Wether acting sick with lt brown diarrhea...my first sick goat.....

[fraunie]

He is very vocal and a pig, so when he wasn't there when I brought the chow I new something was wrong. I found a couple spots of very runny poop, he is rubbing against the fence and just not wanting to move much. It looks like his nose is running a little and his upper lip is slightly curled. I pet him for a few minutes and felt all around him and he didn't show any signs of pain or discomfort when I palpated him. He then laid down on a pile of hay I had raked up.

He is a nubian, and yesterday I did give them a new type of food. I have been feeding alfalfa/bermuda pellets with bermuda hay and some sweet grain. Yesterday I noticed they had changed the brand of pellets and it was a horse pellet that had molasses in it and some minerals. The composition didn't look different than what i had been feeding so I didn't worry too much. The other 6 goats are fine.

He is the biggest goat and can reach my chicken crumble and eats a few mouthfuls of that a day probably. He was fine last night at 8pm.

Any advice or help????? I've only had goats a few months and this is my first illness

 

[sprocket]

It could be a change in diet. It might also be a spring uptick in worms - when was the last time he was dewormed? Regardless, I'd pull all grain from him until the diahrea subsides.

 

[Pearce Pastures]

Take all feed away from home and offer only water and fresh hay. I would mix some baking soda in water, get out a syringe, and get it in him in case he is bloated. Do not give him any dewormer right now, but it would be a good idea to get a fecal test done this time of year. I don't think this is a parasite issue though but a change in feed/too much feed issue.

Very important---is he current on his CD&T vaccine? If not, you should go get an anti-toxin(NOT THE VACCINE) and inject him as soon as you can.

 

[Pearce Pastures]

You also mentioned that he east chicken feed and that the feed you give is a sweet feed which makes me suspect all the more that this is a bloat/ overeating issue. Once he recovers, it would be wise to make a way so that he cannot get any chicken feed and move to an unsweetened goat formulated feed. Is the brand you were using for goats?

 

[babsbag]

How old is he? If he is a kid it is possible that he has coccidia. Adults get it too, but it hits kids most of the time.

 

[fraunie]

Thank you for the responses. I saw them earlier but for some reason I had a hard time logging on this afternoon to post.

Petey is a tad better, but still not himself. Poop a little more firm, but not berries yet and he is drinking tons. I couldn't get anything in him, not probiotics, pepto. I did see him take a mouthful of hay as I just left.

He is about 9 months old and current on all his vaccines. I am not completely sure when he had wormer and I gave him a CD T booster last week with the rest of the herd. I have all of my animals together, and have been feeding the sweet feed to the mommas, it's not a regular thing, but he's been eating some for the past 2 months. The chicken feed.....well, this guy has kept me running from day 1.....he is beyond mischievious. I have moved the chicken food 3 times, and now I just realized this week he can finally reach to the back of the roosting bench to get his tongue in the feeder and get more than 2 crumbles at a time. I have all the supplies to build some new pipe-type upright feeders the chickens can reach from the roost, but i just got them yesterday and haven't installed them yet...nows the time I suppose!!!

I'm hopeful he will pull through on his own, he is vocalizing to me when he sees me, and when I was down to observe him just now he sat beside me and pawed for pets like he usually does, resting his head in my lap I feel sort of bad bc just two days ago I had a screaming fit at him over him a) disabling the auto coop door....again. b) eating all the chicken food....again. c) head butting my hand for pets so hard he knocked the eggs out of it...then licked them off the ground and d) jumping OUT of the high horse door (the ones where horses stick their heads through 5ft off the ground) and getting two of the bucklings to follow him....luckily my husband looked out and saw them right after they broke free..... Uncle Petey is a troublemaker, all that happened in 1 day.

Thanks, again....

 

[fraunie]

Thank you for the responses. I saw them earlier but for some reason I had a hard time logging on this afternoon to post.

Petey is a tad better, but still not himself. Poop a little more firm, but not berries yet and he is drinking tons. I couldn't get anything in him, not probiotics, pepto. I did see him take a mouthful of hay as I just left.

He is about 9 months old and current on all his vaccines. I am not completely sure when he had wormer and I gave him a CD T booster last week with the rest of the herd. I have all of my animals together, and have been feeding the sweet feed to the mommas, it's not a regular thing, but he's been eating some for the past 2 months. The chicken feed.....well, this guy has kept me running from day 1.....he is beyond mischievious. I have moved the chicken food 3 times, and now I just realized this week he can finally reach to the back of the roosting bench to get his tongue in the feeder and get more than 2 crumbles at a time. I have all the supplies to build some new pipe-type upright feeders the chickens can reach from the roost, but i just got them yesterday and haven't installed them yet...nows the time I suppose!!!

I'm hopeful he will pull through on his own, he is vocalizing to me when he sees me, and when I was down to observe him just now he sat beside me and pawed for pets like he usually does, resting his head in my lap I feel sort of bad bc just two days ago I had a screaming fit at him over him a) disabling the auto coop door....again. b) eating all the chicken food....again. c) head butting my hand for pets so hard he knocked the eggs out of it...then licked them off the ground and d) jumping OUT of the high horse door (the ones where horses stick their heads through 5ft off the ground) and getting two of the bucklings to follow him....luckily my husband looked out and saw them right after they broke free..... Uncle Petey is a troublemaker, all that happened in 1 day.

Thanks, again....

 

[20kidsonhill]

If he hasn't been vaccintated I would suspect over eating disease.

Really your choices are
worm load
coccidiosis
over eating disease
bacterial
slight upset stomach from food change.

take his temp. See if it is normal range.
May need to take a fecal in the moring to vets to have tested to see which of the above it is.

at his age it can be a lot of things, spring pastures and warming weather can increase the load of many parasites.
change of feed can also encourage coccidiosis to multiply or over eating disease to set in.