Nigerian dwarf goat: what does vaginal discharge mean?

She looks to be due any day now, but it could be a few weeks. Discharge is normal even if they are not pregnant. I had dairy goats for ten years. You may want to check her for mites and deworm her when possible. And since she looks a little rough, you may want to keep her quarantined for a while until you are sure she doesn't have anything.

We have 1 little buckling at the same place. Just got them as natural lawn mowers for our back pasture. We didn't anticipate the additional new editions. I am not imagining that she's pregnant right? There isn't some other type of illness that would distend her abdomen like this correct? Can we worm her even pregnant, or wait until she kids?

jkpenny376 said:

We just got this girl today and didn't know when we looked at her on graigslist that she was pregnant. We saw a picture of her and my husband went to go pick her up this evening. When he loaded her up he called to tell me she looked pregnant. He never asked the gentleman we purchased her from and they didn't offer any information either. MEN!!!!! At any rate I have no idea when she was bred and her condition. I noticed a thick milky discharge that is pretty continuous. It's white and not yellow as you can see from the below pics. Can anyone tell me approximately when she may kid? I've attached pics I just took of her. We have her in the front pens until she can get acclimated to her new home before we put her in the back pasture. She just looks so rough and feel so bad for her.

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jkpenny376 said:

We have 1 little buckling at the same place. Just got them as natural lawn mowers for our back pasture. We didn't anticipate the additional new editions. I am not imagining that she's pregnant right? There isn't some other type of illness that would distend her abdomen like this correct? Can we worm her even pregnant, or wait until she kids?

Click to expand...

She is definitely in poor condition. I hope you didn't pay much for her. If she is been in with a buck, assume she is pregnant. Pygmies and Nigerian Dwarves, two breeds she likely contains in her lineage, are both year round breeders. When a doe is in heat, the buck will breed her. It doesn't matter if she just kidded, is in poor health, etc. he will do that.

You can worm and she needs it. AND treat her for coccidia too (normally not a problem with adult goats, but a doe in poor condition likely has a large number plus a weak immune system) which is a different medication than a wormer.

For a wormer to be effective, you must have an accurate weight on her. If you underdose, you will not kill the worms, and then they will be resistant to that wormer, so it will be useless. She will best be dosed with ivermectin plus (safe for pregnant does) given as an injection (DO NOT GIVE IT ORALLY), given according to her weight. You can find dose amount information and a dosing schedule here. That schedule is critically important. Follow it and do not miss a dose!

A treatment against coccidia lasts five days for most medications. Again, it is dosed according to her weight. Each day, she gets a dose. It tastes nasty, so it will be a battle.

She definitely needs some good minerals. Feed her a goat mineral, not a mineral made for sheep. Get it in loose form, not block form. Blocks lead to deficiencies, because they contain too much sodium chloride to hold the block together, and too little trace mineral, they can't eat enough to get the level of trace minerals they need to be healthy. She also desperately needs a copper bolus to get her back on track. You cannot find them at the local feed store, they must be ordered. Your doe is likely a black goat, but is so copper deficient, she appears brown.

Since you got two goats from the same location....you should give both the exact same treatment. Worm both, coccidia treat both, copper bolus both. And is the male an intact buck as her companion? If so, you will want to wether him. Why? He will breed your doe to death. As soon as she kids, he will breed her, even with a newborn at her side and lactating. As soon as she kids again, he'll do the same thing. Constantly being pregnant while raising her current kids will destroy her health. Bucks don't know any better, and they breed as soon as there is a heat (which happens quite quickly after birth).

You did get them for lawn mowers, but you need to understand that goats eat grass last. They eat browse and weeds first, then in desperation, grass. They are browsers, not grazers. And they will not do a nice even job, it will be patchy.

Hello,

I know your post was from last May, but I'm curious as to what happened with your goat? We have a Nigerian goat who I think is pregnant, has developed an udder which has gotten quite a bit larger in the last 1-2 weeks; first freshener - have no idea when she might have been breed as she was in with a young buck all summer - at any rate, I went out this morning and found her with the same type of vaginal discharge - tiny amount of milky discharge about the size of a pea - I cant get close enough to her to assess but was concerned it might indicate a pregnancy loss. Any thoughts?
Thanks!