help Please Somebody!!!

Farmgirl2005 · #1 08/23/05, 08:35 AM

THere is something wrong with one of my babies.. He is a fainting goat and about 7 months old he was castrtated at 5 months and i dont know whats going on.. he is screaiming like he is in alot of pain.. he isnt eating food this morning and seems like he cant poop.. he keeps makin muscles spasm in his abodomen god i cant swpell i am just so furstrated PLEASE HELP ME!!!
Lyn

dale anne · #2 08/23/05, 08:43 AM

Howdy sounds like he may be bloated to me....look at him from behind one side of his belly should be bigger then the other if he is bloating.....give him some baking soda..or any kind of oil...lots of water....since ya dont mention froth coming out of his mouth it sounds like dry bloat wich is the better of the kind of bloats a goat can have...the water, oil, and baking soda should break up the gas bubbles in his ruman...dont let him lay around...keep him up and walking....after he seems to be passing gas, poo and such give him 3 CC of positive bacteria...can try to give it now but doubt he will take it.....also can listen to his belly and see if ya hear gas moving around in it...sounds like our hunger pains in belly......If ya have a bottle of bloat ease just give that as it takes place of all the other stuff i mentioned...if ya dont...Get some for future use!...hope this helps...keep us updated...dale anne

Farmgirl2005 · #3 08/23/05, 08:49 AM

how much baking soda and oil

susanne · #4 08/23/05, 08:49 AM

did you see him pee?
susanne

Farmgirl2005 · #5 08/23/05, 08:58 AM

there the thing is isnt doing neither i am hojme alone and i dont have my license yet i am 17 and i just call the vet hes willl call me back i cant reach my mom i am freaking out hi dont want anything bad to happen to him

dale anne · #6 08/23/05, 09:09 AM

lots of water and as much baking soda as ya can make him eat...the oil start with about 2 tablespoons...water is the key if he is bloating....if ya havent seen him pee this is an emergency and needs to see a vet now!...dale anne

Farmgirl2005 · #7 08/23/05, 02:26 PM

he had urinary calculi . he passed it while the vet was here.. he seemsokay now but i am going to watch him very carefully for the next couple of days...
Thanks for all your help.
Lyn

trnubian · #8 08/23/05, 03:55 PM

I should have read this sooner. UC is what it sounded like at the beggining when you were descrbing his symptoms. Since he is a wether, he is much more prone to it. You might want to have some amonium chloride added to his feed or water, it will help break up and disapate the stones. Hopefully he recovers, but UC is hard to get over and is hard to get rid of once they have it. Good Luck with him.

trnubian · #9 08/23/05, 03:59 PM

Oh I forgot. You will also want to put him on a very good quality grass hay, no pure alfalfa hay. Cut down on any grain he is getting to about half for a while. Get him a free choice mineral that is made for goats, not goats and sheep. You can get these minerals through a catalog. Hoegger Supply and Caprine Supply both carry goat minerals.

And water, lots of fresh clean water. Instead of adding ammonium chloride, you can add apple cider vineager to his water, it will do the same thing and is cheaper.

Mrs_stuart · #10 08/23/05, 05:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Farmgirl2005

he had urinary calculi . he passed it while the vet was here.. he seemsokay now but i am going to watch him very carefully for the next couple of days...
Thanks for all your help.
Lyn

If he has already had urinary calculi then that is probally what it is again...have you been giving him anything for it since he passed itthe first time?
I had a buck that had it, passed it and we gave him straight lemon juice for several day (about 1/4 cup twice a day) and we put cider vinegar in his water (about 1/4 c for a 5 gallon bucket) and we also top dress his feed with
Ammonium chloride. We do this all the time for him now so that he doesnt develope another one...so far so good. I hope all goes well.

Belinda

Farmgirl2005 · #11 08/24/05, 06:07 PM

thanks so much for all the advice.. but now i believe on of the other wethers has it now to. except it doesnt seem that worse... but i am deffintley checking on him every couple of hours and thru the night.. i cut their grain intake to half.. but tommorow i will go shopping for good alalfla pellets and good grass hay.. i will put ammionium chloride in their feed and montor them every day from now on...
lyn

Jan in CO · #12 08/24/05, 07:09 PM

Whew, you dodged a bullet there, Lyn. I lost three males one year due to UC and it isn't pretty. I don't give them grain any longer. I tried using the AC and they refused to eat any grain with it in there! Easier to just feed them the grass hay and a few of the pellets. They do just fine. Mine love to have a few fresh weeds to munch every day, too. Jan in Co

Laura Workman · #13 08/24/05, 08:31 PM

Whew, Vicki, thanks so much for saying all that. I just wasn't up to doing it again, but you have endless patience!

Farmgirl, please don't cut your wethers' grain by half. Please just do what Vicki said and cut it out entirely. They don't need it. If you want to give treats, give them veggies, or Black Oil Sunflower Seeds (in the shell), but NOT GRAIN. So one boy is safe for now, and the other is getting ready to do some suffering. Please stop feeding them all that excess phosphorus now. It may already be too late, but the sooner the better anyway.

OK, I'll be quiet now.

Kathy'sKID · #14 08/25/05, 08:13 AM

Is brome a good hay for bucks/wethers?

Starsmom · #15 08/25/05, 08:54 AM

I have found that my guys love carrots. They think they are in heaven when I give them to them. So I try to use fresh vegetables as their treats. On a rare occassion I will give them some grain and it is only a handful and it is top dressed with ammonium chloride. The does are the only ones that need grain. As long as the bucks or whethers have their hay and browse, they will do fine. They will live longer and in the long run be much happier and healthier.

Vicki McGaugh TX Nubians · #16 08/25/05, 10:35 AM

Kathy the best way to know what hay to use if you don't have goat friends or belong to a club in your area, is to follow the horse people. "Cow" hay has little to no nutritional value and is used as filler....but horse folks rely on the quality of their hay just like we do, so if it says horse quality or you know horse folks (with nice stock) who feed the hay than the answer is yes. Vicki

Farmgirl2005 · #17 08/25/05, 03:52 PM

about they alfalfa pellets.. is it okay if i was to use horse type and give them goat minerals on top of it..
Lyn

Vicki McGaugh TX Nubians · #18 08/25/05, 10:08 PM

As long as they are 17% alfalfa pellets, than alfalfa pellets are alfalfa pellets. Just put the loose minerals in the feeder next to or on the bottom of the alfalfa pellets. With good clean water each day, it's about the perfect diet for goats. Add grain to does heavy with kids and does nursing or milking, for energy and fat and extra calories if they need it from a large litter or a huge milk supply. Use things like peanuts or black oil sunflowerseeds as treats for the kids or pet goats. And yes carrots, mine love green beans and banana peels! Loving your goats to death with too much grain, especially horse and mule sweet feeds, just costs you money and them years on their life.

If you learn nothing else, big is not fat. And alfalfa grows big (and maintains metobolic health in the doe) and grain grows fat (and urinary disease in bucks). Vicki

Laura Workman · #19 08/26/05, 02:24 AM

I should mention briefly that around here "feeder hay" is meant for beef cattle and is very low grade hay, sometimes with some mold. However, dairy cattle absolutely the best, cleanest, highest protein alfalfa there is. So around here, "cow hay" isn't all the same. It depends on what kind of cow you're feeding.

Vicki McGaugh TX Nubians · #20 08/26/05, 03:33 PM

Shoot sorry, yep dairy cattle hay! Wasn't thinking about them. vicki