12 week old kid - Diarrhea

woodsie

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I brought home two doelings a couple weeks ago and both have been doing really well. I had them in a dry-lot pen first on hay and no troubles. I moved them into the larger pasture with my big goats and sheep/lambs and they have been fine but one has come down with diarrhea for the past couple days. The pasture is very lush at the moment and everyone's poop is a little softer than usual. We did prune the lilacs and they were eating the tender leaves off the branches. (I also had two bottle lambs that got the runs really bad, one refusing her bottle, but I put them in quarantine on hay with pepto and slippery elm and they were back to their bouncing self in a day.)

This one has a muddy poop that is very runny, no balls whatsoever. I gave her some slippery elm yesterday, still has the runs and pepto this morning. She seems to be fine, still eating and energetic but still has a muddy bum. I am always worried about cocci but don't want to start on anti-biotics if it is just from a rich diet. Her sister is fine and they are both eating the same stuff. Should I quarantine and put on hay or start antibiotics or just leave it? :/
 

DonnaBelle

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You can always take a sample to a vet to be sure what you are dealing with. If it's cocci he can tell you so and recommended a dosage of Dimethox.

Or if it's the lush new forage and they are not used to it, give some Probios a couple times a day for a few days, and see if that helps.

Our goat's pasture became full and lush fast this spring, and 2 of them had very soft green poops for a while. We dosed the ones with problems with Probios for several days.

They are finally used to the new growth, and it's getting on into June, which helps some.

Runny poops can indicate cocci, even in an adult goat. I usually have a fecal done, for $15 or 20 bucks it's well worth it to know the facts.

DonnaBelle
 

woodsie

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Its greenybrown and has quickly escalated to trickling like a stream out of her bum...needless to say I brought out the anti-biotics as soon as I saw that. I have her penned up with hay, baking soda and water. She readily took the medicine and I also gave her a bottle of electrolites with a tsp of slippery elm which she drank well.

She is still eating hay and moving about fine but when I saw that I assumed we were dealing with cocci.....I don't think she has been wormed, would it be prudent to do this too? Just wondering if I can do it now, or should I wait until the diarrhea gets better?

It seems like most breeders in my area don't do any vaccinations or kid worming and trust in their "clean practices" which is probably fine until you move them to a new house and they stress from new circumstances and then the new owner has a problem on their hands....plus I have never had an issue with a dam raised goat, but these bottle babies, even if they are fed the mom's milk seem to be much more prone to getting sick. I love the friendliess of a bottlebaby but they certainly do get sick much easier...or at least in my exerience.
 

woodsie

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I asked the vet about a fecal and they caost $25/animal here and I am not confident they are experienced in doing goat fecals. She basically said they don't bother because it doesn't often show up and I am not sure they really know what they are looking for in goats/sheep. She didn't want to do one and just gave me the meds to treat cocci...they really have VERY little experience with goats or sheep, it is a horse and cow town. :(
 

elevan

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Green poop is generally indicative of it being dietary.

Do you have any poisonous plants that she could have gotten into? If not, then it's likely just lush green foliage.

Give a package of gelatin (jello) in enough water to liquify it and drench it orally. Repeat in a couple of hours if needed...ie: still having diarrhea.

Doing the treatment for coccidia isn't a bad idea either, it certainly won't hurt anything.
 

woodsie

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I did just give her a packet of gelatin so I'll see if that helps. I don't have any any poisonous plants in my pasture that I know about and nothing else has gotten sick so I don't think it is poisoning, other than she ate a lot of lilac leaves on Sunday morning.

The diarrhea is still really bad but not watery, squirty, just like a loose mud...yuck - sorry! The diarrhea is more just brown now, not really green anymore.

She is very active and doesn't seem sick but I wish I saw some clumping. She is still eating hay and looking for my special bottles. I guess I will give her another electrolite bottle with probiotics now and a dose of her meds before bed and pray I see some nanny berries in the morning.
 

bonbean01

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Hope it gets better...berry poops, or at least dog logs by morning. Took Em's advice with the gelatin when I've had that problem and it worked!!! Kid may need more than one dose of it.

Hoping to see a good update from you tomorrow :fl
 

20kidsonhill

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cocci can stunt her growth. I would treat her for cocci. If you don't want to use a long term drug like sulfa dimethoxine which has a 30 day withdrawal, Corid only has a 24 hour withdrawal and has been recently certified for organic dairy farms.
 

Southern by choice

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woodsie said:
I asked the vet about a fecal and they caost $25/animal here and I am not confident they are experienced in doing goat fecals. She basically said they don't bother because it doesn't often show up and I am not sure they really know what they are looking for in goats/sheep. She didn't want to do one and just gave me the meds to treat cocci...they really have VERY little experience with goats or sheep, it is a horse and cow town. :(
doesn't show up? What? if they are horse vets then they probably do the McMasters 3 chambered slides. A fecal is a fecal. Print out a copy of what goat worms look like and cocci for goats, ask if YOU can use their scope to check the fecal.

Considering all the factors it may well be a worthy investment of 125-150 scope, I can send you the recipe for the float mix ( simple- sugar and water) chalex sells the 2 chambered slides and the procedure is simple and you can check your goats anytime. If is not difficult to count eggs on a McMasters slide. My 10 year old can do it. It takes just a few minutes to understand what you are looking at as far as eggs go, cocci is harder and usually you need to change the magnification.

In the end people spend alot of money throwing stuff at the goat and hoping something works yet they never really know what it was to begin with. It is very hard on a goat.

You can check your sheep, goats, dogs. So worth it. We offer free classes on fecal readings to all of our customers. The basics of what is what and the hows. They supply the poop and learn how to look at a fecal. Often they are surprised at how easy it is.

I sure hope she gets better and you find the problem. And you are right, all the data supports bottle raised kids have higher incidence of sickness. But bottle babies are so adorable too, I also think some breeders that strictly bottle feed have really come up with ways to keep the health superior and those breeders seem to be the exception to the norm. There are lots of breeders on here that have such a great system they don't seem to have those issue with their herds at all.
 

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