distended belly

[Southern by choice]

Honestly you need to find a way to post a picture. Far too often one person's idea, that isn't familiar with goats, will think the belly is huge when in fact it may be quite normal. Do not decrease roughage.
I am glad you have found a vet that will be more of a livestock vet.
I can't remember if you mentioned this but talk with your vet about CD&T vaccine, he needs one and then a follow up but he needs to be in good health.

 

[Cheryl Petree]

Honestly you need to find a way to post a picture. Far too often one person's idea, that isn't familiar with goats, will think the belly is huge when in fact it may be quite normal. Do not decrease roughage.
I am glad you have found a vet that will be more of a livestock vet.
I can't remember if you mentioned this but talk with your vet about CD&T vaccine, he needs one and then a follow up but he needs to be in good health.

He has had his first dose. His belly is not huge, and today it has been quite normal. He is REALLY liking getting more milk! He has been playing with me all morning and running and bouncing.
I have been letting him out in the yard to "graze" for about 10-20 minutes several times today. I live in the country so there is a variety of what comes up in my yard, nothing toxic, except I do have pine needles and he seems to favor those. There is no way to clean them up, there are a gazillion. I'm afraid to just turn him out, because the vet thinks he just filled his little rumen up. But baby goats with their mommas are out eating everything too right? I talked to a friend today who said they used to give their show goats a shot to prevent over eating. Have you heard of this? As far as roughage, I have alfalfa, barley hay, wheat hay, and grass hay. Is alfalfa too rich for him? And he eats all the stuff from my yard.

 

[Cheryl Petree]

Looking at this picture, his belly doesn't look that big, I guess it is more the way it FELT. It was like a firm water balloon and felt abnormal, like it was full of gas. You could tell he was uncomfortable. Now he still has a belly but it feels totally different. I think I am on the right track with the change in his demeanor. Poor little guy! I'd hate to think we worked this hard to save him just to have him go backwards! Onward HO!!
Looking back through all the threads, I don't think I ever said that he is a pygmy. Sorry if this caused confusion.

 

[Southern by choice]

My 8 week old pygmy is doing great, eating and pooping and peeing fine.

Your first post you mentioned pygmy.
The CD&T is probably what is being referred to, it doesn't stop them from over eating it is a vaccine for "overeating disease" which is actually Clostridium perfringens type C + D and Tetanus
this is a good link to understanding.- https://articles.extension.org/pages/27116/goat-vaccination-program

All the hay you are providing is great, he should have access to that 24/7.
Yes, baby goats on the bottle or with their dams are eating they are not just on milk.
Sounds like he could use some vitamins.
I would strongly recommend you have him disbudded those buds aren't too big to disbud.

 

[B&B Happy goats]

Hello Cheryl , happy to read he is liking his milk and doing better, keep up the great job you are doing keeping him going....if you choose to disbud him, i would wait until he has had second CD&T ....
Only one of my goats is disbudded, for me, horns make great handles and are natural...although I DO remove a goatee if a doe gets one, lol....good luck with your kid

 

[Cheryl Petree]

Looking at this picture, his belly doesn't look that big, I guess it is more the way it FELT. It was like a firm water balloon and felt abnormal, like it was full of gas. You could tell he was uncomfortable. Now he still has a belly but it feels totally different. I think I am on the right track with the change in his demeanor. Poor little guy! I'd hate to think we worked this hard to save him just to have him go backwards! Onward HO!!

Hello Cheryl , happy to read he is liking his milk and doing better, keep up the great job you are doing keeping him going....if you choose to disbud him, i would wait until he has had second CD&T ....
Only one of my goats is disbudded, for me, horns make great handles and are natural...although I DO remove a goatee if a doe gets one, lol....good luck with your kid

Thank you thank you! I will be moving up to the mountains soon where there are more predators, so I am not going to disbud him. I also read that the horns are part of their heating/cooling system. I banded him and hopefully he will be okay later in life because I did it too early. I should have researched before taking someone's word, but it is what it is. He is alive now! And what a little personality he has. I'm sure you can tell from the threads he is going to be a pet. Maybe the most spoiled goat in the country! But that's okay too. It's funny when there is a newborn in distress, no matter the species, how momma bear instincts kick in. I would protect this little guy from anything, even myself! That's why I found you guys, and thank you all for the info. Even my dogs took over sentry for this little guy and take care of him! I don't know if I will ever have to do this again, but if I do I feel I will be a little wiser. The guy I helped with this kid had 8 kids total, and my little guy is the only survivor. I don't know what happened, he has had goats for a long time, and his nannies have had other birthings. The last one, I had to go pull a baby (2 others were out) but she had been down too long and they were too weak to survive and the one I pulled was already gone. So this little guy is pretty special. THANK YOU TO ALL OF YOU FOR ALL OF YOUR WISDOM AND HELP! GREATLY APPRECIATED!!

 

[Southern by choice]

If you keep horns on him just be very careful especially if you are moving to a mountainous area if it is heavily wooded.
We use to have a horned herd, no longer but I can tell you we have had to rescue more goats out of trees and vines that were caught and strangling. I cracked my ribs getting one goat out of a scrub trees. Grrr. Horns really offer no protection against predators, you need a guardian for protection. It is interesting about the heating and cooling that has been attributed to horns. We have never noticed any difference. We had horned and polled goats starting out. Eventually we went to disbudding - tired of rescuing animals from horns getting stuck in everything and then there was the one that decided to sharpen them into daggers. Just keep in mind if they become a problem later it is a pretty major surgery and 6 weeks of wrapping and healing of the head. Been there done that.

So glad he is doing a bit better and it will be fun to watch his journey!
You know we really do love lots of goats pics. Cuz they're cute!

 

[B&B Happy goats]

SBC is dead on right about them getting caught in bushs and fences that have large openings, and i have been poked with them quite often by accident...we have open space now and have changed our fence. , i also cut the tips off the horns to round them off. ....the horn issue is always a topic of discussion.

 

[Southern by choice]

SBC is dead on right about them getting caught in bushs and fences that have large openings, and i have been poked with them quite often by accident...we have open space now and have changed our fence. , i also cut the tips off the horns to round them off. ....the horn issue is always a topic of discussion.

It is, isn't and somehow it always gets heated. LOL
I had a horned herd and liked it ... until...
Our Kikos we still leave horned but their horns are different.
I think I see a lot of of people after dealing with them end up getting rid of the goat and that is where that breaks my heart. I understand why people have to get rid of a goat with horns especially with young children and after nearly losing them to hanging etc (goats not children )
Now it is more of a warning because we have been there done that.
My vet told us from day one. Here on the forum, same thing. Everyone said get the horns off. But I liked them.
Well, after so many years we did do the nope, never again. No horns no way.
Having the dairy goats and milking... horns are dangerous. But I do get why people will try horned animals.
I still think horns are pretty. The Kikos horns are spiraling gorgeousness!

 

[Cheryl Petree]

Thank you all so much for all the advice and information! Update - Gonner is doing great! I told him "You are going to live in spite of me!" I have had animals all my life, mostly rescues, but only had a few goats and I got them when they were older. He is truly a hoot! Where I will be in the mountains he will most likely stay in my yard (it is a big yard) which is cleared and safe. I have a nanny that has partial horns due to the guy that dehorned her did not knowing what he was doing, so she has one little nub and one that goes haywire. I appreciate all the different viewpoints on here. I will send more pics, it is a multistep process since this is my work computer. Once again, thank all of you!