How to get the rumen moving if she can't eat? She's FINALLY home!!!

[KellyHM]

Long story short: One of my yearling Nubian does got attacked by a dog yesterday (a now dead dog) and got her neck chewed up pretty badly. She spent last night in the clinic on IV fluids, antibiotics, and pain medication. She hasn't been able to get up yet, although she got halfway there a little while ago (woo-hoo for progress!). She hasn't shown much interest in eating for the past 24 hours, although she did eat half a handful of grain about 20 minutes ago. I think she's definitely got some rumen stasis going on. Any ideas on how to get it working again if she doesn't want to eat her hay (or leaves or anything else that looks like forage)? She's on 2 antibiotics and 2 pain medications. Any other suggestions?

 

[Beekissed]

I've heard one can steal a cud from another goat and make her swallow it to get her rumen jumpstarted once again.

 

[ksj0225]

I've heard one can steal a cud from another goat and make her swallow it to get her rumen jumpstarted once again.

x2

I've even seen it done, you have to have quick hands.

 

[babsbag]

Beer. We use Widmer Bros. Hefenwizen. Warm and flat. Drench them with it.

This tip was given to use for a vet that happens to also raise, show, and judge goats. We had a goat at a show that was very very sick. She told us to tube her with beer, so our local vet did and the results were amazing. Have used it many times since.

Supposedly the beer has the same microbs in it that a goat rumen does, or at least they are very close. Not sure the brewery would like to be known for that.

We gave our full size dairy goat an entire bottle when her rumen shut down and within 20 minutes she was nibbling on alfalfa.

Good luck

 

[KellyHM]

Thanks for the replies. I've heard of stealing cud from another goat, but my main concern is how I would get it down the other one. She has so much muscle damage in her neck it's hard for her to pick her head up for more than a few seconds, her trachea was perforated, etc. I'm scared to death I'll injure her worse trying to struggle with her. I'm pretty sure I would have to put her under anesthesia to get a tube down her throat without killing her from the stress. I suppose I could go that route. She wouldn't have to be under for long.

 

[Beekissed]

Take that cud and put it into your food processor, liquify it and then drench her...gently.

I use unpasteurized ACV, garlic and wild honey in my drenches....the ACV has the same probios that are needed to jump start a rumen. Might be easier to just use the beer as mentioned in the above post.

 

[SuburbanFarmChic]

I would mix the cud with a slurry and see if she'll drink it. Maybe toss some molasses or karo in it to up the flavor. If she'll drink for you, I'd start slurrying all her food for a while so it's not hard to swallow. Get timothy or alfalfa pellets and melt them along with some goat pellets.


Also something that may keep her going, which a mentor of mine feeds nearly nothing but to bloom her show sheep, is the following.


to make a 1/2 gal.

15 raw eggs
60cc prop glycol
60cc rice bran oil
1/8 c cocoa powder
1tbsp vanilla
2 scoops of a high dex electrolyte mix. One that is at least 75-70% dex.

When my goat was SO sick in the beginning this mix took her from flat on her side and moaning to up and about and looking for food.

Mix it all up and drench up to about 250ccs (around a cup) at a time. If she gets the runs back off a little. The vanilla and cocoa are to cover the taste of the propylene glycol.


Drench with this until she has a bit more energy and time giving her the slurry to when her pain meds are working so it hurts less for her to swallow. We gave 1 cup, 3x a day with only very slight logging of her poop. It was mostly all pellets.

Kim (not Rolls) makes up gal batches of this at a time but for only one animal I make 1/2 gal.

Up to you whether you try it. I can only say what worked for us.

 

[KellyHM]

Ok, quick update. She is on her feet and eating! I ended up only giving her Probiotics. I don't have anything to drench her with and couldn't get anything down her without making her choke, so I gave up on the other stuff. However, by then she had started nibbling at a tiny bit of hay/grain and was able to stand if we lifted her to her feet. She is now able to get up/down by herself, move around, and has a great appetite! She is drinking on her own also and came off the IV yesterday. She is still on baytril, oxytetracycline, and ketoprofen (similar to banamine). Keep your fingers crossed that she continues to improve!

 

[Ms. Research]

Fingers AND toes are crossed for your sweet girl.

K

 

[Mamaboid]