Advice: 9 week old kid goat with Scours.

[kowgirl]

I guess I am looking for a little reassurance I have 16 Myotonic Goats, girls and boys are in separate pastures. About 10 weeks ago, two of my adult females had 1 baby each (does). Everything has been going quite well. Today I noticed that one of the little ones has diarrhea. I cleaned her up (UGH), gave her a dose of Probios, a dose of Scours med and sent her on her merry way. She's eating fine, still nursing a bit from Mom and with the exception of diarrhea, is acting "normal". I checked all the other goats and no one else has any signs of diarrhea. I have already given her, her 2 doses of CDT and 1 dose of Wormer. I am assuming that because she is getting bigger, she's trying to eat hay/grass more and less milk from Mom, and this is what may be giving her diarrhea. The "runs" are normal color (brown). Any thoughts guys?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

My thoughts would be it ate something out in the pasture that it shouldn't of. I would offer good dry hay and see if it clears up in a day or two. I always keep free choice baking soda available to help with any digestive upsets.

 

[cassie]

You might take a fecal sample and have it checked for cocci.

 

[kowgirl]

Thank you! She is doing better. I do keep free range baking soda in all the rooms of the barn and I keep Milk of Magnesia and Pepto on hand, just in case

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Thank you! She is doing better. I do keep free range baking soda in all the rooms of the barn and I keep Milk of Magnesia and Pepto on hand, just in case

Hi, welcome to BYC!

Glad she is doing better. Scours really stinks to deal with, pun intended. You've got way more goats than I do, so I would suspect more experience as well...

Just wanna mention... scours is one way for the body to rid itself of something that shouldn't be there, so you don't wanna rush to the pepto and mask symptoms of something that actually needs to be corrected.

How do you know you used the right wormer? Some treat only certain worms. If it happens again I would suggest a fecal float, usually $15-25 and it will test for worms and cocci.

Because she is weaning naturally, I wouldn't suspect eating more grass and hay gradually as the reason for scours... but I am no expert, just sharing my thought process.

Also, with that many animals... might be worth it to get your own microscope to run fecals. It's super easy and very beneficial! Yes, I'm no science geek.. but I do it.

 

[kowgirl]

Guess I'll have to invest in a microscope....little Harmony has Cocci :-( The vet said she looked really good though. Minor dehydration and stools were already looking better. The happy little girl is already up to 14 lbs! They put her on Alabon for 1 week. I'm getting better at recognizing symptoms. I always try to watch gums and eyelids, always clean out the barn and sweep the area they like to "nap" in. I read everything I can find, but we still lose some every now and then. I lost my "pet" goat a few weeks ago. The baby she was carrying was just too big to deliver. I tried helping her but it was really wedged in there. I rushed her to the vet but she passed away :-( The vet said there was nothing I could have done, that particular goat had small hips. I was devastated! My goats are very important to me so I am glad I found this Forum! Thanks so much.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Guess I'll have to invest in a microscope....little Harmony has Cocci :-( The vet said she looked really good though. Minor dehydration and stools were already looking better. The happy little girl is already up to 14 lbs! They put her on Alabon for 1 week. I'm getting better at recognizing symptoms. I always try to watch gums and eyelids, always clean out the barn and sweep the area they like to "nap" in. I read everything I can find, but we still lose some every now and then. I lost my "pet" goat a few weeks ago. The baby she was carrying was just too big to deliver. I tried helping her but it was really wedged in there. I rushed her to the vet but she passed away :-( The vet said there was nothing I could have done, that particular goat had small hips. I was devastated! My goats are very important to me so I am glad I found this Forum! Thanks so much.

So sorry to hear about your goatie girl passing.

If you haven't found these sites, they are very helpful... www.fiascofarm.com and www.tennessemeatgoats.com

They do have info on running your own fecals, but lots of other stuff as well.

It's true that sometimes no matter what we do we will still lose our pets and livestock. Everything has to die sometime...
Thank you for having that done by the way. It's hard to spend money sometimes, but it can definitely provide invaluable information!